J. Horton, Filmmaker/Youtuber/Podcaster: Why go out and spend thirty thousand dollars
to make this movie that might only make a few hundred dollars
why don't I just get a camera and set it up and start doing Youtube videos.
Film Courage: J. you had a great question we talked about in between takes…
J.: Yeah so I've been thinking about this a lot lately I was like in today's in today's day and
age like can we have or could we have like a new filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino like in the 90s
that making that kind of cultural impact with an independent film like the way Reservoir Dogs did
and I've been thinking about this a lot and like racking my brain trying to even think of a movie
in the last 10 years that came out from an independent source and had that kind of
cultural impact that launched a director like that where even before pulp fiction he was a rock star
like can we have that today and I don't know because like I was thinking like the closest to it
in the last like five years might be the Safdie brothers but again not like Quentin Tarantino
I mean my mom knew Quentin Tarantino my mom didn't know the Safdie brothers what I mean
it just it I think today with the proliferation of streaming and just all of the content and kind
of our disposable society whatever you want to say but I don't know that a filmmaker no
matter how good that you could make a movie as good as Reservoir Dogs there's definitely people
that are as talented as him out there that are making their first movies but can those movies
have the kind of impact that something like that had or that Slacker had or that Clerks had
can we have that today and I would say no it would be my honest opinion is I don't think so
I'm not it's not impossible someone may totally come out and shock me this year but I don't think
so it seems more that the way things are working now are like like the Safdie brothers where like
how many movies did they make before like we knew who they were a few and they they built
up to a heart hard time or good time and and uncut gems they built but they had like what two
or three movies before that I thought so something something like that The Spirit Awards and I think
they might have been were they like Youtubers or something before that I don't know I'm getting off
but but what I'm saying is they didn't just come out with a movie that like boom here we are like
and who has in the last 10 I can't think of anybody I'm sure people will in the comments but
I can't think of anyone right and maybe because there are more people trying and also keep in
mind we have these influencers now and nothing against them but people who just look good
and are creative and do some really cool Instagram posts or whatever that's also competing I mean
we're just in this new realm where there's so many people competing for our attention
yeah whereas at that time the 90s yeah well and also not only do we have more people
doing it there's more people doing it like on a professional level like even if they're not even
if they're just some Youtuber from Toledo [Ohio] like they have a nice like 4k camera they got
their lights set up like it looks like a pro like tv broadcast from from the 90s whereas in the 90s
like to make a movie look as good sound as good and play as good as Reservoir Dogs that did it
cost about a million dollars where you could do that today for a couple hundred thousand
maybe less sure and we were getting our information from gatekeepers for lack of
a better term and we were going to blockbuster and seeing maybe just a few copies of something versus
When Harry Met Sally on the wall nothing against When Harry Met Sally but yeah 20 copies of that
and then a few of these indie titles that were harder to find and so those were there was just
a limited place for us to find them limited amount of cameras weren't readily available
like they are now yeah so there might just be more Tarantinos but maybe they're buried in the noise
yeah I think so which which brings up a a bigger point about distribution and how today it's
like it's never been easier to get distribution it's just now there are so there's so much more
content in the marketplace that the individual value of those movies has dropped so a movie
like if you make a horror movie today at fifty thousand dollars and you made that exact same
horror movie five years ago for fifty thousand dollars the five years ago one is going to be
worth whatever 100 or 200 000 whereas the one today no matter how it turns out is 75 100.
it's just less it's just worthless you're making less like they talk a lot people talk a lot about
amazon dropping rates but it's it's happened all over the all over the place dvd is shrunk we're
not making as much on dvd deals we're not getting MGs [minimum guarantees] as much we're making
platforms distributors buyers they are paying less for movies than they were until you get into the
the studio range sure and so and two when there were these special films let's say a Basketball
Diaries they were so special because there weren't that many like them yeah now there's
so many amazing films with Sundance and all these other festival there's all these indie filmmakers
so there's so much to compete but when you had the one Basketball Diaries then everybody could
focus on that one yeah and there were all these so I don't know if that's a
relevant point but I think it is yeah there's just so much I mean they say the same thing about the
home recording industry as well do you think that talent is no longer attracted to independent film
I think there are a lot of things competing for attention with independent film now
and and honestly like independent film or indie film
it's such a like nebulous like broad term and filmmaker is such a broad term like like is
a Youtuber that's doing vlog videos with lights and a camera and sound are they a filmmaker
yeah but yeah I think that all of those things are like there seems to be a lot of more easier routes
to money now like people see the influencers like single camera vlogs or just on their phones and
they're like why go out and spend thirty thousand dollars to make this movie that might only make a
few hundred dollars why don't I just get a camera and set it up and start doing Youtube videos
and some people are attracted to that and I do think that like some people that might have
like tried independent filmmaking like like narrative films or documentaries might get
sidetracked into that like like I've invented me I mean I've made films for 20 years and
about five years ago I started doing Youtube videos and for me it's it's an extra thing
but if I was starting out all over again I might have started there and you're offering value to
people you're not just quote unquote talking about yourself you're giving them tips that could help
save them down the line and interviewing people totally totally I mean I've always so at least
in the last few years I've been really focused whether it's my movies or my Youtube channel
and it's my I've said it before it's my mantra over and over what value am I adding what am I
giving people that they need or want and I think that that has led led me to doing better.