, the veteran U.S. producer who has been in the indie trenches since 1990 when he founded Good Machine, the label behind Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm” and Todd Solondz’s “Happiness” – but subsequently leaped to the other side of the fence becoming head of motion picture production in the early days at Amazon Studios – delivered a provocative talk on Wednesday on the most pressing issues in the indie film industry.
– Media CEOs earn 9 figure salaries, while the industry’s creative talent workers need to take Uber gigs. – “The streaming ecosystem may eventually shrink to 4 major platforms. Then we’d have sacrificed cable only to replace it with a broadcast-style monopoly.” – Superhero flicks are mortally wounded and the overlords seem clueless as to what to fill the vacuum with.
Talking to the audience as 150 bullet points flashed up on a screen behind him, Hope also addressed the virtues of indie filmmaking; why an indie filmmaking system should not be dependent on global streamers and studios; indie first principles and tenets; and 19 possibilities to build a better future for the indie sector.