Independent Film Dominated the Oscars. Why?

Hollywood has been at a real crossroads over the last decade, with it really ramping up around the time of COVID. We've seen studios trying to make the most money they can by releasing tentpole movies that can travel around the world.

That is the world of current Hollywood, and it's the main reason we've seen a rise in indie film and indie filmmakers taking Awards season by storm, and picking up most of the statues, including at last night's Academy Awards.

Today, I want to go over how indie film, which is in danger of disappearing. I want to talk about how it's been taking awards and why more studios should be paying attention.

Let's dive in.

How Did We Get Here?

Back in the day, studios would have a few prestige titles they'd use to try to win awards (and make money) as well as their summer blockbusters.

Right now, studios are heavily leaning on those blockbusters in order to make money.

The disappearance of the mid-budget movie has also taken out many prestige movies that normally would compete for awards. And unless a studio is making one of the big fours' movies - Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, or Quentin Tarantino...they're usually spending money on what they hope will travel.

When you make these big IP swings, they're movies you want to make money in America, but movies you also want to travel internationally. That means they're usually willing to make these movies much less specific or less willing to tackle niche emotions, in favor of something that is surface-level enough to be felt by everyone watching.

Usually, when you're spread that thin, you may release something that may be fun but is shallow. And that's really hard to win an award with when you run into things of substance.

And independent film is still tackling those deep waters.

Indie Film is Dominating Awards Season

As Sean Baker has said in his speeches at the Indie Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards, indie film is in danger. Financing is really hard to come by, it's nearly impossible to make a living doing it, and then getting distribution so people see what you make is the final hurdle.

But indie film still has a backbone. It's still people passionate about stories, and not afraid to explore worlds, people, and niches outside of the mainstream.

Now, all three of those don't guarantee you make a good movie, but they do guarantee you make something unique.

And unique movies get nominated for awards.

They also can make money!

In the last decade, places like A24, Janus Films, Mubi, and Neon have capitalized where large studios have turned blind.

They made mini studios that could strategize releases and make money on the kinds of movies no one else was making—independent film.

Those places could acquire projects already made or foot the bill for directors they believed in to develop their own stories.

And A24 created a brand of making unique movies no one else would even pretend to look at. These movies made money and won awards.

Films like Anora, Everywhere Everything All At Once, The Substance, The Brutalist, Flow, Past Lives, Tar, and many more have made money and won awards because they're doing aducatious things studios have left behind.

Even studio indie wings like Fox Searchlight and Sony Picture Classics feel like they're falling behind these places willing to take chances.

And still, we see indie film struggling to stay afloat and stay relevant. Even as it becomes the outlet for some of our most important and relevant stories, it's hard to maintain.

But if these movies keep making money and we keep going to the theater to see them, we can keep these stories alive and well and these filmmakers working.

What Should Studios Learn?

So, is there a lesson for the studios in all of this? Of course. As I mentioned above, their indie arms are finding movies people want to see.

Instead of focusing on other people spending money to make them and to be acquired, I think these divisions should be expanded.

Start putting development funds into original ideas and pay indie filmmakers to work with your studio to make their next movies.

Give them the flexibility to tell the story they want, but maybe find a way to cap the budgets at a certain rate, or create a kickback level across three movies where you can move up the budget ladder.

I basically want these studios to create professional incubators that get these directors paid, secure them multiple movies at certain budgets, but also allow them the creative freedom to pursue ideas that could win awards.

I know there's no world where these studios go back to financing smaller ideas. It's so hard to get them to even pay attention to genre movies right now.

But if they just expanded their indie divisions, they could reap the benefits of making money at the box office with low risk, win prestigious awards, and actually foster a new generation of filmmakers, some of which may go on to make those great studio films.

I mentioned the big four earlier: Tarantino, Nolan, Scorsese, and Spielberg. Those guys are pretty much the big studio guys who get automatic greenlights when they want to make a project, which will usually compete for awards given their status and power as filmmakers.

Well, we don't have a new generation ready to take over for them when they're gone. There are some names, like David Fincher, Ryan Coogler, and Jordan Peele, who have proven they can have those big successes, but you worry one slip up and the studios move on.

Or take away theatrical, which we need.

In the heydey of film, the 70s, you saw a lot of people taking a lot of chances in order to create the blockbuster environment we see today while balancing that with an era of the most prestigious movies of all time.

We can go back to that now if we want. But to do that, we need studios to learn the lesson that investing in these smaller films and smaller filmmakers can yield much bigger successes if we foster an environment where everyone can grow.

At the end of the day,

Let me know what you think in the comments.