I remember wanting to be a filmmaker ever since I was fifteen years old. That was a long time ago. It feels like a lifetime ago when my mother said to me that filmmaking is for the rich and the famous, not for us lower middle-class folks. She wasn’t entirely wrong, especially back then in the mid-eighties.

 

But then the 1990s rolled around, and things started changing in Hollywood. There were a couple of new kids on the block— filmmaking revolutionaries who used their own money, raised private capital, and circumvented the Hollywood filmmaking factories. 

 

There were people like Quentin Tarantino who made “Reservoir Dogs” and Robert Rodriguez with “El Mariachi.” Then there was “Hoop Dreams” and the “Blair Witch Project.”

 

The Sundance Film Festival was inundated with new voices, fresh concepts, and points of view, giving establishment studios and production companies a run for their money— literally.

 

I remember when home video outlets would order tens of thousands and even over one hundred thousand VHS tapes to fill their movie rental house shelves. Walking into Blockbuster back then, you’d see rows of the same film filling an entire section. There was a need for product, and indie films were good to fill up empty shelves at rental houses across the country.

 

Today, streaming technology made way for a sea of content, making professional filmmakers run for the hills to reinvent themselves.

 

Filmmakers may wonder if 2026 is a better time to make movies than 1996. 

 

While the technology makes it easier to make movies in 2026 than thirty years ago, the opportunity of getting noticed is much more difficult simply because of the saturated marketplace.

 

Notice that I said the technology makes it easier to make a film, but in my humble opinion, the technology doesn’t make a film better. I’m still partial to shooting on 35mm stock rather than capturing the image on digital. Granted, it’s much harder and more expensive to shoot on film. 

 

For those of you that weren’t pounding the pavement back then with a screenplay actually printed on paper, the process of shooting on film was as follows:

 

Once the script was locked and the production pieces were in place, the filmmaker would rent a 35mm camera from a local rental house.

 

Film stock suppliers carried 35mm, Super 16mm, and 16mm film. Producers bought film at approximately $0.35 to $0.55 per linear foot for 35mm, while 16mm was cheaper. To illustrate the cost, I purchased 100,000 linear feet of film for one of my 35mm movies, which cost around $50,000. However, the process didn’t end there. After exposing the film and capturing the images, the negatives were sent to a lab for processing. They were then transferred to an interpositive, then to an internegative, and finally, a release print was made.

 

There were other costs associated with that entire process, and by the time an indie feature would be shot, developed, processed, color corrected, and printed with an audio track, the cost could run to over $100,000 or more just for that part of the filmmaking process.

 

I’m sure you can understand why it was much more difficult to make a film back then and why there were fewer people able to produce one. A filmmaker had to be trained and skilled in making a film, whether going to film school or learning the ropes by starting out as a production assistant working on film productions.

 

Even a decade ago, things were quite different compared to thirty years ago. The cost of negative film and the processing required for an indie feature film in the nineties amounted to over $100,000. Just ten years ago, the hard drives used to store and back up the footage cost approximately $2,000. 

 

In today’s independent production world, a smartphone can capture the action and sound, edit the footage, adjust the colors, reduce background noise, and a bunch of other tasks that typically trained professionals had to perform. Apple actually experimented shooting a film on one of their iPhone models, not to mention the thousands of filmmakers capturing great footage on their smartphones every day. 

 

In addition, the rise of artificial intelligence is now making it possible for one person to create an entire feature film by using A.I. platforms. A trained eye can easily tell the difference between artificial characters versus human actors, but the technology is so advanced that in the near future even industry professionals may have a hard time differentiating between the two. 

 

Is it better, or worse? You be the judge. 

 

On one hand, technology gave everyone the opportunity to express their points of view, which is good in terms of equal opportunity. However, it made it harder for professional filmmakers to make a living because the market became so saturated with products. 

 

Technology gave more people the opportunity to make a professional movie, but sometimes it feels like there are more people making movies than there are people watching movies. 

 

In business classes, we learned that the economy is driven by supply and demand, and that’s exactly how the film business works too.

 

The more demand there is, the more people will step up to supply the market; however, the more supply flooding the marketplace, the less money film buyers are willing to spend. I’m not talking about the star-studded blockbuster. I’m simply making the point for the indie filmmakers out there trying to make a living.

 

So, how can an aspiring filmmaker differentiate themselves from the crowd and make their film stand out? 

 

What I’ve learned over the years and by trial and error was to adapt the reverse engineering model in creating a feature film as the corporations use to create a product.

 

The formula is as follows:

 

• Identify market needs. In other words, what are film buyers looking to buy for their territory? 

 

• Create a compelling story based on the market needs.

 

• Write a screenplay tailored to your budget limitations.

 

• Create a well-paced story with action sequences and story twists cleverly spaced to keep the audience interested.

 

• Create complex and flawed characters that would attract a name actor to your project.

 

• Consult with a film distributor before you even start your development phase.

 

• Raise money through crowdfunding, private investors, grants, production companies, or personal finance.

 

• Secure a distribution deal with the aforementioned film distributor.

 

Easier said than done? Sure, but there’s a certain method to the madness. Actually, there are as many methods to it as there are filmmakers. The trick is to be persistent, and you can read my book “Aspiring Filmmaker,” now available on Amazon, if you want to find out more details about reverse engineering and producing an indie film from pre-development to distribution and beyond that—the most important phase—revenue management. 

 

Another reality of the film industry then and now is that regardless of market needs, demands, and saturation, many films of the 90s and today remain in obscurity. The ones that got distribution became famous. But the tens of thousands that didn’t get much attention are sitting on a shelf in basements and attics across the world, collecting dust. 

 

Here’s another way to illustrate the reality of filmmaking then and now. If you have a great idea for a film, you’re just like the millions of other people who think they have a great idea for a film. If you actually took the time to write a logline, a synopsis, and maybe a treatment, you’re slightly ahead of millions of hopefuls. If you started writing a screenplay, you’re doing better than most. If you finished writing the screenplay, you’re now pulling ahead of the crowd. If you raised the money to shoot a feature film, you’re on your way. Now you can look back and see the millions of people with the great idea still talking about how much money their idea would generate at the box office if only someone would give them a break. 

 

If you actually got to production and finished shooting your film, you’re light years ahead, and if you had the good sense to budget for post-production, you can actually finish your film and get it to a distributor.

 

If you get a distribution deal, you’re now part of the Hollywood crowd. You’re in the game. And if your film makes money in distribution, now you’re part of a select few indie filmmakers that have bragging rights.

 

What will your bragging rights be? You had an idea, you wrote a script, you got a group of rich people to give you money, you managed those funds like they were your last dollar, you were able to hire a notable actor or two, you completed principal photography, you had enough funds left over to finish post-production, you secured a distribution deal, and your movie is now returning on the investment. You can now payback your investors with interest, which gives you the clout to raise money for your next project. 

 

That, my dear friends, is the most concise explanation of the independent film industry overview as I can give. The bottom line is determination, taking action, raising funds, and being responsible. That’s it. If you can do all those things, you will definitely leave the millions of would-be filmmakers in the rearview mirror.

 

It’s true that the early days of indie filmmaking in the 1990s are long gone, but be encouraged because filmmaking is still alive and kicking. Follow your dreams and never give up. You never know, you may be the next great filmmaker of this generation.

 

Let me just say one more thing before I end this article. The greatest advice I can give is to be humble. Yes, the accomplishments at various stages can make you feel like you’re on top of the world, and you may very well be, but be grateful for it and be humble.