Prompted by a recent [post about Kickstarter](http://johnaugust.com/2011/raising-movie-funds-on-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:
Some links to things we mention:
* [Jay’s documentary Kevin, on Kickstarter](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2035579744/kevin)
* [Jay’s credits](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0243231/)
* [The Remnants](http://vimeo.com/2755105)
* [Topspin](http://www.topspinmedia.com/)
* [A Thousand True Fans](http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php)
* [Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture](http://tinyfurniture.com/)
Runtime is 30 minutes. You can also download this as [an MP3](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/jay_duplass_john_august_kickstarter.mp3).
My thanks to Jay. Check out his doc.