J. Horton, Filmmaker/Youtuber/Podcaster: There's a misconception I think with a lot of filmmakers
where they think “I’m going to do this great movie and it's just going to speak for itself,”
and I'm not saying that never happens, still I'm sure it does but for the most part we have
to get out there and become the face of it or somebody does, we have to sell it.
Film Courage: Why is it hard to make money as a filmmaker?
J.: Today I think the easy answer to why it's hard to make money off movies is there's just so many
of them. On one hand, I love the democratization of filmmaking, the way gear has gotten affordable,
cameras are more and more affordable. Look at the Blackmagic 6k. You can get
that now for what $2,500 for the body? That kind of technology would have cost
$90,000 grand 10 years ago or 60 or something like that. It was crazy and that is awesome
and there's all these people we had the you were reading the comment earlier and they're talking
about how they made a movie in 1997 and they had to spend $50,000 to make that movie. I guarantee
you could make that exact same thing today not on 16mm for $15,000 guarantee it well yeah almost and
I think that is super exciting and cool but on the other hand because everybody can make movies
everybody's making movies and they're so it's so hard to get attention it's so hard to get eyeballs
on your individual project because there's just so much more of it and then and again because there's
so much more of it so many more places to put it the value of those individual projects is less
now and I think that is the main reason that it's harder today to make money on films than it was
10 years ago what do most independent filmmakers get wrong about making money from their
independent films I sound a broken record with it but I think the number one thing filmmakers
get wrong is they don't think about the business I and I'm not saying it has to be all business and
business first and then creative no you it your movie has to be good the creativity has to work
that's a given so I got some pushback on my channel early on because I was talking all about
distribution and marketing they're well well what if the movies just not need good the movie
has to be good I'm well yeah that's that's a given your movie has to be good that's duh but
what people don't put any focus on or don't want to they don't want to think about the business
and again because so many more people are doing it you have to be better and better at getting
eyeballs on that project you have to be able to market yourself and not and not just your movie
you have to be able to market yourself there's a there's a misconception I think with a lot
of filmmakers where they think I'm going to do this great movie and it's just going to speak for
itself and I'm not saying that never happens still I'm sure it does but for the most part
we have to get out there and become the face of it or somebody does we have to sell it and we have
to sell ourselves now it's not enough to be an independent filmmaker make a couple of movies and
just coast off of that let let the movies bring in all your income you have to get out there and
you have to you have to become man I hate even saying this but you have to become a brand
that's where it is and if if that all sounds disgusting to you an icky yuck
second you need to second think being a being a filmmaker a professional filmmaker today and when
I say professional filmmaker again I'm talking about filmmakers that are making money off the
exhibition of their films I'm not talking about DPs [director of photography] they're getting
hired to do stuff I'm not talking about gaffers that are hired to do stuff I'm not talking about
four paid directors I'm talking about people that are you're going to go out there and you're
going to put the movie together as an entrepreneur and make money off of it what if someone says
though because we've been talking about Kevin Smith, Spike Lee, Richard Linklater and Robert
Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino what if those are some interesting people they're just interesting
to listen to yeah yeah you just put them at a podium I heard Kevin Smith speak at a conference
and he's just fascinating so but not everybody's that yeah that's true so I think it's a matter of
leaning in to your strengths me for example I am not as charismatic as say Kevin Smith or Quentin
Tarantino and I'm not as knowledgeable about film is Quentin Tarantino and honestly I sound
I'm pretty good on camera now but I've been I've been practicing this on my Youtube channel
now for three years so I'm decent now but I had to work at it at the very beginning I was very
didn't know where to look didn't know what to do with my hands am I going to talk am I talking
with my hands too much I was I was and the whole time that imposter syndrome kicks in and you're
nobody cares what I have to say I'm talking about making 50,000 movies and making a modest living on
it who cares about that we all want to be rock stars we don't want to make a million dollars
nobody's going to listen to this and but I just I just kept at it and building it and then over time
it built up a little bit and people started responding to it and it's helped feed all of
my other work and all of the effort that I put into getting better on camera and stuff
that I just did a crowdfunder and I did a pitch video and no no ego I think I did a
really good pitch video and 90 of that is me being able to present on camera better
because I've i've practiced it for three years and just as a quick side note the amount raised was
oh we raised $57,000 now congratulations thank you that's great yeah Indiegogo yes excellent
yeah excellent what was the biggest mistake you made in attempting to make money from your films
or was that the biggest mistake that was your end goal and that shouldn't have been and therefore
that was the mistake my biggest mistake making I keep repeating the questions my biggest mistake
in not making money on early films was looking at it waiting for someone else to
to do it for me whether and this isn't an anti-distributor tirade or anything because I
distributors have their place I them I still use distributors but there's this thing with
new filmmakers where we just want to make our movie and give it over to something and then that
thing is going to bring our money in and we don't have to worry about it somebody else's problem
it's somebody else's job to market it it's somebody else's job to distribute it
it's somebody else's job to think about the audience and it's in if you're making a movie
at a certain level it can be but if you are making fifty thousand dollar movies or twenty thousand
dollar movies you don't have what money in the budget to hire those people so you have to do it
when eventually I came to the realization that I just have to do all these things I have to
learn it and I have to do it and once I came to that realization and started working towards it
it's the world stopped fighting me if before it was just everything was fighting me
I would I was I need to go with this distributor because they do marketing and they're going to do
this this and that and it didn't work out and then I did another one and it didn't work out
and I'm what am I doing wrong I'm counting too much on others to make my dreams come
true at a certain point and I'm not saying to not collaborate or not to ask for help or not
to seek out other people to help facilitate your success but at the end of the day it's you have
we have to do it for ourselves do you think that and I'm going to sound a little classist here but
it comes under the diy sort of punk ethos or or working class filmmaker whereas someone else and
again people are going to come at me for this but I don't want to get my hands dirty I don't do that
someone else can do that for me yes I think I think that's absolutely an element of it and I
don't think it's always a the a classist oh I just I'm too good for that I think a lot of people are
really scared of it I when it comes to marketing or brand building I think most filmmakers are
scared of it and then they'll twist that into I'm too good for it or or into anger or I shouldn't
have to do that and they'll get mad but I I think a lot of bad behavior in filmmaking comes from
anxiety and being scared and it's scary it's a scary thing I suffer from pretty extreme social
anxieties and I every single movie I'm i'm an anxious wreck but I get I get through it
but then on camera you ease through it and you're interesting to listen to and you have
great tips yeah it's so it's so weird I was a so I've always been a super anxious person but I've
also always had a performance bug I really early on I wanted to be an actor a singer
I was in a rock band right out of high school I could I could get up right now and go to a karaoke
karaoke bar and tear up some karaoke right and wouldn't be nervous at all but say I had to go do
a a a one-on-one ted talk or something that where I'm that and I and I couldn't write it
out or have it on teleprompter or something that would freak me out or I have trouble as
a producer it's a really it's a problem for me as a producer I have trouble calling people reaching
out I'm looking for a location so this person owns a location I have trouble making that call
I do it but I have but I have problems with it but I can go on camera and blah blah blah blah blah
but then I get nervous doing live streams I get really nervous doing live streams.