Something where they use proof of concept trailers to pitch to their fans, who can support through rewards and/or equity based crowdfunding and subscription to general content? There would be a lot more variety in movies from America on the big screen.
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Why would they? That’s not gonna make anywhere near as much money as something a big studio funds.
Edit: also indie movies are already a thing. With the exception of the first Iron-Man they don’t usually make the same kind of money as big studio movies.
Indie movies exist and that’s essentially what you describe.
There’s tons of good film making happening, especially in the documentary world, in indie spaces.
Studios give them more money. It’s a totally different ballgame than something like self-publishing a book.
Because they’d rather just show up and be paid. They aren’t trying to run a studio.
A lot of Hollywood actors and directors could easily bootstrap their own productions and don’t need a measly 10 or 20 bucks from me.
Why would you?
I mean im not gonna pay to have a movie made then pay to see it 😅
There have been some crowdfunded movies, usually through Kickstarter. But have you not noticed that most things that are funded that way are absolute crap in quality? Making actual tv series or movies is expensive. You need to pay everyone, have all the equipment, pay for various types of insurance. You are absolutely free to try this, but it’s pretty easy to tell the difference betweeen the extremely low budget stuff and actual studio productions (even Indie films look better, with better talent).
Did you see what happened with Megalopolis?
There are loads of indie movies. Maybe they aren’t reaching you, in another country, but they definitely exist.
For instance, check out what’s playing at my indie theater: https://rafaelfilm.cafilm.org/.
edit: thanks for posting this question, I now have tickets to see Secret Mall Apartment, which I’ve been wanting to see for awhile!
I’m just wondering who pays to make the “proof of concept” trailers for movies tryna crowdfund $300,000,000.
Movies are really expensive to make, more than a crowdfunding campaign is likely to raise. And then you’re not making any money on release, because you’ve already promised your supporters the ability to see the movie and that’s your target market. Most people aren’t going to pay to fund a movie and then pay again for a movie ticket.
That being said, there are a lot of efforts by Hollywood actors, like Project Greenlight, to highlight newcomers to movie-making.
The best way to see more diverse movies made, more than just sequels and reboots, is to make an effort to see unique movies in theaters when they come out. If the producers see those are the movies that make money, they’ll make more of them.
They do
There are a few examples of content that was made through direct crowdfunding appeals by established creatives. Maybe the best example is the Veronica Mars movie, which raised $5.7 million on Kickstarter in 2013 and got a limited theatrical release a year later. Another example is the ongoing Mystery Science Theater 3000 campaign that started in 2015 and allowed creation of more episodes. These were both headlined by the show creators rather than studio types.
At the time, this seemed like it would lead to a new age of crowdfunded content, particularly for revivals of fan favorite properties. It didn’t really work out that way. It’s hard to know exactly why, but the following two factors seem to play a role. Both essentially come down to timing.
First, right after Veronica Mars, Zach Braff launched a Kickstarter to support his movie Wish I Was Here, a follow-up to Garden State. The specter of an actor who was perceived as rich asking average fans to bankroll a vanity project rubbed many entertainment writers the wrong way. Also, his project was actually getting some support from traditional movie producers. The campaign was successful and the movie was made, but the resulting “Brafflash” made others cautious about pursuing this strategy.
Second, just after these successful projects and while the Brafflash was fresh, streaming services like Netflix and Hulu kind of went crazy greenlighting all sorts of projects. Indeed, they really liked projects with established fanbases. Many creatives found this process easier than helming crowdfunding campaigns. Sure enough, when Rob Thomas made a fourth season of Veronica Mars, it was a Hulu project with no crowdfunding aspect.
So that basically led to late 2010s-early 2020s world where established creatives work with streaming services. In that ecosystem, there’s really not much place for crowdfunding.
A lot of people are mentioning “indie movies.” That is really just a version of the studio system, though. It’s not crowdfunded.
Some people do make movies that way. But, it’s way easier to make a big-budget production if you get some people with deep pockets involved. That means the big studios.
What you are looking for is indie films, small studios, microbudget films, and a few other terms like that. I’ve watched some films that were produced on a budget under $100k and they were just paid for out of pocket by the actors and director.