Welcome to part two of How Hollywood Killed Good Cinema. In the previous article, we touched on how Hollywood is milking sequels and remakes to protect the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Now we are going to delve into what Hollywood is doing right.

It seems the big Hollywood high-ups have started to realize that nobody wants to see six installments of the Fantastic Four. What people want is award winning original content. Where does that content come from? Independents.

Paranormal Activity has become something of a phenomenon in the movie industry, ever since Paramount chose NOT to remake it into a big-budget studio flick. As Paramount Film Group President, Adam Goodman, told us before the screening (and I’m paraphrasing), “This is the future of the movie business, right here…good films by visionary filmmakers made for next to nothing…It can be done these days.” I suspect this film will be successful in its grass roots efforts – especially after I watched hundreds of eager line-waiters get turned away from the door. People want to see this film – if not in theaters, then certainly the masses will eat it up on DVD. However, I hope it gets the support it deserves, as it is certainly theater-worthy. – Screenrant.com

The only problem with this, is why isn’t Paramount funding it more to get it into more theaters? It’s either very smart or very stupid. The reason why they aren’t spending the money, at least right away, is simple, they want people to talk about the film. The more people talk about it, the more people want it. Viral advertising has been extremely successful in the past, with flicks like District 9. Both District 9 and Paranormal Activity prove to be a great example. Both are made by relatively unknown directors. Both started out on the indie film festival circuit. District 9 was derived from a short that Neill Blomkamp directed called Alive in Joburg. Paranormal Activity on the other hand was made on an extremely low budget and did the film festival circuit for 2 years before getting picked up by Paramount. Paramount in turn decided to not have the film re-shot with a bigger budget. Why? It wasn’t necessary.

It seems the big studios are starting to listen to the little guys of indie film. Why spend a lot of money on producing a film if it isn’t needed? Indie film has been pretty quiet the last ten years, but it seems it’s coming back on a freight train loaded with award winning titles like District 9 and Paranormal Activity. Indie film has nowhere to go but up from here. The tools you need to put together a decent flick are now readily available at consumer levels, giving anyone with a good idea the ability to point and shoot. Which means that a lot of studios and producers are going to have to change their dinosaur business models to keep up. The struggling indie film maker will soon be the thriving indie film maker. With all the social networks and the new ability to self promote on a super low budget,  you will see more and more indie films getting picked up by studios like Paramount.