Sisyphus Films, like the Sundance Film Festival, wants to support the artistic creation of independent films, hoping to make the film industry more prosperous in the long run, but where to start?

Cinemas need profits to operate, production companies need profits to continue, distribution companies need profits to last, and even art creators themselves can't live by drinking dew and blowing the wind. Although everyone says that art is art, and it needs to be independent of business to create new horizons, but without market support, can art be called art without market support?

Because of this, every art form is looking for a balance between art and commerce, and filmmaking is no exception.

The reason why the European art film market can prosper for a long time, especially in France and Germany, is that in the final analysis, the entire education system is different, philosophy, literature, poetry, music, painting and other art forms are the foundation of primary and secondary education, which is the innate soil of art, and art films have received more support, and they can still be profitable in the cinema screening and video rental market.

The art film market in the United States is different.

The lack of historical heritage, lack of cultural edification, and lack of artistic soul also means that there is no constraints, free creation, and different creative inspirations have been bred on the entire North American continent.

However, at the same time, the lack of in-depth edification and rendering of artistic soil has gradually derived the concept of artistic creation that puts interests first and entertainment to death, but instead narrows the path of artistic creation; under the condition of market supply and demand, the living space of artworks has gradually been compressed, and it has fallen into a precarious and bad situation.

How to break the whole pattern?

This is the whole social system based on the education system in terms of culture, history, values, etc., and if you want to change the direction of the entire market, how easy is it to say?

Businessmen seek profit. If big screens don't work, what about small screens and streaming?

Historically, the resurgence of the small screen and the rapid dominance of streaming media have not been smooth sailing, first, traditional directors like Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Cuarón, James Cameron, etc., they still respect the visual experience brought by the big screen, computers and televisions cannot carry the visual art effects of films; The competition between the bright and dark sides has been launched from many aspects and levels in an attempt to suppress the emerging streaming media, which has also created many unpredictable obstacles.

Until 2018, the contradiction between the traditional film industry and the streaming film industry has still not been resolved.

But if small screens and streaming can bring profits, traditional film companies will naturally not miss such a good opportunity, Disney and Warner Bros. have already taken the lead on such a road, through mergers and acquisitions, to establish their own streaming channels, even Amazon and Walmart are not willing to be lonely to get together.

For large film companies, this is the inevitable turn of the market, driven by profit to start building their own streaming platforms, but for Lan Li or Robert Redford, this is the market dilemma of seeking change and innovation, through the combination of theatrical screening and streaming viewing, with the grafting of two forms of distribution, to release more space for the creation of works of art, and at the same time, the film production companies themselves can also operate benignly.

"You mean, Netflix?" asked Andre hesitantly after Lan Li explained his thoughts.

Founded in 1998, Netflix is a very interesting company, it can be said that they are a company that is constantly looking for a way out of the difficult situation and seeking change, under the encirclement and suppression of many difficulties, keenly grasp the pulse of the times, and finally after 20 years, it has become a key company to change the entire industrial landscape, even enough to compete with the six major Hollywood studios.

What DreamWorks didn't finish, Netflix did.

Netflix first started as a DVD rental player, and they saw the boom in the videotape rental market, so they came up with a new way, eliminating the way of store rental and videotape distribution, and instead providing videotape rental services based on online ordering and mailing, and formulated new industry rules

The shift from "pay-per-view" to "monthly subscription" was also made, and the "overtime fee" that had been in place since the library rented books was abolished. Users only need to pay a fixed monthly membership fee, and they can keep a movie tape for an unlimited period of time until the next time they need to rent another movie.

That's how Netflix started.

But after that, the videotape rental market soon went into extinction, and with the popularity of the Internet, Netflix soon realized that the Internet and streaming were the future, and in 2007, Netflix launched its own video-on-demand service, which regained its foothold in the changing tide of the times.

In the years that followed, Netflix underwent a lot of changes, launching its own TV box, launching its own streaming on-demand service, splitting videotape rental and streaming on-demand services, and winning their place in the online age step by step.

In September 2011, Starz, which provided the content rights to Netflix, announced the termination of its cooperation, which gave Netflix a hard blow, because Starlight TV's rights included Disney and Sony's huge film libraries, which also caused Netflix to suffer a serious loss of users for the first time in five years.

At this time, Netflix finally realized that their fate has always been controlled by the party that holds the copyright, and once they lack the content support of the film library, then the service they now have is a flash in the pan, so the loophole in the business model caused Netflix's stock price to plummet, from $40 to $10 in five months.

But Netflix didn't sit still.

On February 1, 2013, the first season of "House of Cards" was officially launched, and this series directed by David Fincher and starring Kevin Spacey and Robin White released the entire season in one go, which also became a time-changing moment.

Whether it's the production model or the broadcast format, whether it's the quality of the content or the cast, "House of Cards" has broken the entire industry rules of 2013, and more importantly, the series has been nominated for nine Emmy Awards and finally won three major awards, setting off a global frenzy.

Since then, Netflix has embarked on the path of original content, and thanks to streaming's unique monetization model, the company has thrived quickly, and has also borrowed from the success of "House of Cards" in the hope of producing an Oscar-winning work, which led to a series of subsequent moves. By 2018, from the perspective of content scale to budget level, Netflix has successfully surpassed the six major Hollywood studios and become the top boss in Hollywood.

The wheels of the times are constantly advancing, some people are backward and eliminated, while others seize the opportunity to reach the top.

Andre also knows about the frenzy set off by "House of Cards", so when Lan Li mentioned streaming online, he immediately thought of Netflix.

Lan Li nodded in agreement, "But Netflix has now entered a high-speed development stage, and they don't need collaborators, or even content providers. We should think about building our own streaming channels and then populating the streaming platforms with our own original content production. ”

Rao is Andre has seen countless big scenes, and he couldn't help but open his mouth slightly, and a trace of consternation flowed from the depths of his eyes, "You are really a madman." Not even Netflix has been so crazy!"

Lan Li was slightly stunned, and then realized that he had taken it for granted.

Netflix in 2014 has just started in terms of original content, and the scale of investment is far less exaggerated than three years later, and even at the speed of Netflix, if you want to reach the level of the six major film companies, it will take five years and ten years of accumulation, after all, those old film companies have been precipitated for a hundred years, and Disney, which has the most abundant copyright resources, is a behemoth.

Now Lan Li directly proposed to fill the entire streaming media resource library with original content, no wonder Andre was so surprised.

But Lan Li didn't care, just shrugged his shoulders, "I'm just talking." Now it's the blueprint, and the goal is placed there in advance, so naturally it has to be placed higher, right?"

Andre shook his head repeatedly, "Do you know what your words mean? This could be an investment business of five billion or even ten billion, and it may continue for many years." Speaking of this, Andre couldn't help but be a little surprised, he is a noble young master, but he is not a rich man's son, not to mention five billion and one billion, even a billion business is a little trembling.

Lan Li chuckled, "It's rare to see Young Master Andre so out of shape, this is a memorable moment." ”

"Sebastian!" Andre gritted his teeth.

Lan Li is still calm and breezy, and he has never seen five hundred and one billion, but the point is that business is not his strong point, whether it is 100 million or 10 billion, he is not good at dealing with it, and those numbers are just a set of numbers, "This can show your value, isn't it? Remember? I am responsible for content creation, and you are responsible for business operations." I've done the blueprint for you now, but how far our company can grow depends on your capabilities. ”

It was very easy to throw the pot, and it was thrown on Andrei's head without thinking.

Andrei responded directly with the roll of his eyes.

Something doesn't seem right, it started out as a "Burst Drummer" and then a Vin Diesel, how did it get to this point?