To many young teenagers, parents, and people in finance, film school seems like an intangible, juvenile dream that is solely a stepping stone in to the next unartistic era of an aspiring artist's life. The problem is, today, this is becoming more true. We are surrounded by constant media. Social media. Amateur video recording media. semi-professional youtube media. And a surplus of professional media that has yet to be seen because of the overwhelming amount of outlets there are to reach an audience.
However, there is a way to survive in this unprecedented rat race, and it's not the old-fashioned auteur route which every young film student dreams about (i.e. winning Sundance with a feature that only cost $50,000 and have it purchased by a major studio). Yes, that can happen and it does. Look at Ryan Coogler who just made and sold the well-receieved "Fruitvale Station" which won Sundance and was purchased by Harvey Weinstein. But with all of the media that is saturating the market, this is happening less. We are becoming desensitized by our daily interaction with internet videos and our endless waiting for instant gratification.
Recently, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg predicted an implosion within the movie industry. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielberg-predicts-implosion-film-567604 But they went on to say that for up-and-coming filmmakers, this isn't the worst thing. With today's technology and wide array of media outlets, it will be possible for filmmakers to reach niche audience and be able to make a living. For those of you who want to be big Hollywood producers, this might be disconcerting but at least the market is growing.
With this, many film students are still trying to be the top notch auteur and I believe that is not the ideal way to go about it anymore. You need to find that niche, the audience that will like your material and will want more of it. Then comes the advertisers. Jerry Seinfeld recently started a show "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com Ten years ago, if Jerry Seinfeld started a web series, everyone would have thought of it as a huge regression. Now, in actuality, it's brilliant.
Right now, the internet is like the wild west. There is a ton of land and people don't quite know what to do with it yet. So think outside the box, claim your land, and harvest it.
