Want to see the cinema ecosystem a wee bit clearer?
Extracting the core from all the sh*t they created...
Remember my list of all that was wrong in TheFKATheFilmBiz? I’ve now broken it down into 8 sections for you in hopes we can all grasp it a wee bit better:
Power and Gatekeeping
Money, Labor, and Exploitation
Development, Producing, and Process Failure
Discovery, Criticism, and Cultural Relevance
Distribution, Festivals, and Audience Reach
Storytelling, Aesthetics, and Creative Stagnation
Politics, Ethics, and Public Responsibility
Education, Preservation, and Building a Better Future
I don’t like to complain. Really: I don’t. And I recognize that some of you may find that surprising. I try to live up to the name of this newsletter — and my name.
Hope can not be based on empty faith. We need to know there are practical solutions. I want us to find our path to the better world, the one we are building together. I know we can — and that is not based on faith at all, although I do have that too. To build the better world, we need to all start with clearly seeing where we actually are, and that requires calling out the crap that surrounds us. I recognize that is a long process and it is not always pleasant. And it takes some dedication. Much, in fact.
The process — as I see it — is breaking our reality down into components and recognizing what they represent, be it a category, a symptom, or a system. So that as is what I am doing here. For you. For me. For all of us.
We have eight sections that I felt I could assign each of my prior 224 points to one of. I have written about most of these points previously; ideally I’d have hot links from each of these points to my prior articles for you. But I will need some help to do that. Maybe one day.
Can you see that book starting to form? One of many, right? One day maybe for that too.
Let’s look at what we’ve got now. Let me know how you feel about how I’ve layed it out. It is only a first try. I suspect it will help you see our world a little clearer. It did for me. We will build our way out of this mess together. Right? Right?? Right!
I find both the process of organizing information and the information itself freeing and inspiring. It helps us see around corners. It is a practical crystal ball. Problems eventually have to get fixed. Root causes get cleaned out.
I. Power and Gatekeeping
The film industry is controlled by a small set of institutions and corporations that determine access, opportunity, and visibility.
Key failures include:
Restricted access to the industry
Festival hierarchies acting as cultural gatekeepers
Talent agencies controlling opportunity rather than developing talent
Streaming platforms operating as oligopolies
Corporate and political agendas dictating programming
Lack of political advocacy for artists and independent producers
Trade media monopolies narrowing industry discourse
Executive leadership lacking diversity and generational turnover
Corporate leadership consistently makes bad and dumbass decisions.
Technology companies exerting greater influence over cinema than filmmakers
What’s the problem, friend?
Power is concentrated in institutions that are not accountable to artists or audiences — let alone the art!
II. Money, Labor, and Exploitation
The economic system of filmmaking no longer supports sustainable creative careers.
Major issues:
Backend participation disappearing
Opaque accounting practices
Producers working years without pay during development
Film investment collapsing in the United States
Market pricing distorting perceived value
Gig-economy labor replacing stable careers
Extreme salary disparities between executives and workers
Shareholder capitalism has the wrong incentives for cultural leaders
Lack of healthcare for key film workers
Distribution deals grabbing rights without exploiting them
Union structures incomplete or outdated
What’s the issue, Ted?
The industry extracts value from creative labor while offering little long-term security.
