Streaming May Not Be The Answer For Indie Filmmakers

Perhaps the indie filmmaking community needs a ‘back to basics’ approach when it comes to crowd building and audience retention. As we can see — the rise of streaming services are all the rage for the big end of town, distributing blockbusters and binge content on a daily basis has been a lucrative business model for Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu and the countless others that will appear over the next 24 months.

However, with so much competition in the game for our attention, indie filmmakers would be doing themselves a disservice to try to compete. There are plenty of companies popping up with their solutions to the independent filmmaking scene by establishing their our ‘independent cinema streaming solution’ for filmmakers.

Just because this model replicates the Netflix approach, does not mean it’s the solution independent filmmakers need.

Instead, we should be looking at the opposite of what everyone else is doing in order to stand out.

We should look at opportunities like warehouse rental — establishing pop-up movie theatres and holding traveling — non-competitive festivals where the profits go to the filmmakers who submit their work.

These are practical approaches to achieving a desired outcome for filmmakers rather than staring at the Everest that is streaming services and trying to compete and turn a profit.

Let’s give the audience something to leave the house for. Let’s work on an event! Something exciting that can only be seen to be believed. Let’s have an art gallery/installation approach to indie film showcasing that differentiates ourselves from the streaming services.

Anyone can stream — not everyone can hold an event.

Let’s make film exhibition exciting again.

This is the key to success in the indie circuit.