Independent filmmaking now depends on unearned wealth of elite heirs

Evidence

When considering the sustainability of independent film, the increasing level of subservience to plutocracy stands out as a dangerous development. Filmmakers have always faced constraints when creating challenging work in Hollywood, of course, but to rely on the generosity of the progeny of the wealthy elite has a number of downsides. Nineteen of these affluent scions are young men, almost all white, whose biographies often read like a contemporary version of Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941), minus the early, rural childhood spent in a boarding house. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 271

Categorization

• XREF: The Citizen Kane comparison echoes the reader’s interest in how ownership structure shapes artistic form — Kane’s newspaper is run for influence, mirroring heirs funding film for status.