It's no big secret the extreme challenges in breaking into filmmaking and actually being able to sustain a career out of it. In the NY Times, John Clark reports on how aging indie filmmakers struggle to get by and also how even established producers are finding it more and more difficult to raise funding for films unless there are names attached. Even established filmmakers like John Sayles and Errol Morris have to resort to either script doctor work, teaching, or directing commercials to get by as there is so little money in indie films these days.

Producer Ted Hope notes that “Just to get above $2 million you have to cast certain names. Ten or 15 years ago you could make a film for $1 million and get a release. Specialized distribution has now become a science. They’re not looking for singles.” Hope also noted that if he was starting out now, he would "be a producer for the internet."