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The Death of the Indie Film Industry
Wednesday 19th June 2013 | Keshav
With the reboot of DC’s most famous action hero Superman flying into cinemas this week legendary director Steven Speilberg has launched a damning attack on the Hollywood film industry. Along with fellow director George Lucas the pair claimed that the film industry was in ‘meltdown’. Their claims are based on the fact that we see a decline in smaller and more low budget films making their ways into cinemas. The Lincoln director even claimed that the film itself was going to be made for TV because of the struggles it encountered during its release in cinemas. The film industries now rely on heavy budget productions such as the ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Avengers’ franchise to drive ticket and DVD sales.
Young producers are finding it harder and harder to get their movies into cinemas prompting Speilberg to say
‘That's the big danger, and there's eventually going to be an implosion — or a big meltdown. There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen mega -budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm.'
The ‘Jaws’ director also claimed that big budget action movies took a whole lot longer to produce and therefore we would see them staying in the cinemas for a lot longer. All in all this would lead to less films being produced and put out every year which could spell disaster for studio heads. He believes that many films released at the moment are appealing to an audience that is far too wide
This eventually means that the interests of the niche film watcher will be disregarded and enthusiasts will grow angry with the industry. So why might this be? It’s evident that indie films unless they get serious recognition simply do not bring in the big money that large budget films do. This is because the indie film only appeals to a certain kind of film goer. Families for example are a very large market for films and most issues tackled in indie flicks are not accessible to young children and parents.
A secondary reason this might be is that many big name actors now shy away from starring in low budget films as they know that they simply won’t do much for their career. The indie film industry is important for up and coming actors as they can get recognition for a low budget production. Sooner rather than later we will see the film industry in complete meltdown when big budget films do not produce. This will anger many directors as well as actors and big names are urging a resurgence in the indie film industry.
The budget cuts in the UK have not helped this at all and with the government asking the arts to remove £10million worth of funding this is sure to deal a major blow to the UK industry. This could have a damaging long term impact on budding film makers and actors who see no potential or no opportunities to be given the break out role because small studios are being out muscled of the industry completely by big ones. Sites such as ‘kickstarter’ where people donate money to help films be created is also been doing serious good for up and coming film makers as well as the indie industry. Recently however it has come under-fire due to the fact scrubs star ‘Zach Braff’ is asking for a follow up to the popular ‘Garden State’. Critics are sceptical whether the star needs the money despite his countless earnings from his TV role. Sites like ‘kickstarter’ show a direction of the future a future in which directors will be free from the shackles of the studio bosses and make more personal meaningful films.
Speilberg also discussed how he supported internet streaming sites such as ‘Netflix’ who are producing their independent productions. Their streaming service can aid the low budget industry as it gives users a chance to experience all types of different titles. The film industry needs a major shake-up. That is certain. Whether this means it changes the way films are bought into cinemas or starts pumping funding into new projects this is certainly its defining era.
Keshav Kapoor
@keshavkapoor15
