FUCK THE YACHTS FOLLOW THE FANS
Hey Cannes: Forget the Yachts; Enlist the Fans
Happy Thursday Peaceniks. Ready to get funded?
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This week on The Media Odyssey Podcast: Reinventing film finance for the Affinity Economy!
Despite all the bustle on the Croisette, let’s be honest: the traditional independent film financing model is all-but dead.
Streamers have stepped back from buying mid-budget indies, leaving a massive funding void for small and mid-sized films. These are projects that don’t fit neatly into the most recent mold that Hollywood thinks will sell more subscriptions to their unprofitable streamers.
It is really an existential crisis for independent film and artists. So, they often turn to crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Seed&Spark, or Patreon. These platforms are empowering, but let’s be honest: they are basically donation enablers. They act as digital tin cups that don’t create a system of collaboration or accountability between the artists and their fans.
[Traditional System] ──► Yachts at Cannes / Controlling Studios (Broken)
[Crowdfunding] ──► Donations / Perks Only (Limited Scope)
[Crowd-Investing] ──► Audience Equity & Shared Back-Ends (The Future)
Enter Marc Iserlis and Republic Film. Republic is creating a vital “third path” for capital. They bypass both elite Hollywood gatekeepers and restrictive studio buyouts. And some amazing, truly independent artists and producers - like Robert Rodriguez, Pressman Film, Ron Perlman, and Eli Roth - are taking this path to raise capital from truly strategic investors: their most ardent fans.
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Republic is one example of how the movie industry can and must be revolutionized if we want to ensure interesting, artist-led, independent film and television keeps getting made. Marc Iserlis is one of the most innovative and inventive minds in movies, creating the change we need without waiting for a greenlight.
This conversation blew Marion Ranchet and my minds. If you care about movies and the people who make them, this a must play podcast. If you want to know what show business looks like on the other side of The Affinity Economy: This is literally it.
[00:01:18] Meet Marc Iserlis, the head of Republic Film.
[00:02:15] Marc breaks down how his experience as an indie producer highlighted the need for a new way to finance films.
[00:05:06] Republic leveraged the JOBS Act law in the US and their global audience to build a brand-new path for film funding.
[00:07:33] Republic is a crowd investing platform– not crowdfunding. Fans are the stakeholders, and Republic provides the platform and licensing.
[00:13:22] Community is everything. Marc shares the success stories of Robert Rodriguez and Pressman Film, who each raised $2M by leaning into their existing fanbases.
[00:17:29] Crowd investing puts the power back in the hands of the audience, who in turn can enable creatives to be truly independent.
[00:18:59] It’s not just about funding one movie at a time. Marc points to Skybound, the indie studio that raised a massive $18M by letting 5,000 fans buy a stake in their whole company, not just a single film.
[00:20:51] Eli Roth, another example, sold 10% of his company to his fans for $6M to make more of the ‘unrated’ horror movies his supporters love.
[00:26:10] Republic sits at the intersection of creatives, their fandoms, and tech investors. Projects that gain traction from passionate fans can be discovered and funded by financiers outside of entertainment.
[00:29:40] Another perk: fans can trade their shares on a secondary market.
[00:31:12] It really works— Pressman Film successfully paid out its investors, making history as the first film project to do so.
[00:34:15] The ultimate sci-fi contest: Republic and XPrize are teaming up to find the next big sci-fi movie pitch and let fans invest in it from the ground floor.
[00:37:26] Why this case study gives us hope that there are ways to keep the entertainment industry alive.
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Really interested in what YOU think. Let me know.
And enjoy the weekend!
ESHAP
Hi Evan, I just love and support everything you have been doing, along with the vital information you have shared/put forward over the past couple years! I recall we briefly met at a media event over 7 years ago in NYC but can't recall what it was :) We are also connected on LinkedIn and I wanted to put an idea forward as a possible subject for your Media Odyssey podcast, or for something else ... anyway, my home is Vancouver, Canada and I've spent half my 30+ year career working internationally in the M&E sector (mostly in S/SE Asia) and after all the uncertainty and disruption we've seen, and are seeing in the content/M&E business in traditional markets over the past few years, I thought I'd return to where the growth is still in the double digits, and spent the last 4x months on-ground in Asia, to get a first-hand idea of what is happening here and what the opportunities might be. I can say confidently, that we have seen a massive shift from Asia being a back-office where cheap labour was exploited for animation, VFX and gaming, and where the content didn't mean much (to US Studios) other than a small slice of their global theatrical pie-chart, mostly because content was being made in another language, it was different and the US studios didn't have a stake in the content that was being created. To now, when there is more content being created here than ever before, mostly by creators that don't fit into the traditional studio controlled systems, made their own way, with their own financing, and that's being consumed by the sheer size of the markets here, and also around the world with the various platforms that have global reach and because people will actually watch (good) content with sub-titles ... India, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, etc., they're firing on all their content cylinders today! I am also seeing the rapid rise of Ai content like nowhere else in the world, with some absolutely incredible stuff already being made and where Hollywood now seems to be wanting to 'partner/engage' with companies in the region since they are so far ahead of the game here. And honestly, since Hollywood and the studio system is so stuck with their head's up their proverbial ass! Anyway, I think this might give you a gist of the subject I'd like to share more about and happy to discuss further to see if there might be a way to share even more, as I really feel the old moniker of 'Head East Young (man) Person' is truer today than ever before, especially for the fast evolving M&E and content business! I'm doing the on-ground work and would love to share more as we see the shift first-hand. I return to Vancouver next month and look forward to your reply ... thanks Mel D'Souza (https://www.linkedin.com/in/meldsouza/)