In the above YouTube clip Matt Damon talks about the increasing financial risk of making movies these days.
I believe it’s a sign of the times.
I think it hints to fragmented media channels, audiences that are ever harder to reach and even harder to convince to part with their money.
Now I believe the difficulty studios are facing in finding profit presents a great opportunity for the amateur wannabe filmmaker.
But first let’s talk about a few ways around this financial risk.
One is to cross the chasm with truly remarkable work, a strategy that is subject to the perils of subjectivity.
Two is to decrease the cost of making movies, an approach I imagine doesn’t go down well with diva actors used to their enormous pay checks.
And third is trust. The trust developed between filmmaker and audience. I don’t love all of Chris Nolan’s films but I pay my cinema ticket everytime anyway to give him the benefit of the doubt.
‘Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino‘ holds more weight than ‘from the studio that brought you Stepbrothers!‘
Now to return to the opportunity inherent in the struggles of the studio.
If you are an amateur filmmaker you will be better versed in creating films on a shoestring budget than the big name directors who have long forgotten what it was like to problem solve a scene rather than simply throw money at it.
Furthermore the third strategy I mentioned, trust. Is something that can be developed without the enormous financial backing of a studio.
The internet is the vehicle and you own the fuel.
Take for example, Cian Twomey, in a parallel industry.
Cian Twomey started off making videos on social media and eventually his following grew so large that today on Instagram he has 866 thousand followers.
Cian also has a book out.
Now I imagine what happened was the book publishers saw this enormous audience loyal to Cian and brokered a deal for him to publish a book, hoping that they, the publishers, would be able to cash in on this trusted community.
Furthermore I hypothesize that the publishers waved all the hoop jumping they make unknown wannabe authors do, because Cian had what they wanted, undivided attention.
Within each problem lies an opportunity.
Thomas Duggan 