Every year, thousands of independent filmmakers scam their friends & families, sell their bodies, trade with the devil or con unsuspecting investors into giving them just enough money to make a feature film (over 9,000 entries in Sundance Film Festival 09!). Never mind the quality of all those films, think about the stories they tell: even though many may coincidentally share similar themes, every single one of those films tells a unique story with unique characters.
Why?
Does the world really need that many examples of filmmakers personal visions? (Over 9,000! for how many slots? And of those selected, the handful that are nominated for some award, or even win, may not be guaranteed the most basic of theatrical distribution and have a hell of a time paying back investors)
Here’s the stupid idea: imagine that all those movies, all 9,000 of them, were not just unique stories with unique characters, but were linked to each other. Maybe in groups of 3, 5 or 10. What if each one of those groups of films not only shared production resources, but shared a story. What if characters moved back and forth between projects and stories continued beyond each individual film? A film wouldn’t be just a film anymore, it would be part of something bigger, a story world. Indie film would be more like… TV. Yes, TV at it’s best. And it would no longer be “independent”, but “collaborative”. And more importantly, it would have a product with a distinct edge in the marketplace.
Wouldn’t that be f****** cool?
