INDIE FILMMAKERS HIT HARD BY ECONOMIC CRISIS
Wednesday, November 12 2008
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Although the major studios continue to maintain that they are likely to feel little impact from the current economic downturn, the outlook continues to grow bleaker for independent producers. Movie consultant Jeff Dowd, who found a buyer for the singularly successful, The Blair Witch Project, told Bloomberg News that independent filmmakers "are having a harder time getting money at the $500,000, $1 million level than they were a year ago." He said he expects to see a significant drop in the number of independent movies next year, following more than a decade of growth. Bloomberg cited the case of producer-writer-director Neil Schulman, who used the equity in a second home in Nevada to finance his film, Lady Magdalene's, starring Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek fame. He has been unable to find a distributor for the film and now, with the collapse of the real estate market, he says that his equity in the home has been wiped out -- leaving Schulman with a hefty monthly payment to cover the debt he incurred in making his film.
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