Why it is impossible to get a film made today
Filmmaking is an extensively collaborative process and that’s what makes it an incredibly hard task to pull off, the reasons are stated in the following paragraphs.
Culture keeps changing from time to time greatly influenced by changes in technology and tastes. Sadly that has direct influence on people’s beliefs in the value systems that are most essential. I am referring mostly keeping performance arts, particularly filmmaking in mind, of what I have seen closely since more than a decade.
There was a time in the industry when there still was excitement, some sort of innocence, well intended curiosity in people to watch, hear and feel new stories. A time when all parties involved like filmmakers, artists, investors and audience still had a fresh and open mind for new ideas and new thinking.
There were also traces of old value system of principles, values, ethics and belief in hard work, commitment, perseverance, determination etc that our generation of people were exposed to and taught, that really kept us going for a long time, until things changed unfortunately not for the better.
With advent of newer technology, newer apps, the belief in old values like long term vision, perseverance, endurance etc took a back seat to let the new thinking of shortsightedness, instant gratification, short attention span, quick turnaround etc take over.
It has influenced mostly on all the parties involved like investors, artists and more evidently the audience. While we all agree that this is how it is today we can certainly debate if its for any good?
I have personally experienced this in the recent few years while trying to pull off even simplest of simplest films to execute, it has become increasingly hard to find people who still may have the old values left from all the aforementioned parties, not to blame them, after all, we are all product of our times including me however I feel it is important for us to retain what is good and change what my not be for the good. While doing so it is important to keep at least a little bit of the old school values in mind as they are time tested and prove to be without a doubt a lot more sustainable.
To elaborate a bit more, it is actually even hard to get one to an initial discussion, I am mostly confronted with disinterest and indifference that prevails across the industry today. To a large extent I sense a perceived negativity around in the industry where individuals feel a certain hopelessness, as they all know, including me that most films produced do not really make it, for which there is no particular reason that they fail, as I have seen many of the most brilliant movies fail miserably and those which are actually of poor taste and lacking any point, do fairly well at the box office.
Not to mention the vagaries that arise with extremities in theatrical distribution and responses, the infamous OTT volatility and streaming exploitation prove to be some of the main causes of the perceived hopelessness.
Today there is a dearth for those with fire in their bellies, those who would want to fold their sleeves and get their hands muddy for something that takes a long time for fruition and yield, across all parties in and after the filmmaking process.
As I see it this may go on for sometime, may be until a deeper and greater change shows, following the demonstration of any good examples that may come out in the near future, if at all.
Till then it may be that, many times we all lose hopes in anything good but keep trying nonetheless, though it does feel pointless with an urge and need to move on to something better, may be for good.
Naren