Building Their Own System: Independent Filmmakers discuss the Studios, Sundance, & Surviving.
- julissascopino
- Jul 11, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 2, 2025
The second Filmmakers in Boardrooms unites indie filmmakers Lonnie Edwards Jr., Martin Del Carpio, and Alex Alston for a candid discussion on the three S’s Studios, Sundance, and Surviving in a time when studios claim to champion “creative freedom” and upper-tier festivals remain highly selective.
In this exclusive conversation, Filmmakers in Boardrooms founder Julissa Scopino unpacks what survival truly looks like for creators working outside the mainstream where only a small fraction of opportunities are extended to independent storytellers.
Scopino’s first question landed like a spark: Are studios truly backing first-time filmmakers and auteurs the way they claim?
“NO, studios aren’t backing auteurs. They’re still chasing IP and household names.” Alex Alston
Alex didn’t hesitate to call out the truth behind the studio façade. “I think everything right now is run by some old guy in marketing who just wants a cash grab,” she said, describing an industry built on IP and household names rather than creative vision. While she acknowledges that some studios, like A24, still value auteur-driven storytelling, she sees access as the real obstacle.
Scopino’s other question dug deeper:“One panelist at the Producers Guild of America said Sundance is the only calling card for first-time filmmakers. Do you agree?”
Lonnie dismisses the dependency on validation systems entirely, championing direct-to-consumer as the new frontier. While Martin called on Producers to invest in underground festivals and peer networks that cultivate real collaboration, not curated exclusivity. Martin championed the power of the overlooked. For him, the true pulse of cinema lives in underground festivals, he said, “the smaller types, not even second-tier but third-tier.”
He’s found real collaboration there, among peers who are at the same level that you are, trading ideas and building films from shared struggle. Too many Producers, he said, “don’t want to waste their time with these,” not realizing that the next wave of filmmakers is screening in those rooms.
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Topics Discussed
The illusion of studio support for first-time filmmakers
Direct-to-consumer filmmaking as a new system
The future of filmmaking outside the studio
The importance of underground and community-driven film networks
Sundance, Status, and the End of Approval Culture
A24:When ‘indie’ becomes an empire
For Lonnie, survival is about building your own system. “A lot of us were choosing different, alternate lifestyles after the 2008 crisis,” he said, reflecting on the stories that shaped his filmmaking. “Stories that live in a certain place and are for certain people.” Rather than chasing mass appeal, he’s focused on cultivating connection, the kind that grows into something lasting. “You do something cool within that community,” he said. “That’s what pushes people forward.” Like Donnie Darko or the early days of A24, Lonnie believes the future of film lies in those small-scale stories that become movements and works born from necessity, grounded in truth, and built to outlast the noise.
“You can literally go direct-to-consumer with your whole film library and make money to fund your next film and then you can do it again and again and again." Lonnie Edwards Jr.
Cutting out the middleman is the future, says Lonnie. He describes a cycle of self-reliance powered by platforms like Tubi, he said, "TUBI is literally the Apple Music of film".“That lives outside the grant system, outside the studio system,” he explained. “All those systems that were created to keep us in a shell, that’s gone now.”
Lonnie Edwards Jr. is a New York based producer and commercial filmmaker with over a decade of experience creating
high-impact visual campaigns and narrative projects. Through his work with 80hrs Visuals, Lonnie has produced a wide range of branded content and creative media, blending sharp storytelling with strategic execution for clients across entertainment, fashion, and culture. His recent narrative projects, including Square Biz and Beware of the Boyz, reflect his commitment to developing stories that are both artistically bold and commercially viable.
With a background in Business Administration and as an MFA candidate in Film Production, Lonnie brings a unique perspective to the intersection of creativity and commerce. His passion lies in bridging the gap between artists and industry, helping filmmakers not only tell their stories but also navigate the business and studio landscapes. By combining hands-on production experience with boardroom insight, Lonnie is building pathways for creatives to thrive on both sides of the table.
Martin Del Carpio is a filmmaker based in New York. His creative output started with music and with time, slowly progressed into filmmaking without any formal training or education.
His cinematic journey began by utilizing his instincts with the experimental genre making short films such as Howl, The Dark Forest, Auricular Confession, Mother's Milk and LOS. Those works have been selected and won at film festivals such as Coney Island Film Festival, Queens World Film Festival, The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, New Jersey Film Festival at Rutgers University and many others.
With his last couple of film projects such as The Double Room, Why Are You Still Dreaming (Human)? and I Exist, he has ventured into writing his own scripts and creating short films that are still artistic but with a more narrative edge hopefully taking us on a journey to places all the same unexplored..
Alex Alston is an African American independent filmmaker based in Brooklyn. She is passionate about crafting narratives that resonate universally, believing filmmaking serves as a bridge to connect people. Alexandra has an MFA from the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. Throughout her tenure at Feirstein, she has written and directed four short films, served as a 1st AD and Costume Designer, and produced multiple short films.
Beyond Feirstein, Alexandra has directed and produced corporate videos for the Fund for the City of New York.
Julissa Scopino is an independent filmmaker blending creativity with strong business insight. As a director, writer, producer, and SAG actress, her work spans motion pictures, short films, theater, TV, commercials, music videos, and docuseries.
As a proud Costa Rican-American, she champions Latinx storytelling and on-screen representation.
Drawn to female-driven stories and against-all-odds journeys, Julissa’s work explores themes of family, identity, class, sacrifice, spiritualism, technology, and social economic tension.
Her favorite genres include magical realism, sci-fi, gothic, drama, fantasy, treasure hunt, romance, and surrealism.
She holds an M.F.A. in Cinema Studies and is currently pursuing her M.B.A. at the Zicklin School of Business. Currently, Julissa serves as Executive Assistant to acclaimed producer Richard N. Gladstein (“The Hateful Eight,” “The Cider House Rules,” “Reservoir Dogs,” “Finding Neverland”).
More on Julissa & her creativity:
Dear Creatives,
It’s a declaration!
From this discussion, one truth emerged clearly: the next generation of filmmakers are building parallel systems. Whether through Tubi, underground festivals, or micro-budget models, there's a dismantling of old hierarchies that's happening brick by brick.
— Julissa Scopino, on behalf of Filmmakers in Boardrooms
