Show Me the Money?

At the crossroads of Art and Commerce there needs to be a guy selling Prozac. 

I know a few people that work in internet marketing. Google ad words and the such. Internet marketing is not like other forms of advertising. It's easily traceable. It's probably one of the few forms of promotion that can actually prove results. Click on a link and it's easy to know whether that click turned into a sale. The film industry is not quite so predictable. Who's to say what a profitable idea really is? I read film proposals every day and I never read one that said "this film is a risky investment." Didn't matter if it was an action film with a proven star attached or a brother/sister incest drama - everyone thinks their film is the next big thing. You have to. 

But even though I play the game, I must admit it can be depressing to look at film as a number. To read a crappy script and still be considering it because there is a potentially promising profit margin. Or to read an awesome script and know the film will probably never be made because it will never make its money back. 

Art and commerce have to go hand in hand because film is a business not a museum exhibit. And despite the promising sales coming out of Sundance this year, more days than not it feels like independent film is on the verge of extinction because the model is not sustainable. I want to believe that's not true. I want to swallow a few pills and keep pushing forward - and I will push forward. But when I read a cheesy script full of illogical plot points and cookie cutter characters and I am told to entertain the idea of it...Prozac would come in handy.