Contests can be serious drivers.
Picture a world where the only movies are either: 1) Large Multi-National Media Corporations’ Costume-clad Franchise Tentpoles; 2) Government Supported & Ordained Nationalist Culture Initiatives; 3) Micro0budget Amateur Hobbies. Sucks, right? No diverse talents reaching higher and further to help us recognize the full expansiveness of humankind (with the necessary budgets to support them). Well, that world is the one we currently reside in. Now picture where we may be ten years from now. Truly sucks, right?
How do we prevent that? How do we provide hope to a world of generative artists that they can support themselves doing what they love? How do we demonstrate to the entrepreneurs and financial movers and shakers that you can earn a significant return from cultural investment and do well as well as doing good? How do we eliminate the friction in the marketplace that leads producers to spend 50% of their time chasing money leads that never materialize? How do we help audiences discover the stories that are relevant to and will resonate with them? How do we facilitate audiences using these applicable stories to become communities that spur on further actions?
Maybe it’s time the rewards got a bit more serious.
I am hopeful that I will be able to initiative a great deal of positive change from my Executive Director seat at the San Francisco Film Society — but there are a lot of responsibilities and I can’t always focus on the change that I want to be. I know I need a great deal of support and I need the time to look for it. Perhaps their can be some parallel tracks…
What about an X Prize for a sustainable cinema culture solution?
