J.J. Abrams was at SXSW and reflected on the democratization of filmmaking through technology. I read that and thought about my days as an agent for filmmakers and television producers, and I have a different perspective to relate.

Yes, as costs are reduced and the financial barriers to entry are dismantled, it is easier to make films than ever before. But this is a bit of a red herring, in that consumer-level technology, from Super 8 cameras and projectors, to affordable film stock and mail-in processing, meant that anyone with a few extra bucks and a passion could be their own mini Otto Preminger. That’s what I did for years as a teenager, but what really made all the difference in the world was having no means of distribution. Sure, I could show it to my friends and family, but there was no YouTube or Vimeo that would make these little epics available around the globe.

In some respect, yes, J.J. Abrams is right about the technology, but it isn’t the smaller, cheaper equipment. It is all about the access to distribution. In my agent days, you either sold to a studio or network, or tried to get some traction as an independent producer, but these were very limited. Today, my advice would be for aspiring filmmakers to eschew the great spec script in favor of a killer short film. If you get the right people to share it on Facebook or another popular social network, it is much easier to get the industry’s attention if you can point to millions of views. At the very least, it will be a less steep climb to send it around if it just entails emailing a link.

I suppose that the way I look at it is, while filmmaking technology makes the process of putting a script on-screen, the internet represents a true paradigm shift in distribution, which any producer will tell you, that’s what it’s all about. Don’t you remember about the tree falling in a forest, but no one is around to hear it?