Is the Internet Replacing Film School?

[00:00:00]Now, is the internet actually replacing film school or are we all just impressed by one kid? Kane Parsons uploaded his first Backrooms YouTube video when he was only 16, and he spent the next 2 years making around a dozen more. He didn't submit them to festivals, he didn't go to NYU or UCLA, he just kept uploading, and by the time he finished high school, A24 had been in touch. Now, he had to choose between his college application and the deal. Obviously, he took the deal, and a few years later, Backrooms opens at number one with $81 million in its opening weekend. He is now the youngest director in cinema history to have a number one film at the box office. And this week it came out that he's already developing the sequel, and he's looking for a co-writer. Here's the thing, there's always been an indie path. Robert Rodriguez made El Mariachi for only $7,000, submitted it to festivals, they bought it. There's a version of this story from like 30 years ago. But, what Kane Parsons did is slightly different. He didn't make a short film to prove that he could direct, he built a universe, created characters, rules, mythology across two dozen free YouTube videos he posted for nothing, and Hollywood came to him. So, that's the inversion that actually matters. And the thing that people keep underselling is that him going viral got him the deal. But, plenty of things go viral, and if you watch the series, you could see a filmmaker's instinct at work. The lore expansion, the tension building, the restraint, that's not just content creation, that's actual storytelling, and A24 know the difference. Now, the sequel is happening, and Kane is looking for a co-writer, and that tells you something very honest that the internet path, it does have a gap in it. Knowing how to find an audience and build a world across dozens of short videos is not the same as building that world across a 2-hour screenplay and then following up with another 2-hour screenplay. And Kane Parsons, to his credit, he seems to know that. So, does the internet replace film school? Not exactly. But, what it does that film school can't replace is it lets you prove that you can attract an audience without a single dollar spent.

[00:01:45]And when you can do that at 16 without a teacher or a curriculum, a grant, Hollywood is probably going to come call it. Let me know in the comments whether you think the internet is genuinely changing how directors are breaking in, or whether you think Kane Parsons is the exception that proves the rule.