Becoming Ungated
Upon passing the elephants, the man notices something odd.
These creatures, majestic and strong, are held in place by a single strand of rope.
No cages. No chains.
Just one measly bit of rope, tied to their front leg.
The man asks a nearby trainer, “why don’t the elephants break the rope and run away?”
“When they’re very young, and much smaller,” the trainer says, “that rope is enough to hold them.”
The man nods, though still a bit perplexed.
“They grow up believing they’re not strong enough to break free. So it’s not the rope that holds them in place now, but the belief.”
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From the dawn of cinema, the industry’s had a stranglehold on its creative talent.
Given enough resources, most anyone could make a film.
But if you wanted that film seen by more than family and friends, you needed industry gatekeepers to anoint you.
They controlled the levers of distribution and marketing.
That’s where the real power was.
Not in the creative work itself, but in the ability to get it to market. To monetize it.
In the beginning, the rope that binds is very real.
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Over the course of 20 years, the internet changed absolutely everything.
It was a long, slow change, like turning up the heat in your house by 1 degree each year.
Totally unnoticeable at first, until you’re sweating bullets round the clock.
And boy is the industry sweating right now.
At the same time that many of the their trusted business models are falling out from under them, the balance of power is shifting.
Because the internet, you see, did two beautiful things.
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First, it opened up the distribution and marketing playing field to everybody.
From me, to you, to some random kid in Southeast Asia, we all have this power at our fingertips now.
The power to create something, and get it in front of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people at the click of a button.
That’s not to say it’s easy. Of course it's not.
But it’s possible now, which has never before been true in human history.
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Second, the internet decimated the very notion of popular culture.
Back in the day, everyone watched the same five TV shows. Went to the same movies. Listened to the same music.
But the internet put an end to that, and created an endless sea of subcultures.
It’s niche creating machine, where each of us can find our tribe, and consume media that lights us up, no matter how obscure our interests.
For these reasons, the industry’s stranglehold on consumer attention is withering. And they know it.
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Of course, the industry still spins a good yarn about its relevance and stature.
“You’ll never be able to do what we can do for you,” it says, alluringly. “Come to your senses and play in the big leagues.”
But there’s a dirty little secret at play.
All these distributors and sales agents and festivals need you.
Without endless supplies of your intellectual property, which they’ve become accustomed to picking up for pennies on the dollar, they can’t survive.
So they thrash and scream, making a big stink about their connections, their access, their expertise.
But in this new economy, with fragmented attention and withering institutions, they’re groping around in the dark like everyone else.
That’s why it’s easier than ever to get a distribution deal these days.
They’re making more offers, to more people, with more predatory terms. They need to acquire as many films as possible, and hope that one of them sticks.
It truly is a disgusting racket.
Yet because we’ve all been conditioned over decades to value being chosen by a gatekeeper, we keep buying into it.
Like the elephant, unaware of its own power, we remain held in place.
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There’s a new term I’ve come to absolutely love. The “Ungated” Creative.
It’s even my twitter handle now.
(update from 2 years after i wrote this: ungated is name of my new business. it’s not about filmmaking, per se, but if you vibe with this series, you should come check it out some time.)
What does it mean to be “Ungated” you might be asking?
It means seizing the reigns of distribution and marketing, and owning the connection with your audience.
An Ungated filmmaker doesn’t need investors, distributors, sales agents, or festivals.
No gatekeeper will be the defining factor in their career. They’ll succeed regardless.
Hence the term, Un-Gated.
The Ungated filmmaker is able to do this for one simple reason.
Instead of trying to beat Hollywood at its own game, they play a different game altogether.
They understand the new reality of the internet, and adapt their strategies accordingly.
They understand how to create work worth caring about, and get it in front of the perfect subculture.
The Ungated filmmaker has made the choice the break the rope and walk away.
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Something weird happens when you don’t need gatekeepers.
All of the sudden, they seem to want to do business with you.
When you’ve got an audience that loves everything you make, suddenly you become quite attractive.
Those investors that wouldn’t give you time of day are now eager to get a piece of your next project.
That distributor with the laughable predatory offer comes back, this time with a deal that’s more in your favor.
It doesn’t stop there, either.
When you’re Ungated, you have power. You have leverage.
If the investor or distributor makes a shitty offer, and refuses to budge, you can walk away, knowing that you’ll succeed without them.
This, funnily enough, makes them want to do business with you even more.
It’s the great paradox of creative industries.
The filmmaker who needs the industry least, gets the best opportunities in the industry.
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If you hadn’t already guessed, Andre is the epitome of Ungated filmmaking.
He’s made the majority of his decisions to cut out middle men, and go direct to his audience.
And here's the funny thing.
In the world that’s coming, Andre’s more likely to get the opportunity to direct a Hollywood show or series, despite Phil having worked directly toward that goal for years.
That’s how it works now. As the industry increasingly closes itself off to outsiders, the ones they let in will be the ones who don't need the industry.
Now you have a new, simple heuristic for navigating the world as a filmpreneur.
Each decision you make will either make you more reliant on gatekeepers, or less.
The choice is yours.
Personally, I hope you’ll join me in the Ungated path.
-Rob “gates? where we’re going, we don’t need gates” Hardy