The film movements were happening, and they were informing one another. A young American filmmaker who saw Godard’s work for the first time would get excited because Godard is playing with time in a way no one else had played with it.

Melvin van Peebles made independent, experimental films in the US. Then he studied and made films in France. Van Peebles was influenced by the French New Wave. He was influenced by all of those films that he saw, but he was equally influenced by what he didn’t see. Later, he became one of the first Black filmmakers to get a deal with Hollywood, along with Gordon Parks and Ossie Davis. They were the first three black filmmakers to be given an opportunity to make films in Hollywood. Hollywood needed some token people. And so they brought these three black filmmakers in, during the late ’60s and early ’70s.

These filmmakers were going to the cinema and seeing racist images that mirrored and impacted how they grew up. They wanted to change those images. They wanted to show people that there was more to the Black community than what Hollywood was representing.

In 1972, Melvin van Peebles stepped away from his Hollywood deal and made Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. In doing so, he shook up the system. It was one of the first times a person used their own money to make an independent film. His film showed police brutality and a black man taking his handcuffs and beating a police officer to death.

Given the history of film that had been created before 1972 and how the Black community was portrayed in those films, van Peebles crew was left divided. Some were not happy seeing that type of imagery. Yet these were filmmakers who were subverting Hollywood because they knew that there wasn’t a place for them. Eventually, Sweetback was a success.

That movie made money. People wanted to see the movie where this black man kills a cop, and runs away, and gets away with it, and the community protects and saves him. Audiences were eating that up.

What did Hollywood do? They saw an opportunity. Shortly after Sweetback was released, the blaxploitation movement began. Hollywood saw a way to make money off of stories where there was a protagonist who was black. For example, the initial Shaft character was written for a white man. It wasn’t until the success with Sweetback that they adjusted it, and the film was made with Richard Roundtree in the lead role.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, there were three television networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC. In the 1970s, Fox became the fourth network and changed the way in which the first three networks approached their business. There was more competition.

During that whole period of time—the 1960s to the 1970s– there was a certain kind of programmatic approach to content production. The networks saw what content worked and wanted to replicate it in everything they created. That was their product.

For example, they had a certain story to tell. They would cast a couple of stars and add a few particulars. They wanted to see the exact same story week after week, so audiences knew exactly what to expect when they tune in the next week.

Moving into the 1970s, content production fell under the auspices of the financial and syndication rule, where individual studios and individual producers were able to own their own product. There was an array of product that was available. But there wasn’t a tremendous amount of competition. Only certain buyers from the four networks were seeking out content.

In 1993, the financial and syndication rule was withdrawn. Networks were able to create and own their own product. Over the next few years, the networks started acquiring or creating production companies where they could then produce their own product. The networks understood that if they were producing the content, they would then not have to pay an independent producer for their creative efforts.

It was far more financially lucrative for the networks to be able to create their own production companies. They’d be able to keep the all money in the same loop, robbing the right pocket and putting it in the left pocket.

“The 1930s and 1940s were kind of the heyday of the American studio system. It was the heyday of Japanese filmmaking—many amazing filmmakers were doing so much work; however, the studio systems were still being established. And when Alrick Brown says the system, he means these things are built to just create and crank out stories. So, filmmakers became adept in storytelling because they had to constantly kick out stories,” Brown explains.
These were the filmmakers Brown first watched—Hitchcock, Orson Welles, they all came from that system. Brown continues, “Filmmakers like Ozu and Kurosawa also started their careers. It’s when I started seeing films that came before them; it was Buster Keaton, and it was Charlie Chaplin.”
Now, this new generation of filmmakers who grew up watching Keaton and Chaplin were making films. But these filmmakers functioned more independently and had a system that supported them.
Brown explains, “Films were often made while being written in these studio systems because they were just cranking out material. They put stars under contract—you are under contract; you made a certain number of films. They put directors and producers under contract.”
“And so, it was a film studio—with filmmaking machines. And in that machine system, some people were excluded. A lot of stories were excluded, as well as a lot of people who weren’t included in that part of the journey. European filmmakers who grew up on some of these American films, and were like, that’s not about them,” says Brown.
There were formulas to filmmaking. You had to believe that the French New Wave had some filmmakers trying more innovative things, that they were looking at the formulaic approach to some of the romance films that were coming out of Hollywood.
“Film noir was another popular genre in the 1930s and 1940s. This genre focuses intensely on a particular style or look. Film noir was a genre that had certain conventions it practiced. The audience always knew who the hero and villain were. They knew who the femme fatale was. This formulaic type of filmmaking, although entertaining for the masses, bred populations of filmmakers who thought of doing something different. They forgot about the narrative in the same way,” Brown states.
Brown further explains, “The filmmakers thought to loosen up the storytelling just a bit, where they were not going have this person be the hero, but instead, make them kind of a haunted hero, particularly after the war when many men came back with ailments from the war.”

The world of independent filmmaking primarily has to do with figuring out how to raise money to make your films.

“That’s certainly something I spend a lot of my time doing,” says Ekwa Msangi. “You know, after the housing crash, we started in earnest the introduction of crowdfunding. Which used to happen in a less official way before, in terms of aunties, uncles, friends, you know?”

Ekwa goes on to say: “It’s actually important to be able to pay something to people.”

At the very least, you need to pay for equipment and some insurance. Actually, it’s quite important to have insurance. You don’t want anything happening to people who are working for you and giving you their time. You also need to feed people and give them a copy of your project.

That is the bare minimum of what you have to give people if they are helping you on your project.

Crowdfunding is not only about raising cash money that you need to rent your van and the like, but it’s also about raising friends, like supporters, audience, people who are invested in your work.

People who are then going to be looking to watch your film when you’re done. “What you’re trying to relay is the excitement, is the reason why it’s good for them to invest in you and in your work and in this story and having people rally around,” says Ekwa.

When making a film, you are creating something out of nothing. You were sitting around in the shower and you came up with this idea for creating a world that did not exist. Creating a character, a person, or whatever out of nowhere.

You are literally talking about making magic! Who gets to do that? Most people in their day-to-day job don’t get to create magic.

Filmmakers do.

Artists do.

That is valuable.

Ekwa goes on to explain: “And if it’s not that, it’s, what are you going to talk about this summer at your next barbecue? You’re just going to talk about all the stocks and shares that you sold? Or are you going to talk about, like, I made a movie.”

“How many people get to say that? So I’m offering you, crowdfunding person, person who I’m inviting: I’m inviting you to come on this journey, to come on this adventure with me of creating this world and building this opportunity that we’re able to say these things that you care about.”

Ekwa acknowledges that it’s hard to raise money. If it’s your first time, “I wouldn’t start by raising $30,000. That is a lot!”

Unless you’re a professional, that’s a lot of work. If it’s your first time and this is your first film, do something small. Do something small and figure out where it is that you can cut corners.

Or if you know there’s an apartment or a house that you can use to shoot your thing, then you need to write a script for that.

There’s a lot of actors in New York and probably in LA as well who want to act and who would love to come on as an actor-producer or a DP-producer or whatever to help you get this film done.

Finally, Ekwa affirms that crowdfunding is not just about the money. It’s also about the people who are involved in helping you do this.

The friend who’s going to make a whole bunch of peanut butter sandwiches or the pot of pasta to give to your crew for lunch breaks and things like that.

All of that is really important stuff and is part of the crowdfunding process of getting your work done.

“And maybe you start with a small film and that’s the first stepping stone to the bigger project that you want to make.”

We sat with an industry expert in film to take a closer look at how the above the line and below the line budget works in the film industry and tv industry.

“When the film is getting made, the producer will work with and help to assemble a team that will help to execute it,” explains Janet Grillo. “So, when we look at a budget, there’s a top sheet budget, which is a thick document, 26-30 pages of real detailed, thoughtful estimation of the costs, from development all the way through to distribution.”

There’s a top sheet, which is usually one or two pages, that’s summarizing what those costs are. On the top sheet, imagine a sheet and imagine a line. There’s an above the line, and then there’s below the line.

The costs above the line on the top sheet of the budget, are everything to do with the ideation, creation, and envisionment of the project before cameras roll. Think of above the line as before cameras roll, explains Janet.

“Below the line is when you’re ready to make the damn thing,” says Janet. “It’s getting the cameras rolling. So what’s going to be above the line? Your writer, your director, the cost of the intellectual property, meaning the screenplays, is it based on a book, a magazine, a comic strip, is it a remake, that’s the intellectual property and all the costs of developing that into a screenplay.”

The people involved with doing that are the director, the writer, yourself, the producer, and some other producing partners that you might have, they are above the line.

And sometimes stars. If to get the film funded, you’ve got some big market value actors, they’re going to be above the line as well, says Janet.

Below the line is going to be everybody else. That includes the cinematographer, camera crew, and everybody involved with handling the equipment to the lighting, the gaffers, all the teams that put the equipment in place, the production design. All the people who work on building the sets, costumes, the people involved with wardrobe, creating the look and making the costumes and dressing the actors, all of the people involved with hair and makeup. All of the people who work on the making of the film.

If you’re a filmmaker, you often work with writers and editors at publications. And as you progress in your career, you might want people working with you to help navigate some of their questions. You might hire what’s called a publicist.
A publicist is someone who’s an advocate on your behalf. They have a lot of relationships with writers and editors, and they do some of that legwork for you. Before you even get your film into a festival, they might be emailing journalists to say, “so-and-so has a film at the festival, we invite you to check it out.”
They often know what the writers and journalists like, too. They’ll say, “this writer at Indiewire tends to like these kinds of films or these topics,” for example. Publicists might know that a journalist has written about one of your films in the past. They’re tracking all of that.
These are the different kinds of folks that are involved in helping you, your producer, and your team to make that first impression.
One of the first things that publicists do when they look at a film is to pick it apart. They figure out how to look at this film and they ask questions. What is the news from this film? What is newsworthy about it? Why is it exciting? Why does the film have a unique place in this world?
They will figure out how to amplify it in the best and widest way possible through press, online journalists, working with online journalists, and social media. They are continually working out how to continue building buzz around the film and the filmmaker. They want to amplify your point of view.
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“Before you get someone to watch your movie, you’ll need to get their attention,” says Eugene Hernandez. “But everybody’s got so much coming at them on a given day, and you’re trying to get their attention for even 20 seconds.” 

That’s why, Eugene explains, you should put a lot of thought into your press kit. “Because that’s how people are going to remember your film, both before and after they see it,” adds Eugene. “It’s really important to — for lack of a better word — kind of agonize over it. Ask, ‘Does this image represent the film? Is this the image we want other people to remember when they think of our film?”

Eugene also advises filmmakers to take pictures while still on set. Many professionals agree. Eugene has been on and moderated many film festival panels over the past 25 years. “The most common piece of advice is to take good pictures on your set,” he points out. “It sounds logical when you’re not making the movie, but when you are, it’s the easiest thing to forget.”

Think ahead to when your film goes to festivals or distribution. When a company wants to buy your film, they’ll ask for photos. If you don’t have those photos, you can’t recreate your set and costumes from four years ago. As you film, make sure you capture the images that will represent your film in the future.

Some marketing and distribution panels recommend spending money on this process. “Hire a photographer,” says Eugene, “or if you have a friend who’s really good at that, invite them to your set. Have them take pictures while you’re shooting or rehearsing.” Eugene recommends taking some posed photos of the cast, too.

You may not use these photos for years, but they matter. “Those are the images that will fuel the materials you create,” advises Eugene. “Those are the images that you’re going to hand someone on your postcard three years later at a film festival. It’s essential.”

 “Lovebirds came together because I had read this really funny script. It was originally a little bit darker and a little bit edgier, but it was just a really fun script about a couple that could be anybody who was breaking up. They got involved in what they thought was a murder while they were breaking up, and had to deal with their relationship while they had to stay together,” says Tom Lassally. “It was a very funny script and maybe more on the independent side when we first started it. When you’re going for a pairing like this, you’re trying to think, what is a fresh way to pair two great people?”

“I worked with Kumail before on Silicon Valley, and he’s such a gifted comedian and actor,” Lassally continues. “At that point, you would not see him do something like this. Then looking at Issa Rae, who at that point had not done a role like this, and to pair them as a really interesting couple. It was a really special dynamic that made the whole thing come together in a very different way. It was an example of one and one making three. The approach to do a romantic comedy with a African-American woman and a Pakistani lead and not necessarily have to make it about that seemed like a really fresh way to do a movie.”

“We financed it with a terrific company called MRC, and then Paramount stepped in to become our partner to release it. We did a lot of development with them, we worked on it with them, and we went and shot the film in New Orleans. Netflix came in because they liked the movie, but, on a practical level, they had a movie that already had Paramount and MRC spending money on marketing to create awareness for something, and that would be a good thing for Netflix.”

“All of these movies are sitting there. One of the first to be bought by a streamer, maybe even the first, was Lovebirds because they really liked the movie. They loved the cast, but they also knew they had some awareness going into them doing their job, which helped. The movie seemed to have performed well for them. At least people got to see it even though we were disappointed that we didn’t get to see it in theaters.”

How the streaming wars brought new narratives to the marketplace
“I think one of the things audiences we work with look for is a story that hasn’t been told before,” says David Ninh. “I think with everything going on in the film industry, we know that we see a lot of white perspectives. We know we see works from a lot of white male directors. What’s exciting right now is a definite groundswell of support and resources for people of color, for minorities.”
“What’s interesting for producers now is there is a real interest in specificity,” says Tom Lassally. “There’s a real interest in different stories in film and TV. One upside to having so many shows is that to stand out, you’ve got to be really different.
I think that’s been great for business. The industry is now actively looking for unique points of view, quirky characters, different takes on the world, new voices. The TV and film industry is looking for people who have a point of view.
There’s only so many ideas to write about so execution is key. There’s so much interest in all areas.
It’s an exciting time to be a creator
“There’ll be an adjustment at some point in terms of the streaming wars and the film and TV industry. There’s so much,” Lassally notes. “Now that these services are becoming a la carte, requiring subscriptions to multiple streamers, most of America and the rest of the world can’t afford to buy everything they want.”
“So, I do think there will be consolidation. What’s still exciting though is that some uniquely singular stories have been found by massive audiences. I think it’s a very encouraging time for young creators to say, ‘I have a point of view and it might be really different. It might even feel really niche. But if I can execute it well, I can create something.’ There’re many examples of that. So, I look at that as the big positive.”
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 “People love to make movies. People love to watch movies. But how would you start with making a movie? A lot of my students make movies about some emotional experience that happened to them-the first time they fell in love, the first time they broke up with someone, their parents’ divorce, their parents getting remarried for a second time, them discovering something emotionally about themselves, a big event in someone’s life, which is great for the person that it happened to,” Says Thomas Mangan. “But why do I want to watch a story about someone’s first girlfriend or first boyfriend unless, it somehow relates to me?”

“When I encourage my students to pitch, or when you’re pitching any type of project, you have to have a nice hook. It’s really the telling of a joke. It’s a setup of a story.”

“I’m going to tell you something that happened to me,” Mangan continues. ” I didn’t know it at the time, but my first girlfriend was the princess of Monaco. It just so happened she was at camp. I went there, and I met her there. I didn’t know any of this at the time. To my surprise, when her parents came, they were Prince Rainier and Princess Grace.”

That’s how you tell a story about someone falling in love and make it much bigger but somehow relate it to you as a person. To say, you’re not going to believe what happened to me today. I was riding the subway and so-and-so did this and so-and-so did this. If you remember, the big bank robbery that happened, the guy tried to escape by the subway. That’s where I ran into him. If you take a big event story and then somehow make it personal, that’s where the story has resonance as a pitch.

In the independent world, if you’re going to make your first film, your first film should be one of three films. It should be either a quirky comedy, a real relationship movie, not a romantic comedy, or a horror film, slash, thriller film. If you concentrate on one of those, you have the best ability to break out and connect with audiences.

Most audiences want to go to see a movie that they have a human connection with emotionally. If you go to see a movie that scares you, it’s worth the $10 or $20 you paid for it or $7. If you see a movie that makes you laugh and you laugh at that movie, then you feel that the money’s been well spent.