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Staying indie after getting big

May 2, 2011 Film Industry, Indie, Talk

Jay Duplass and John August Prompted by a recent post about Kickstarter, writer/director Jay Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Baghead, Cyrus) emailed me about an indie documentary he’s putting together through the crowdfunding site.

His email suggested a larger discussion about why filmmakers continue to pursue indie projects after they’ve found studio success. I certainly do it, with both The Nines and The Remnants, along with other experiments like The Variant.

None of them are a good use of time, at least in a monetary sense.

I’d make more money simply writing more screenplays. If I want to direct something, it should be a studio feature. My agent tells me this. It’s his job to tell me this.

And yet Jay and I still find ourselves drawn towards the little, difficult, uncategorizable things. Is it boredom? Fear of failure? The appeal of new frontiers? A desire to reclaim our scrappy youth?

Rather than keep the conversation between us, I suggested to Jay that we record it. He was game, so he came by the office today.

This is our half-hour conversation, un-edited:

https://johnaugust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/jay_duplass_john_august_kickstarter.mp3

Some links to things we mention:

  • Jay’s documentary Kevin, on Kickstarter
  • Jay’s credits
  • The Remnants
  • Topspin
  • A Thousand True Fans
  • Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture

Runtime is 30 minutes. You can also download this as an MP3.

My thanks to Jay. Check out his doc.

Related Posts

  1. Making and releasing the micro-budget indie
  2. A hard time to be an indie
  3. Taking indie films on the road

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