“Skills are cheap. Passion is priceless.”

– Gary Vaynerchuck

It seems, more and more, that we will be the generation of entrepreneurs. Sure, the entrepreneurial spirit is one which has been engrained in our culture since the beginning, but there is something different these days. The answer is obvious; the internet. To have the world at our fingertips is an advantage that has never existed before, and it has permeated every aspect of business. So how does it translate into the world of art and artistic entrepreneurship?

It isn’t a surprise that most of the hustlers in our community have already figured out how; through Crowd Sourcing, Social Media Engagement, and Networking. One need only browse the Instagram or Facebook feeds of any local artist and you’ll see it happening right before your eyes. The machine works in plain sight.

In the crowd sourcing world, sites like Indiegogo, Kickstarter and Patreon are making it possible for artists and business’ to work completely independent of existing frameworks and big business avenues. Take our friend Girl Blue for example, her recent advent of Patreon gives her the ability to live and work in her passions. Not only that, but the engagement directly with fans only strengthens her base and expands her reach. Check it out here: https://www.patreon.com/girlbluemusic

So, what about in the world of filmmaking? How can an entity like us achieve the same ends? Well with Patreon the formula is the same, but there’s also sites like Indiegogo which work more on a per-project-basis. You’ll see a lot of filmmakers using this tool to garner support for a film project (We should know; we’ve run successful Kickstarter campaigns for two of our short films). Or, like our friend Emily Elizabeth Thomas, one could use the site for a series of films. Emily is a filmmaker from Texas, operating out of NYC with her company Jane St. Productions. Their Indiegogo campaign for her “Texas Trilogy” recently launched, and aims to raise money to produce the last two films in the trilogy, with her film “Lola: Girl Got A Gun” serving as a sort of proof of concept. You can check that out here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/emily-elizabeth-thomas-the-texas-trilogy-film-independent#/

So besides shamelessly plugging some of our friends, what are we saying here? Well, what we’re getting at is that it is so fucking easy to chase what you love these days, and it’s super inspiring to see so many in our small network doing just that. Additionally, we think it’s important to draw attention to this, and encourage all of you to support it wherever possible. We’ve said it before, and we’re gonna keep saying it – there’s a lot of talent around all of us here in upstate New York. We would love to see it grow.