Creative Business Ideas: Using Indie Filmmaking Techniques to Build Practical Content

The Challenge of Creative Business Lies in the Imbalance Between Supply and Demand

Creative work as a hobby is undeniably wonderful. It brings personal satisfaction, causes no harm, and sometimes even leads to meaningful connections with others who enjoy or share your passion.

But as your creative activities become more serious—requiring larger budgets or more time—you inevitably start wondering: “Can I earn income from this?” For filmmakers, the question becomes: “Can I charge people to watch the films I make?”

Unfortunately, the answer is: it’s extremely difficult.

I’ve been making indie films for years, and even when other creators produce high-quality work, I rarely pay to watch them. Why? Because there’s already an overwhelming amount of entertaining content available for free—or at least for a flat subscription fee—on platforms like YouTube or Amazon Prime Video.

Even if you create something “professional-grade,” getting people to watch it is a major challenge. The reality is simple: supply far exceeds demand.

This imbalance isn’t unique to film. In writing and theater workshops, instructors often observe that many participants want to create—but don’t regularly consume others’ work. It’s not uncommon to hear someone say, “I want to write a novel,” and then admit, “I haven’t really read many novels.”

So the old success model—“If you build something good, people will eventually notice”—no longer applies. That only worked when supply was scarce.

Can Indie Filmmaking Techniques Be Repurposed?

To sell anything, you need to create something people actually want. That doesn’t mean compromising your values or doing work you dislike—it means aligning your creative output with existing demand.

One of the joys of indie filmmaking is this:

• Breaking down scenes into visual components
• Using shooting and editing to construct drama

It’s fun to see how fragmented footage can be stitched together to resemble a real movie. That joy remains, no matter the story.

And when it comes to building drama, indie film techniques are surprisingly effective.

In theater, actors must perform flawlessly in real time, which requires extensive rehearsal and exposes differences in skill. But in film, you can shoot while rehearsing and simply edit together the best takes. This drastically reduces production stress.

Indie filmmaking also teaches you how to make inexperienced actors look convincing. For example, if someone struggles to memorize long lines, you can design scenes where the camera focuses on the listener’s face rather than the speaker’s. That way, the actor can read from the script off-camera while delivering their lines.

It’s an unconventional trick, but it works—especially when:

• You’re constrained by tight shooting schedules
• You want to avoid frustrating the audience

In fact, I find that working with non-professional actors in indie film settings often requires more practical directing skill than working with seasoned professionals.

A Practical Example: Educational Films for Local Communities

The fastest way to create a “watchable” film is to focus on content that meets a real need.

Currently, I serve as a rotating officer in my local neighborhood association. One issue we face is the need to better inform elderly residents—especially about scams. In our area alone, losses from fraud amount to tens of millions of yen annually.

Despite regular warnings, the problem persists. We need to raise awareness from multiple angles.

That’s why I’m considering producing an educational film that tells these stories through narrative. Unlike pure entertainment, such a film could be actively used after completion—perhaps even adopted by local government agencies.

If the film is designed to be “used,” then it’s possible to receive compensation from those who benefit from it—while still enjoying the creative process.

More concretely, I believe it’s feasible to host paid workshops or filming sessions with the goal of producing these educational films.

Using my usual “Masuda-style Super Previz Method,” I can shoot all character scenes in a conference room with a green screen. This makes the process highly efficient and well-suited to the kind of project I’m proposing.

If the first film is well-received, participants may return for sequels, and the film itself could help prevent crime. That creates demand—people will want to:

• Participate again
• Use the film in more settings

Naturally, this also expands local networks and opens doors to future creative projects.

I plan to put this idea into practice soon and build a track record. If I come across any useful insights, I’ll be sure to share them.

Hope this was helpful.