As an indie filmmaker, I work with budgets so small they’re often met with mockery from those who can’t imagine anything noteworthy getting made under them. My goals are clear: tell stories that resonate without preaching, offer audiences something bold that Hollywood wouldn’t dare touch, and build an alternative to an industry we all know is dying. But lately I’ve been grappling with a problem that threatens to strangle our budding independent film movement in its crib. It’s the collision of indie filmmaking, social media, and politics. Specifically, it’s the double standards I see in some conservative actors who complain that liberal actors keep getting hired, speak their minds freely, and tank upcoming movies they’re in by attacking the fans. They claim the solution to rejuvenating the industry and saving films from divisive talent is to hire more conservative actors. Frankly, I don’t care about someone’s politics as long as they’re talented and professional. I’m just a filmmaker who wants to make art free of political hot takes. Beyond that, I’m happy to consider anyone who shares my desire to shake up the entertainment industry with new competition from the ground floor. However the flip side is I’m seeing too many actors who talk a big game, a talent they’ve honed well, but when it comes to the heavy lifting they’re content to sit in the trailers they claim not to care about, while grassroots filmmakers like me bear all the load required to build that new era they seem to advocate for. Then they bloviate online about how woke culture is ruining everything. As far as I can see, we’re at an impasse, and it’s not helping what we’re trying to manifest.
Hollywood is crumbling. Big studios churn out soulless sequels while mid-budget films vanish. Indie filmmakers like me are stepping up, crafting stories with heart on budgets that barely cover craft services. I empathize with conservative-leaning filmmakers, who face an even tougher road. They’re not just fighting for scraps; they’re building a parallel industry to counter a system that often feels hostile to their values. Whether you agree with them or not, that’s real. For them, every dollar counts. Every risk is personal. Yet when I approach so-called conservative actors who claim they’re blackballed by Hollywood, their solution is always the same: “Talk to my agent. Make a good offer.”
“tell stories that resonate without preaching”
Duh. Make anyone a good enough offer, and they’ll work for you. That’s not a solution. That’s waiting for someone else to meet your demands.
Actors aren’t wrong to want fair pay. I get it. Acting is a tough career, and they’ve got bills, too. But their expectations come from a Hollywood machine they claim to reject. They know indie budgets are tight. They know filmmakers are gambling everything to make films that don’t bow to the mainstream. Yet they expect us to conjure fees that rival studio paydays, often from liberal-leaning studios, I bet they’d happily work for, even as they advocate against hiring actors with left-leaning views. They make calls for all of this without giving any indication that they’re willing to take a chance on something themselves. That doesn’t have to come in the form of lowering their fee. They could help make connections, put their name behind something they think is worthwhile as a producer, or simply offer advice to help guide new filmmakers to a place that would incentivize them to work together. However, instead, we find that this is where the double standard is. They call out the industry’s gatekeepers, decrying blacklists and ideological conformity. But when it’s time to join the fight, they want the perks of the old system without the hustle of the new one. If a truly independent filmmaker wagers their savings, credit, and sanity, often while working a full-time day job, to make a film that puts an actor in the lead, giving them the lion’s share of attention and possibly catapulting them into future roles, shouldn’t an actor professing the need for a systemic overhaul meet that filmmaker halfway? If they truly believe the only way to change the industry is to take the bull by the horns, why do they show no willingness to help with the lift? Why do they suddenly get offended and start pointing at their prior status to justify their entitlement?
