"Who needs the movie business?!" - article by M dot Strange

And a rant it is. I get the part where you want to do your own thing, but calling people that you don't even know, people that could help your career, rude names is so dumb.

My initial impression is that the guy is a raving idiot. But then that's just my opinion.
 
I have to agree with taormina, this guy is out of his gord. And what is with the spelling? I'm a lousy speller and a tad dyslexic but my god is trying to make it hard to read?

I agree with part of his thinking. Having played with the big boys it is a bit of a dinosaur in some ways. But it is not a monolithic entity. There are a lot of folks doing fantastic work in Hollywood. There are also some clueless executives and vapid actors and all the rest. BUT those folks are just as common in the indi world also, just at a vastly smaller pay scale. And he's right about the balance of $$ in this country, but that is certainly not film specific at all.

I think that some of what he "walked away from" walked away from him. Most folks I know who have stayed independent for personal/ ethical reasons don't wave it around like a flag. And most people I have dealt with who do wave it around like a flag never really had an open door. Hollywood can smell crazy as well as most people. I guess I should say "counter productive crazy". I can only imagine how god awful it must be to work with this guy.
 
I agree Noiz.

And to further expand, you can have your 'values' and ethics and still be successful. Instead of trashing everyone, make your movies, make your deals, and use the cash to make more movies. That guy makes it sound like he has to marry those guys. Just take the money and move on.
 
I liked his rant. I liked his movie too (I bought the DVD). But he's an artist. Not Ron Howard. So...not surprisingly he won't fit comfortably into the Hollywood machine. I do think he has some points, however, and his anger is sort of justified, frankly. I'm not sure that he'll ever make a mainstream movie, but I don't think he wants to make a mainstream movie. Good for him. I hope he's truly happy that way, and not just sayin it! Because truly DIY independent filmmakers like him will have very, very long careers if they want them, whether or not Hollywood gets behind him.
 
I agreed with his basic point, yes he is immature. John Sayles and Jim Jarmash (sorry I butchered spellling your name Jim- I love ya man) prob feel the same way -they have made films outside the system for over 20 years and made a living doing it. There are ways of expressing yourself in a rant that can prove your point- even blazing -without even dropping one 'F' bomb.
jm2c
 
I guess some people forget we all use the same interweb don't they? Yeh I'm an artist, I drop F bombs and I'll get in your face if I have too... Old men and women don't apply so your excused Scott and Adam ^ ^ Remember you all started the name calling... now that's immaturE....

Glad you liked my work Sean... take my advice,don't waste your time talking to people like this... go make a film, win awards, win fans, and leave the complaining to these sad sacks. They're just minions or mediocre....yes I visited your links...

Yes I am a jerk, don't state the obvious...
 
"interweb"? You've been listening to Bush too long. Um maybe you should read your rant, you started the name calling before I ever heard of you. But being over the legal drinking age I keep forgetting I'm irrelevant... Hey Adam let's get our walkers out and hobble down to the library. He won't find us there he doesn't know what it is. And hey Adam are you the minion or the mediocre? Maybe we should take turns.... ah'o started to doze off there.

Just because nobody watches your film doesn't mean that it's art or relevant, it might just be mediocre.
 
let him.

let him.

I thought the article rang a lot of truths.
Some people want the lifestyle of Hwood. others dont. I liked the article, and i spent the last 2 hours watching his youtube stuff. totally inspiring man. Dig the whole st8nme movement that he is pioneering. Wicked stuff. in my opinion.. gives me a kick in the ass to get myself going.
 
Noiz2 said:
"interweb"? You've been listening to Bush too long.
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My only gripe is that the rant paints BMW's and black-rimmed sunglasses in a bad light.


kramer2.jpg


Buddy, I got to tell you something. "Interweb" is played. So played.
 
Sorry I just came back from Berlin on a trip to speak to the future young filmmakers of the world... it was great...

http://blog.berlinale-talentcampus.de/campus/2/viewentry/1873

There weren't any lameRs like Noiz2 there... I use the term interweb to irritate humans like you ^ ^ It seems I always irritate bitter old men... it happens everywhere... You need to stop feeling so threatened by someone bolder then you... get over it...

Thanks to the supporters out there... I will continue to do my best to help other filmmakers realize they're vision... I did a 45 minute presentation called
"Adventures in self distribution" at the Berlin Talent campus and the video will be active soon here... I describe how I am funding my next animated feature from the profits from the DVD sales of my last animated feature amongst other things...

http://www.vimeo.com/727154

And to the bitter men... don't bother complaining about the video... I have to go to SXSW and Japan now and won't be back to put you back in your place until mid April... Its a battle you can't win... I do my best to try to HELP other filmmakers by writing articles, making tutorials and creating inspirational/informative videos and your just some bitter guys complaining about me... What are you doing for people? The only people that will side with you are other bitter defeated men and ummmm no one likes them. So yeh..... See YA!
 
mdotstrange, you are forging new territory on the self-distribution front and I thank you. the model isn't changing, it's broken. and it's up to filmmakers to recognize that distribution is no longer a top-down hierarchy. it's bottom-up now -- meaning the audience is increasingly choosing the content they want, and are not limited to what the studios think they want.

I will be right there with you in the near future with "Heart of Now".
 
No Country for Bitter Old Men, the new movie by....
Not bitter at all, but very human and tis true compared to you I'm probably very old. I have not said anything against your film. I don't like it but I chalk that up to taste, I don't like a lot of films by tired old hollywood types also.
My only problem with you is that you have an ego the size of the former USSR, and very little to back it up.

Your favorite BOM LameR
 
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I will add one more thing which is that if you watch his presentation, Mr. Strange, is not nearly the "bad boy" persona he puts out there, he's also a lot older than he sounds. Most of what he is saying is very true (not so much about Hollywood but about making a low budget film out of the system). Very smart. My biggest disagreement would be over the "totalitarian" aspect. You see this all the time the "X is the new Y killer", "The future is Z". It almost never works that way. I don't think his approach is going to replace current distribution, it probably won't even make much of a dent. What I do think is very possible is that it will open up a whole new section that will be very hard for "old school" outfits to get a toe in. I'm not sure they are going to be too worried about it because it's not a high profit model, but that is the genius. You can make a living flying below the radar and his model is a very good example of how to do it.
It's not going to bring Hollywood to it's doom. You can't make "Hollywood" films on this model (well not easily) but then that's sort of the point. And since I don't need to try and prove my "out side the system" credentials I can say not everything Hollywood produces is crap. M.Strange mentions a number of filmmakers, all worked or work in "the system", so despite is I hate Hollywood talk he has enjoyed a fair number of them. The "virtual persona" of M.Strange sort of pisses me off but I suspect I would get along with the real person.
 
There is an interesting discussion going on here about distribution models which I think a lot of users could get a lot out of.
Let's just try to keep it civil please and keep the personal attacks out of it.

Thanks.
 
Noiz2 said:
I will add one more thing which is that if you watch his presentation, Mr. Strange, is not nearly the "bad boy" persona he puts out there, he's also a lot older than he sounds. Most of what he is saying is very true (not so much about Hollywood but about making a low budget film out of the system). Very smart. My biggest disagreement would be over the "totalitarian" aspect. You see this all the time the "X is the new Y killer", "The future is Z". It almost never works that way. I don't think his approach is going to replace current distribution, it probably won't even make much of a dent. What I do think is very possible is that it will open up a whole new section that will be very hard for "old school" outfits to get a toe in. I'm not sure they are going to be too worried about it because it's not a high profit model, but that is the genius. You can make a living flying below the radar and his model is a very good example of how to do it.
It's not going to bring Hollywood to it's doom. You can't make "Hollywood" films on this model (well not easily) but then that's sort of the point. And since I don't need to try and prove my "out side the system" credentials I can say not everything Hollywood produces is crap. M.Strange mentions a number of filmmakers, all worked or work in "the system", so despite is I hate Hollywood talk he has enjoyed a fair number of them. The "virtual persona" of M.Strange sort of pisses me off but I suspect I would get along with the real person.
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I work closely with the major studios, and I can tell you they are scrambling to figure out how to adapt to the evolving model. what they've noticed first and foremost is that the original (top>down) model, where they choose all the content for the audience, is diminishing. as more and more content goes digital, multiplexes are going to allow the audience more choices, and distribution into the home will offer even more. ho long until those HDTVs with direct internet connects come out?
 
I agree that distribution is going to change. I think once they figure out how to stream directly to theatres at a decent quality they will move very fast in that direction. What I get from M.Stranges presentation is not so much a distribution change as a separate business model. His model would work quite well for a number of filmmakers I know and for certain types of films. But there is a very large market for the better films that the film "industry" produces. His model is not well suited to a large market film. Your not going to make a big film by having your fan's on YouTube do bit's and pieces. And that is not a criticism, I don't think he want's to make "big" films. What I think it works really well for is independent productions. And indi's have had a hard time getting seen. It gets better and then it gets worse but it never got good. The "new" method of financing and distribution might actually make it good. And that is a plus.
Despite the rather humorous implication that I'm an Old Bitter Industry Hack, I actually do mostly independent productions, a number almost as strange is "We are the Strange". I did work on the first feature shot on the DVX100, and that had a budget below M.Stranges. I have worked on "big" films and Hollywood can be extremely wasteful. But it isn't always. It's not a monolith, it's a bunch of people making movies. Some of those people live up to and go beyond the worst stereotypes of LaLa Land, but many are just folks making movies.
 
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