Do you remember 2012? The US Cash Office met almost $ 11 billion, Netflix became a streaming service and Emily launched best best Seeds and spark With what worked as a radical assignment: Build your audience, check your financing, own your distribution.
“The time in my life I was dismissed for that shit,” she said.
Cut to June 2025 and Vulture publishes “Mark Duplass has a plan to save TV.” The interview detailed self -distribution of his limited series “The long long night”, but here is the thing: the plan was not his. It was Emilys, the same as she has been running for 13 years.
The breakthrough moment
It took over a decade, but Emily’s vision – now collaborated with Christie Marchese’s distribution platform CINEMA – Finally, it looks less like wishful thinking and more like a lifeline.
“I wrote “Netflix is bad for the film industry” 2018, “ Best said. “Lots of people whispered to me,” I totally agree, but I can’t bite my hand that feeds me. ”
While Netflix reshaped display habits and algorithms fragmented audience, Emily silently built an alternative: crowdfunding → community building → filmmaker-controlled distribution. Her model not only has a moment; It is a viable path for anyone who wants to tell stories outside the Marvel universe.
And to be clear stool duplass not credit; The article’s framing was strategic. As Emily’s long -standing supporter, he brought the perfect combination: respected filmmaker, successful producer and decisive, famous actor. (Think Christian Bell who legitimizes crowdfunding with “Veronica Mars.”)
The plan was gathered at a 2024 Seriesfest party. Emily recalled: “We sat in this garden with a pile of appetizers and land was like:” How do we lack in the independent TV space? “And I said, look, all the tools are here.
The flood gates open
The answer was immediately. Seed & Spark and Kinema were flooded by calls from Creators who wanted to understand how filmmaking looked when you handled everything yourself.
“I have never talked to so many famous people in my life,” Best said (although she will not name the name of unfinished offers). Six weeks after The Vulture Piece: 90 new films and TV shows registered.
In addition to the gravitational drawing of the star force, the real driver was finally reached the top of the food chain.
Independent filmmaking is practically a synonym of struggle, but not long since studios gave celebrities production agreements in the hope that they Power Make a movie with them. Now Youtube is the US’s most guarded platform, built on creators with passionate communities.
Which best expresses it, “Celebrity is not community.”
How it works
- Bring your community to Seed & Spark for Crowdfunding
- Keep them engaged through production
- Launch on Kinema with a built -in audience
- Get access to your own information, get paid quickly, keep your rights
The cost: 270 $ annual subscription plus income sharing.
It is the simplified version and there is a lot to handle if you grew up and thought “film Launch meant “Sundance Premiere and Pray. “Success, Marchese said, when filmmakers” know how to run his film as a company. “
The uncomfortable truth
Making movies is brutal work; So is to build an audience. “There must be a big change,” Best said, especially for established creators who “will have to become a beginner again to access this system.”
It is best said that some high-profile creators are “still really uncomfortable” with the practical commitment that goes far beyond Instagram posts with “personal” messages.
But here’s the thing: Fame is not required. “The things that move the needles for us are the entrepreneurial filmmakers,” said Marchese. “The films that have performed best on our platform will not be the names that you recognize the most.”
Case study: “Show her the money”, Ky Dickens 2023 documentary about female investors, has been running Kinema for almost two years. “That’s all she does,” Marchese said. “(She is) to make money doing it, and she knows she creates artificial scarcity and keeps the price high.”
What is the next
The approach is still young. It best tested it with her own documentary 2024 on the change of equal rights, “Ratify”, and she uses what she learned, plus that audience, to launch her next project, short film “Mr. Jesus.” Its crowdfunding campaign began today.
Best’s vision hits differently now that establishment models are straining. Suddenly, her “idealistic” pitch sounds more like a survival manual.
“We try to hand over the agency to the creators to convert this industry to what they need it to be,” she said.
Anyone who takes that agency must develop new skills, but it can mean the difference between sustainable careers and algorithmic lots.
Which best puts it: “The only thing that has ever ended up with us against the next technology innovation is a direct connection to your audience.”
What do you think? Is this the future of independent filmmaking, or just a passing trend? E -post or text message to me – I would love to hear your thoughts.
✉ Do you have an idea, compliment or complaint?
dana@indiewire.com; (323) 435-7690.
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