Filmmaking Is Too Expensive And, Therefore Too Inaccessible

Problem

Almost every film ever made requires a budget to accomplish. There is rarely a scenario where something can be achieved in the creation of narrative fiction for free and this is due to the collaborative nature of filmmaking.

Films are made in teams.

There may be one person at the helm who drives the vision for the story, but this person is merely coordinating the efforts of the many.

As a result, these people need to be paid for their time and their skill.

The development of Hollywood as an industry town generating millions of dollars in production costs (and profits) led to the creation of Labor unions for the various creative industries associated with the artistry. These were important to strike a balance between creativity and exploitation.

But filmmaking is also a very alluring proposition.

People who love films also, often, love to engage in creative pursuits akin to the creation of films.

These independent creators who lack the funds necessary but perhaps have the personnel to pull off a production would like to engage in the process of filmmaking without having the filmmaking community at large debase their efforts by proposing they were exploitative in practice.

Solution

In order for these independent filmmakers to engage in their passion for creating films, they really only have one currency they can give to the community they serve.

Time.

The creation of an app that allows filmmakers to invest their time in order to pay for their own films might seem like an ideal solution as they would be helping other like-minded productions that lack funds of their own.

For example, lets say a filmmaker based in London wishes to create a micro budget feature film with their friends but they do not have the funds to pay anyone for their time.

They agree to offset their time and their skills at a later date inside a database for filmmakers in need of their services for their own micro budget film productions.

These filmmakers who engage the services of filmmakers inside the database, say for the purposes of post production, sound design, colour correction, music etc etc, would then pay the favour forward by offsetting their time spent on their own productions to assist other micro budget filmmakers.

Think of it in terms of passengers offsetting their carbon emissions after they have just engaged in high polluting activities of necessity like international travel.

This is a way of ensuring fairness can exist in order to mitigate the threat of exploitation.

A similar idea would be to strike a balance with the crew who lend their free services to a production, by lending your time free of charge in exchange for theirs on a similar not for profit project.

The creation of an app that can coordinate the desire for this ethical approach to independent filmmaking might go a long way to legitimising this often overlooked element of the industry.

This story is the first in an idea creation series inspired by Ted Hope. The purpose of this series is to promote discourse amongst entrepreneurs, artists and indeed anyone for the betterment of the community at large. You are free to use these ideas as you please.