Dear Hollywood,
Invest in midsize and small-size movies again. A $200M film is just as risky (if not more) as a $10M film. With a midsize (or small size) film, you spread the risk, and have a better chance for profitability. Instead of one $200M film, you can make twenty $10M films…and more opportunities for original & unique storytelling, which is better overall for the bottom line….
Millennials and Gen-Z want Original Movies and TV, not Remakes. A new streaming insights survey conducted by free-streaming platform Tubi found that 74 percent of millennials and Gen Zers prefer to watch original content rather than franchises or remakes, and 71 percent also want content produced by “independent and small-time creators”
When “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” and even “Sound of Freedom” were cleaning up at the box office last summer, it was clear the types of movies young audiences will go out to a theater to see. While the latest Marvel, Indiana Jones, Transformers, Jurassic World, and more all underwhelmed, while “Super Mario Bros.,” “Five Nights at Freddy’s” — even when a fresh start on previous IP — even “Poor Things” outperformed expectations.
This is impacting television as well….
What Is Indie TV? Self Financing!!
With the decline of Peak TV (for nearly a decade, Hollywood was producing and distributing more television than ever before, thanks to the exponential growth of the streaming economy...however the trend began to slow around 2020, with studios warier of the niche fare they previously bought up with ease)…companies like Duplass Brothers Productions are presenting — and hoping to sell — at SXSW — a showcase of pilots from four series that the company financed itself.
https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/cord-jefferson-oscars-more-mid-budget-movies-1234963015/
https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/mark-duplass-morning-show-indie-tv-1235928155/
