But there’s a wonderful counter-agent to this professional malaise for the working creative. Believe it or not, it’s independent film itself. It’s the fine art of the film world, because there are no rules. Sure, there are good ways to get noticed, surefire things you can do to get distribution, such as filming in HD. (Thank you Amanda Curry for that excellent tip.) There’s always a professional side of every art movement, and it’s good to know your way around a business deal.
 

But film grows, it changes, and lately it’s becoming clear that it can’t be cooped up or kept away from “the people”. I’ve recently been reading a lot about the birth of the film industry, learning about Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.
 

You know, at one time, film was all over the country. As an industry, it began to spread out all over the place. Florida was once what Los Angeles was in its golden age. All the recent changes, i.e., the mass exodus from L.A., isn’t really new at all.


I'm not trying to downplay what those caught up in the tumult are going through. It's rough out there right now. Really rough. But now just might be the time for all of you aspiring writers and directors to take a step back and ask yourself why you're a secretary, a P.A., or why you're still holding a boom mic despite having a degree in cinematography.
 

The high number of spread-out productions was standard practice in the silent film era, when film studios could consist of an upstairs room in the middle of a city and a camera. (Albeit a giant one.) Films weren’t always nationally distributed. Sometimes they were put into one or two theaters at most. It wasn’t always about a billion dollar box office take or awards season and the independent film industry has never forgotten that.
 

I think that what’s happening in the world of film right now is not a new thing at all, but a return to the roots of the movement. After all, film isn’t very old, it’s just a baby compared to painting, sculpture, and other ancient art forms.
 

Many feel that all these changes spell doom and gloom for movies, but that’s just not true. This is, “Be Kind, Rewind” in real life. But that doesn’t mean we won’t always have summer blockbusters. Trust me, we will, and I’m glad. 
 

I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. Why? Well, mostly because I can’t not think about film. But also because I’ve been studying. I’ve been learning how other filmmakers began.


Yes, it’s true that many successful directors began at USC as teens and immediately launched into their careers, and yes I am insanely jealous of every single one of them. But that’s not the only way to become a filmmaker. If that was once the best way to start in film, it’s just not true anymore. It’s still a good route, but it’s not the only one.
 

(By the way, have you ever seen any of Lucas or Spielberg’s student films? If you haven’t, you need to. It’s a reminder that everyone has to start somewhere, and they didn’t come out of the womb as wunderkinds. They were once raw unpolished talents too.)
 

Think about Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jared Hess, and more. Like their movies or not, they all started with one simple tool. A camera. And more often than not, several maxed out credit cards. But the point is this, if film was ever an elite club, it just isn’t anymore.
 

One of the best things about this is that now the cream really can rise to the top. Theoretically, everyone can make a movie now. We’ve all seen our fair share of B horror films, amateur dramas, and really bad comedies. Some are on YouTube and some are on cable. But if something is really wonderful, it won’t matter if it was shot with a crummy camera. Or maybe it was shot with a crummy camera on purpose. Who knows? Who cares?
 

If you’ve ever wanted to be a filmmaker, now is the time to do it. So go do it. Write your script. Beg, borrow, buy, or rent a camera. Don’t worry about the “right” way to do things or needing to gather a ton of capital. If it's good, you'll know it. If it's bad, you can try again and be really happy living your passion.
 

The best kept secret in film is that there is no “right” way anymore. Put it on Vimeo, start a website, enter festivals. Then take what you learned and make another one, maybe this time you can learn about distributors and take it to the next level.


But don’t ever be too intimidated to do what you love. Not in this climate, because now is the absolute perfect time to make a movie. Do it because you love it, do it because you can’t stop thinking about it, do it because you can.