Have indie films become too strong for their own good?

By Steven Zeitchik

It's independents day on Tuesday -- start feeling the excitment. Or at least the ironic, pseudo-detached mild enthusiasm.

In a few hours, the Independent Spirit awards announce nominees for their annual show (can you say Milk the Slumdog Visitor?). A few hours later the Gothams hand out their annual trophies (change to meet the Frozen Wrestler Visitor). The one-two punch of kudofests east and west reminds us more than ever what's great about the indie side of the film business -- maybe too great.

See, because while both bodies will recognize some pretty high-quality U.S. filmmaking -- we're not believers in the idea that talent has all migrated to tentpoles, or television -- the problem is they'll recognize pretty much a lot of the filmmakers that the Academy is already recognizing. The Spirits had an identity and urgency of purpose when the Titanics of the world were getting nominated; that's when the Michael Moores and Gus Van Sants and Spike Lees and Kevin Smiths and Coen Bros. needed a show to call their own.

But now Michael Moore and the Coen Bros. (and perhaps this year, Gus Van Sant) have become the Oscars, and the indie kudos have become, in a sense, a victim of their own success.

The answer is for the shows to reinvent themselves, and while every blogger this side of David Carr has a solution for just how to do that, our thought would be, simply, to go more indie. Get rid, in both shows, of the best feature category, which encourages the strong but generic choices. (Juno -- Juno! a quadruple-nominated $145 million juggernaut -- swept the Spirits last year). Make the budget a hard cap of $10 million. The NFL instituted a salary cap; indie awards can do the same.

And absolutely make anyone who's won an Oscar ineligible. We're not saying someone who has a statue can't make a good indie film -- we're just saying the shouldnt be feted with an indie award; they've already moved on. The Spirits and Gothams are supposed to be an alternative to the Oscars, not a pregame warmup for them.

We get it. If the Spirits have a chance to put a figure like Cate Blanchett o George Clooney on the red carpet, then they're going to do it. But there's plenty of other ways to get that done -- maybe with special categories (best indie-worthy actor in a non-indie movie?), and certainly with special tributes. Trust us, the stars want to be there no matter what award they're officially getting. Save the big awards for the next wave of indie greats. The shows will continue not only to look prescient in picking the next generation of Oscar winners, they'll look less like the Oscars -- and more like themselves.

Comments

[Monique Elisabeth]

Thank you! I've been saying this for years! The cap used to be $6milion. But then they got a taste of what it's like to attract the A-list to your red carpet and they raised the budget cap to $20million. I don't know of any true indie filmmakers who can raise $20million. And I love the idea that any Oscar winners shouldn't be eligible-- or to have separate categories for them.