Micro-Budget

The modern film industry operates under a microscope. By the time a film reaches day one of principal photography, the trades have dissected the casting, the budget is locked, and the studio executives are hovering. Following his massive, $65 million commitment to Disney’s Pete’s Dragon, David Lowery understood that true experimental freedom requires absolute silence. So, he built a feature film in secret. The Freedom to Fail A Ghost Story was financed entirely by Lowery and his producing partners for a mere $100,000. Why self-finance when the industry was throwing money at him? Because if his deeply experimental “ghost under a sheet” concept failed, he wanted the absolute freedom to bury the footage and pretend it never happened. You cannot do that if you have taken studio money. The anonymity was protected so fiercely that even the agents for stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara were kept in the dark until right before cameras rolled. ...

Bref, the old model of film distribution is dead, and Kyle Edward Ball danced on its grave for the price of a used Honda Civic. We are constantly told that you need a multi-million dollar marketing campaign and a PR agency to get a film seen. Skinamarink proves that you actually only need two things: $15,000, and a catastrophic security breach. The narrative of this film’s success is a complete subversion of the studio system. It is a terrifying masterclass in the sheer, unpredictable power of the internet hive mind. ...