They're probably why we all got into this business in the first place: those quiet character studies that stay with you for weeks, the intimate dramas that feel like looking through someone's window into their most vulnerable moments. But they've become incredibly hard to sell without heavyweight players attached, and even then, what's the guarantee that audiences will show up?
The math is brutal. Indie dramas have become notoriously difficult to sell, with shrinking exhibition windows, streaming platforms favoring binge-worthy series over standalone films, and theatrical releases competing against superhero spectacles for screen time. We're all buying into the idea that we should give buyers and financiers what's more likely to move: the horror films, the action thrillers, the high-concept comedies with built-in marketing hooks.
But here's the paradox: wouldn't this contribute to market saturation? When everyone's chasing the same "safe" genres, couldn't a fresh, original drama that cuts through the noise actually stand out? After all, they can be made cheaper than their commercial counterparts. No massive set pieces, no CGI budgets, no car chases...just compelling characters navigating real human stakes.
And good word of mouth is golden these days. In an era where audiences are overwhelmed by choices, a small film that genuinely moves people can spread like wildfire through social media and streaming algorithms. Sometimes the quiet movie that makes you ugly cry becomes the one everyone's talking about. The question isn't whether audiences want these stories...it's whether we're brave enough to keep telling them while the industry seems to be moving in the opposite direction.
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I think this is the end of smart cinema. The business is actively exploiting the mindless pleasure that viewers get from watching movies, and they won't give it up. Film festivals will remain the only platform for smart movies.
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Hi @Geoffroy,
What you wrote deeply moved me. It’s rare to see someone express with such clarity and honesty what so many of us feel but don’t always dare to say.
You reminded us why we fell in love with cinema in the first place — not for spectacle, but for silence, intimacy, vulnerability. For the kind of films that don't scream, but whisper something that stays in us.
In a world rushing toward noise and trends, your words feel like a pause. A breath. A call to keep creating from the heart, even when the industry pushes the other way.
Thank you for that.
We need more voices like yours.
— Minh
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My dream is that the industry makes a cultural shift from prioritising casting to prioritising content.
It's overdue. We had it in the '90s with the Backlot Rebels.
All that's needed is a platform that becomes the equivalent of video. We kinda saw it in the early days of streaming. That saw Adult Swim type material getting an audience. The Horror genre has it with Shudder, but then horror audiences in general have always been more open to indies. Ted Hope tried to build one but it didn't take off.
At the moment, the issue is that we have the cultural capacity for one indie a year. Nothing else really penetrates the market noise.
It's a chicken an egg situation too. Most producers I'm talking to don't want to risk making artistic films because sales agents and buyers are steering them toward action.
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110% with you Geoffroy Faugerolas - I think sometimes (maybe too often) we underestimate the audience’s ability to recognize and connect to this genre. On the other hand, as Kurosawa challenges us in the now viral video clip,“ The most difficult thing is to raise the level of audience's appreciation of film. It's easy to lower it.” So we have to make it worth their while.
You also raise a great point regarding the lower budget these films can be made for - day after day I’ve sat in my Esper acting class watching and wringing with emotion as my classmates delivered scenes that would rival or beat much of what we see out now. From a producer’s standpoint, there’s tons of talent just waiting on the sidelines ‘undiscovered’ as the saying goes. To find, nurture, and allow the rest of the world to also discover them (something today’s audiences love to do) is one of my mission points.
You’re also correct that in a world of ‘chaos’, stillness gets our attention. We perceive motion, color, etc through contrast, after all.
I am however, of a third mind - and I don’t think I’m alone in this: I genuinely believe that today’s generations are expecting more than just relatively neatly categorized genres. Because they’ve been groomed on craving a new experience every 5 seconds! haha they’re driven much more by curiosity, by exploration than by satisfying their expectation of a pre-defined genre. They just want the ride to be awesome! :)
I also believe that they want it all! Plot and character - very greedy, they are haha So, as a Zen monk may say: the new genre is no genre. The new debate over plot v character resolved into the yin-yang of plot is character and character is plot.
As were others who’ve already posted, I’m deeply inspired by your post - not only does it remind me why I’d spend time doing this but also confirms why Stage 32 is such a ‘good friend’ - with people like you behind the platform, filmmakers can’t lose.
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Koby Nguyen so glad to hear, Minh. I am forever an optimistic. There will always be a place for these movies. They will just live somewhere else. Another platform, a boutique theater...
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@Sebastian - very true. The pendulum can swing both ways. And we need both forms of entertainment. Can't be all spectacle.
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@daniel - for sure. Filmmakers will find a way. As they always do.
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The market may chase ‘safe’ genres, but the films people remember are the ones that catch them off guard emotionally. A fresh, original story with wit, heart, and a bit of mythic edge doesn’t need CGI—it just needs someone brave enough to champion it. The audience for smart, character-driven films hasn’t disappeared. It’s just waiting for something that feels different...
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I for one have no interest in "smart" or "artistic" films. I don't even necessarily like "character driven" films. Of course most of what come s out of Hollywood these days is pure blech! It seems either writers are incapable of writing or filmakers unwilling to create a powerful meaningful story that will touch audiences in a profound way. It is perhaps a reflection of the greater society. We have simply lost our soul. How could we be expected to make a good movie?