Indie Films: A Genre to Take Over the Industry
The movie industry is one of the major industries in the world. For a long time, this 2 trillion dollar industry all around the world was dominated by major production labels who can shower multi-million dollars with a snap of fingers. This was also justified given the massive cost associated with the hiring of pieces of equipment and production sets.
The trend, however, has changed drastically and we have seen a massive rise of independent film producers over the last few decades. This rise skyrocketed with the penetration of the internet and the democratization of camera equipments with DSLRs and smartphones.
Moreover, the recent rise of streaming websites like Netflix and Amazon Prime and a large allocation of these firms budget into movie production has given the indie filmmakers a new weapon.
According to Kickstarter, the largest online crowdfunding platform, film and video projects are the fourth largest section where creators are seeking funding, and when the success of these projects are evaluated, film and video is the second most successful category lagging only behind music. So far, almost 70,000 filmmakers raised more than $413 million on Kickstarter and the success rate exceeds 37 percent.
What are indie films exactly?
Independent films are movies made by directors and companies that are not part of the major production houses, for instance, Hollywood’s “big six”, currently dominating the movie enterprise. These types of films are usually made with low budget materials and actors. However, these movies tend to have a greater focus on the individual characters and offer a more “personal” experience then an IMAX or blockbuster film would.
Despite the relatively small budget, many indie films even made to the list of the prestigious Academy Award nominations. Boyhood, Whiplash, and The King’s Speech are only a few names that have brought this genre to a new height.
Amid this rise, Steven Spielberg warned the production houses: “It’s kinda like India where there’s an upper class and a poverty class and no middle class. Right now we are squeezing the middle class out of Hollywood and only allowing the $70m-plus films or the $10m-minus films [to be made].”
Enter Spuul
With the launch of Spuul in 2012, we have been working with the regional media in the Asian countries and have made a massive library of Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese and other regional contents.
And now with the help of blockchain technology, we want to empower every regional entertainment lovers to be a part of the indie projects. With Spokkz (SPKZ), the native token of the platform, anyone can fund an upcoming project, let it be a 5-minute short film or a 3 hour-long movie. Moreover, the fans can even use their SPKZ tokens to crowdfund their favorite shows before they are even released.
Spuul will make the latest trend of binge-watching fun and financially viable at the same time.
