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You're right, it's entirely about discovery these days. Marketing is how studios cope with that. Indies are also marketing, but in somewhat different ways. The

You're right, it's entirely about discovery these days. Marketing is how studios cope with that. Indies are also marketing, but in somewhat different ways. There's curation via critics and festivals, but even that's not enough. My theory is that there's some audience for any half-competent film. The world is a big place, with a lot of variety and a lot of different tastes. If your film isn't truly awful, then there's some subset of people out there who want to see it. Long tail audiences for long tail filmmaking. The trick is they don't even know it exists. It's the same with apps and with music and with self-published novels. Matching audience to creative work for the million niches is the real trick that needs to be figured out. The systems we have now (app store, amazon, netflix, spotify, etc) all fail at it in general. Machine learning (as currently applied any way) doesn't really do it.

thenomad 13y ago
Speaking as a working filmmaker - yes, you have hit the nail on the head here (and it's a real pity your comment's currently at the bottom of the thread). Self-published novels are doing a bit better than the other media at matching output to demand. That's partially because of a faster feedback loop, partially because Amazon are smart cookies, and partially just because they need to earn back a lot less to be profitable. I'd be interested in talking more about this issue, actually - my email address is in my HN user info.
protomyth 13y ago
"My theory is that there's some audience for any half-competent film." I had high hopes that social media sites would make it easier to find new stuff, but it seems their business model of selling advertising is actually in direct conflict with building tools to discover new media. Apple might have had a chance with Ping, but they bungled it so badly. I would imagine that someone will either make their money from linking media to audience or find a revenue source that doesn't conflict.

thenomad 13y ago

Speaking as a working filmmaker - yes, you have hit the nail on the head here (and it's a real pity your comment's currently at the bottom of the thread). Self-published novels are doing a bit better than the other media at matching output to demand. That's partially because of a faster feedback loop, partially because Amazon are smart cookies, and partially just because they need to earn back a lot less to be profitable. I'd be interested in talking more about this issue, actually - my email address is in my HN user info.

protomyth 13y ago

"My theory is that there's some audience for any half-competent film." I had high hopes that social media sites would make it easier to find new stuff, but it seems their business model of selling advertising is actually in direct conflict with building tools to discover new media. Apple might have had a chance with Ping, but they bungled it so badly. I would imagine that someone will either make their money from linking media to audience or find a revenue source that doesn't conflict.