Oscar-winning philanthropy: the paradoxical future of indie cinema
The narrative that came out of this year’s Oscars was loud and clear: independent movies are having a moment. Sean Baker’s $6million drama Anora took home five awards, including four for Baker, who served as producer, writer, and editor. This made him the first person in history to win four Oscars in a single night for the same film. Aside from Anora, other indies shined as well. Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, a $9.6m epic, took home three awards, while the $1.48m Brazilian film I’m Still Here earned ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Actress’ nominations and took home the award for ‘Best International Feature’.
Another independent film to earn Oscar nods was RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys, which received rave reviews and nominations for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ and ‘Best Picture’. It was Ross’s second feature. His first, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, was also met with universal acclaim and an Oscar nomination in 2019 for ‘Best Documentary Feature’. With such a stellar track record, you’d think Ross would have offers flowing in for his next projects, but during a red carpet interview before the ceremony, he offered a blunt reality check.
“I think I’ve made enough films for people to say that I can make things relatively well,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “So I’m asking someone to give me $10m for two projects. Both of them, I think, have long cultural lives, but it has to be philanthropic because it’s not really a return. But I think they’re deep in meaning and can change a lot of people’s view on the world.”
It’s hard to believe that a director who has been showered with accolades for every film he’s ever made would need to ask for charitable donations in order to make his next movies, but this is the contradiction at the heart of independent cinema. Nickel Boys was made on a budget of about $23m. Despite its rapturous reviews, it only made $3.2m at the box office. Anora and The Brutalist fared better, each earning over $45m, but considering the accolades they received, that still isn’t much.
With distribution companies like A24, Neon, and Mubi becoming beloved brands whose fan bases are about as passionate as the fan bases behind many movie stars, indie cinema is as cool and mainstream as it’s ever been, but that doesn’t mean it’s profitable. With big-budget studio productions like Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Moana 2 pulling in over $1 billion each last year, it’s clear where the highest return on investment lies: CGI-laden franchises and an endless churn of animated sequels from major studios.
It’s a catch-22 for directors. By definition, independently financed projects give filmmakers as much creative freedom as they could wish for. At the same time, however, it means that they are constrained in what they can accomplish and often end up with very little take-home pay for themselves. During their awards campaigns this year, Baker and Corbet were pretty blunt about the financial hit they sustained by making their movies.
Corbet brought it all into sharp focus during an interview with Marc Maron on the WTF podcast, in which he revealed that he made “zero dollars” on The Brutalist, a film which he co-wrote, directed, and produced and which earned ten Oscar nominations. “I’ve spoken to many filmmakers that have films that are nominated this year that can’t pay their rent,” he said. “I mean, that’s a real thing.”
Even more concerning is the fortunes of the below-the-line workers. Baker has faced controversy online from crew members who claim that he resisted working with IATSE, the union that represents many of them, to keep the budget down.
It’s tempting to look at the Oscars sweep and see a bright future for independent movies. This is especially true when considering that the big-budget films that did earn nominations, including Dune: Part II and Wicked, walked away with very little. However, as is always the case, the Oscars tell the story that Hollywood wants to believe about itself rather than the one that actually exists. It feels good to shower underdogs with awards. But when push comes to shove, will filmmakers like Ross, Baker, and Corbet continue to be forced to take minuscule “philanthropic” budgets in order to maintain their creative freedom?
At the moment, it seems highly unlikely that producers will start showering indie movies with money purely because they believe in art. As long as the industry prioritises financial return everywhere except awards season, showering indie movies with Oscars will remain nothing more than a fantasy that allows Hollywood to applaud itself for championing artistic freedom without ever putting its money where its mouth is.
