Like Sundance Film Festival, Sisyphus Films hopes to support the artistic creation of independent films and hopes to make the film industry develop more long-term and prosperously, but where should we start? This is not an easy task.

Cinemas need profits to operate, production companies need profits to last, distribution companies need profits to last, and even art creators themselves cannot live by drinking dew and blowing the air. Although everyone says that art is art, and it requires independent business to create new worlds, without market support, can art that is unappreciated?

It is precisely because of this that every art form is looking for a balance between art and commerce, and film creation is no exception.

The reason why the European art film market can prosper for a long time, especially France and Germany, is ultimately the difference in the entire education system. Philosophy, literature, poetry, music, painting and other art forms are the basis of primary and secondary education. This is the innate soil of art, and art films have received more support, and profits can still be achieved in the theater screening and video rental markets.

The art film market in the United States is different.

Lack of historical heritage, cultural influence, and artistic soul, which means no restraint and free creation. Different creative inspirations have been nurtured on the entire North American continent. The future generations of Hollywood, which has put down its posture, opened its doors to accept the colorful possibilities, created the peak of commercial films, and successfully dominated the world.

But at the same time, the lack of deep influence and rendering of the artistic soil has gradually derived the artistic creation concept of interests first and entertainment to death, which instead makes the road of artistic creation narrower and narrower; under the condition of market supply and demand allocation, the living space of artistic works has gradually been compressed and fallen into a precarious situation.

How to break the entire pattern?

This is the entire social system based on the education system such as culture, history, values, etc., so how easy it is to change the direction of the entire market?

Merchants are seeking profit. Since large screens don’t work, can small screens and streaming media work?

According to historical trends, the re-rise of small screens and the rapid dominance of streaming media are not smooth sailing. First, traditional directors like Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Caron, and James Cameron still respect the visual experience brought by large screens. Computers and TVs cannot carry the visual art effects of movies; second, traditional film production companies do not want emerging media to break their monopolies, and launch competition from multiple aspects and levels to try to suppress emerging streaming media, which also creates many unpredictable obstacles.

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

But if small screens and streaming media can make profits, traditional film companies will naturally not miss such an opportunity. Disney and Warner Bros. have already taken the lead in establishing their own streaming channels through acquisitions and mergers. Even Amazon and Walmart are not willing to join in with a lonely step.

For large film companies, this is the inevitable market turn, and the drive of interests has led them to start building their own streaming media platforms; but for Renley or Robert Redford, this is seeking change and innovation under the market dilemma. Through the combination of theater screening and streaming viewing, the grafting of two distribution forms will free up more space for the creation of artistic works. At the same time, the film production companies themselves can also operate in a healthy manner.

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

Founded in 1998, Netflix is ​​a very interesting company. It can be said that they are a company that is constantly seeking ways out and seeking changes in difficulties. Under the encirclement of many difficulties, they keenly grasped the pulse of the times. In the end, twenty years later, they became a key company that changed the entire industrial structure, and were even enough to compete with the six major Hollywood film companies.

Netflix completed what DreamWorks didn't complete.

At the beginning, Netflix started out in DVD disc rental. They saw the prosperity of the video tape rental market, so they came up with a new method, canceling the store rental and video tape allocation methods, but providing video tape rental services based on online ordering and mailing, and formulating new industry rules.

Changed from "per-time charge" to "monthly subscription"; at the same time, the "timeout fee" that has appeared since the library rents books has been cancelled. Users only need to pay a fixed membership fee every month to keep a movie videotape without a time limit until they need to rent another movie next time they need to return it.

This is how Netflix started.

But after that, the videotape rental market quickly disappeared. With the popularity of the Internet, Netflix quickly realized that the Internet and streaming media were the future. In 2007, Netflix launched its own video-on-demand service, which regained its foothold in the changing wave of the times.

In the next few years, Netflix experienced many changes, launching its own TV box, launching its own streaming on-demand service, splitting videotape rental and streaming on-demand service, and allowing them to gain a place in the Internet age step by step.

In September 2011, Starz, which provided content copyright to Netflix, announced the termination of its cooperation, which gave Netflix a heavy blow. Starbucks' copyright includes a huge library of Disney and Sony, which also caused Netflix to lose users for the first time in five years.

At this time, Netflix finally realized that their destiny was always controlled by the copyright party. Once the content support of the film library was lacking, the service they now had was Mirror Flowers and Water Moon. Such a loophole in the business model caused Netflix's stock price to plummet, and it fell from forty dollars to ten dollars within five months.

But Netflix did not sit still and wait for death.

On February 1, 2013, the first season of "House of Cards" was officially launched. This series directed by David Finch and starring Kevin Spacey and Robin White released the entire season in one go, which also became a time to change the times.

Whether it is the production model or the broadcast format, whether it is the content quality or the cast, "House of Cards" broke the current industry rules in 2013. More importantly, the series received nine Emmy nominations and finally won three heavyweight awards, which set off a frenzy around the world.

After that, Netflix embarked on the path of original content, and thanks to the unique profit model of streaming media, the company grew rapidly. It also borrowed the success of "House of Cards" in the hope of producing an Oscar-winning work, which led to a series of subsequent actions. By 2018, from content scale to budget level, Netflix had successfully surpassed the six major Hollywood film companies and became the top Hollywood boss.

The wheel of the times is constantly moving forward, some people are behind and eliminated, while others seize the opportunity to reach the peak.

Andre also knew about the frenzy caused by "House of Cards", so when Renley mentioned streaming online, he immediately thought of Netflix.

Lan Li nodded in agreement, "But Netflix is ​​now entering a stage of rapid development, and they don't need collaborators or even content providers. We should consider building our own streaming channels and then filling in the streaming platform through our own original content production."

Even though Andre had seen countless big scenes, he couldn't help but open his mouth slightly, and a hint of astonishment flowed deep in his eyes, "You are such a lunatic. Even Netflix is ​​not so crazy!"

Lan Li was slightly stunned, and then she realized that she was taking it for granted.

Netflix in 2014 has just started in original content, and its investment scale is far less exaggerated than three years later. Even at Netflix's speed, it takes five or ten years to accumulate to reach the level of the six major film companies. After all, those old film companies have been accumulated over a hundred years, among which Disney, which has the richest copyright resources, is a behemoth.

Now Lan Li directly proposed to use original content to fill the entire streaming resource library. No wonder Andre was so surprised.

But Lan Li didn't care, just shrugged, "I'm just talking. Now it's a blueprint, and the goal is placed there in advance, so of course it's still necessary to place it higher, right?"

Andre shook his head repeatedly, "Do you know, what your words mean? This may be an investment business of 5 billion or even 10 billion, and it may take many years to continue." Speaking of this, Andre couldn't help but talk a little. He is a noble young master, but not a rich young man. Not to mention 5 billion or 10 billion, even a business of 1 billion is a little shaking.

Lan Li chuckled, "It's rare to see Young Master Andre lose his composure so much. This is a memorable moment."

"Sebastian!" Andre couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Lan Li is still calm and gentle. He has never seen 5 billion or 10 billion, but the point is that business practices are not his strengths. Whether it is 100 million or 10 billion, he is not good at processing. Those numbers are just a set of numbers. "This can show your value, right? Remember? I am responsible for content creation and you are responsible for commercial operations. I have completed the blueprint for you now, but what level our company can develop depends on your ability."

It was very easy to shift the blame, and it was thrown on Andre's head without thinking.

Andre responded directly with a roll of his eyes.
Chapter completed!