146 - How to Make an Indie Film in 2023

Making an independent film today is even more challenging than it was in its heyday of the 1990s. So we’re bringing you a panel discussion with directors of two of the festival favorites at this year’s SXSW Film Festival. Directors Hannah Pearl Utt (“Cora Bora”) and Emma Westenberg (“You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder”) take a deep-dive into the state of the independent film industry and the challenges involved in making a film in 2023, including (perhaps most importantly) how to get the gig in the first place:

“I read the script and I pitched on it… And then when [the producers] were on board with my take… they said, ‘OK, now the next round is to pitch it to [producer and star] Ewan [McGregor].’ So I went on a Zoom [with him] and I pitched my take on it. Like how I would change the narrative slightly and make different turns. He was listening and then he said, ‘oh, I don’t like that at all.’ [laughs] I just turned beet red and in my head I was thinking — I can’t really back down now. Because this is the way I would tell the story and I don’t know how I would do it otherwise with conviction. So I tried to explain it to him… and then at some point he was like, ‘OK, yeah, maybe that is a good idea.’ I think also it was a little bit of a test to see if I would stick to my guns.”

— Emma Westenberg, Director and Executive Producer, “You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder”

This panel was moderated by independent producer Kennedy Davey at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival, where “You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder” and “Cora Bora” had their premieres.

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