What gets me is independent creators want to work for Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, WWE, Adult Swim, Comedy Central, all of these distributors of only mainstream content. They buy indie talent sure, but only to make their kind of product. And thats their right. So indies need to create their own intellectual property. That originality is the only leverage that indie filmmakers have.

But if someone is just a fanboy at heart or its their aesthetic to make fan-art or adapt popular mythos or they just don't have original ideas, I think indie creators can land established characters. You just have to know who to lease from and for what kind of money. The old exploitation filmmakers mined Zorro, Tarzan, Dracula and other popular names that were public domain. I've seen a few filmmakers use Night of the Living Dead in this way. I think young filmmakers need to raise money to make projects for more affordable famous franchises.

Someone can raise the money for a new Friday the 13th or a new Toxic Avenger. In fact some indie producers are leasing Puppet Master who once leased SyFy the rights to a one-off film. Get creative with investors and make connections to people who do business reasonably. Shit, maybe you can shoot a short film they can use as a commercial/media traffic.

I'm about depowering the wealthy's exploitation of the poor. I'm not above helping other struggling artists who also stand for independence, liberty and the love of cheap art. Art should be free and paying should be optional, but thats for another rant.