Sometimes I wonder if indie filmmaking is worth the hassle. Every Monday I do accounting, updating spreadsheets, tracking the business expenses and sales. Almost every week there are columns marked in bold and red — money still owed. Sometimes these owed columns don’t change for months. Sometimes years.
As I write this, I have been emailing IndieFlix since October 2023, chasing payments owed since 2021. These payments are pennies, under $100, but since their policy is to payout every quarter if earnings are above a $1 threshold, I think it is fair to expect the license agreement we signed to be honoured.
IndieFlix is a funny one. We have two films with them, Friends, Foes & Fireworks and Daughter, going back to the start of 2019. In the beginning they reported and paid on time every quarter and our films would earn a small amount on their platform, barely over three figures. But then one year into the deal a funny pattern would begin to emerge: every quarter like clockwork they would still send the reports but always forget the follow-up part… actually paying the money owed.
Is the Oversaturation of Indie Films a Problem?
The indie film market is flooded with too many films. It has been like this for years now. Salon writer Beanie Barnes was complaining that indie film was “cannibalizing itself” back in 2014. Mark Gill, former president of Miramax Films, declared “the sky really is falling” on independent film in 2007. In the year prior, 5000 films were released.
How many more thousands of films are made each year now? An accurate number is impossible to determine as there is just so much content that flies under the radar. But if you go on film discussion social site Letterboxd you’ll find 18,989 feature films listed as released in 2022.
Read More2020: The Year Film was Forced to Adapt
If there is one phase to sum up the year in film at all levels, be it Hollywood or the independent and micro-budget filmmaking scene for the year of 2020, it would have to be ‘geeze, never saw that coming, mate’.
With the Covid-19 pandemic beginning to spread worldwide as early as February and still raging now to varied degrees across the globe, film distribution and releases, both in cinema and through streaming platforms went through a major shift, and the playing field between Hollywood and independent filmmakers was almost levelled out as nobody quite knew what to do.
This was due to most cinemas in North America shutting down earlier in the year (unfortunately some went into bankruptcy and closed their doors permanently), causing big budget Hollywood films that were planned for release like Black Widow and the latest James Bond installment No Time to Die to be pushed back until 2021. Also halted or delayed were anticipated films which were to move into production at the beginning of 2020, such as Mission Impossible 7 andThor: Love and Thunder.
Read MoreFrom Writing to Wrap: A Feature Film in Four Months
Just last week, on August 26th, we wrapped principal photography on Machination, our fifth feature film shot in the last four years. This was very much a film inspired by this new Covid-19 reality we live in, a story about a highly anxious woman named Maria who struggles to cope in isolation as a pandemic sweeps the world. Maria is forced to confront the monsters in her head, in the media, and in her past.
Maria in her bedroom, Machination Behind the scenes. Credit: Monika Kopčilová
We had the initial idea for the film during our own lockdown in April in Malta and spent a few days at the end of the month writing the first draft outline. May was spent redrafting and refining the outline. In June we approached cast, researched the equipment we would need as well as the VFX we wanted, and worked to fill gaps in knowledge for the story as well as the production, such as the specific mental health issues Maria was suffering from or how we could pull off a particular shot – a period that was a mix of development and pre-pre production. One month of official pre-production and rehearsal began from July 13th. Finally, in August, we went into a 10-day production period split into two halves – August 12th to 16th and August 22nd to 26th.
This was all done between Sarah working a full-time job and myself working on other projects, including still shooting our Cats of Malta documentary and planning a short film called Crossing Paths for the end of June. So until production, and perhaps the last couple of weeks of pre-production, we never dropped everything to simply focus on Machination, and Sarah didn’t stop working her day job until the first shooting day. That makes Machination a feature film done from first draft to wrap in four months, mostly part-time, during an uncertain time in the world where many productions shut down completely. And the budget was only €6000. And we still paid everyone.
This is how we did it.
Read MoreI'm Self-Distributing my Indie Feature Film and the Idea Scares the Hell Out of Me
That's right – I am doing something different this year, self distributing my production company's indie feature film, In Corpore. It's not my decision alone, my partner and co-director is jumping on this rollercoaster ride with me and we plan to market our self funded, no stars attached, micro feature in all four countries we shot it in – Germany, Malta, Australia and America. Not only that, as part of our self distribution plan we are looking to use four wall distribution where possible, and even tour smaller states in America should the interest be there.
You are probably wondering why. You are probably screaming it at the screen. Please stop yelling, it will be ok.
Well, with all those distributors, aggregators, online platforms and sales agents who seem supportive and constantly hungry for fresh content it's a fair call to ask why we would go at it alone. For us, the first reason is that we have lost faith in handing our hard work and money to someone who does not have the film’s or our own best interests as the main priority.
Read MoreThe Value of Time versus Money
A few weeks before I left for Rome for a festival screening of my film, my new company had been extremely busy putting together two applications for a local grant. It's been a hectic end of the year, lots of changes such as a move to a new office, while also personally moving home. My business partner Ivan has this saying, which popped up through all the recent chaos: "Value your time more than money.”
I recalled this statement as I wandered around Rome Termini trying to work out where to buy a bus ticket from, while the sweat started to build on my skin due to my layers of clothing. I checked my watch one more time. The plan I had was to arrive at the venue for the screening early to make the most of my day there and meet the organisers with plenty of time to spare. Doors opened at 12pm and it was close to 1.30pm when I was finally on that bus. My film was not screening until 4pm so I still had time but I wanted to be there from the start of the day.
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