{"id":1418,"date":"2016-10-18T15:42:32","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T15:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2022-05-25T17:54:56","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T17:54:56","slug":"film-not-disrupted-yet-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/film-not-disrupted-yet-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Film has not been Disrupted (Yet), Part 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the final post\u00a0in\u00a0a series asking\u00a0why the film industry has resisted disruption so far:<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Making a movie is still an all-or-nothing proposition<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. Film technologists are focusing on all the wrong areas<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  3. Filmmaking is (computationally) expensive<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  4. We are a deeply traditional, conservative, and sentimental lot<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  5. The film industry neutralizes its best and brightest.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Postscript:<\/strong>\u00a0There Are Always Two Revolutions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    5. The film industry neutralizes its best and brightest.<\/h2>\n

    I like\u00a0to draw a lot of comparisons between the tech and film industries. Not just because I straddle those\u00a0two worlds, but because\u00a0they also inform each other a lot.<\/p>\n

    But while the tech industry\u00a0has long been defined those who chose Exit instead of\u00a0Assimilation (going back\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0Traitorous Eight<\/a>) the opposite dynamic is in effect over here in la-la-land.<\/p>\n

    Welcome to the Indie-Go-Round<\/span><\/h3>\n

    I\u2019ve previously<\/span><\/a>\u00a0commented on the sobering experience of watching\u00a0\u201cestablished\u201d industry pros live out a grind-and-hustle lifestyle well into their 50s and 60s.<\/span><\/p>\n

    You think that plateau of stable, fulfilling work is right over the horizon? That the right mixture of grit and cheery attitude will lead you there? That rarely pans out.<\/span><\/p>\n

    You see, it’s a permanent buyer’s market. Show business\u00a0emanates powerful reality distortion fields that are always able to\u00a0pull\u00a0in fresh bodies. Don’t like\u00a0your working\u00a0conditions?\u00a0Just\u00a0peek\u00a0over your shoulder:\u00a0there are at least two dozen\u00a0snowflakes queued up behind you. And they can’t wait to\u00a0take their lumps.<\/p>\n

    \"exposure\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    This trick doesn’t work on accountants and occupational therapists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    And so many of us find ourselves, at one point in our careers, on the dread Indie-Go-Round Of Death: you’ll take your movie\u00a0to a few festivals, walk a red carpet perhaps, do a Q&A panel or two. If you’re lucky, maybe a\u00a0photo-op\u00a0with Robert Redford.<\/p>\n

    Then it\u2019s back to borderline poverty, and you get to do it all over again.<\/p>\n

    \n

    @MatthewACherry<\/a> each year I get jelly of my friends with movies in Sundance. Right up until April, when they call me looking for a job.<\/p>\n

    — Pliny (@iampliny) April 29, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n