Indies access the wisdom of the crowds.
Create a website for indie filmmakers that allows them to enlist the wisdom of the crowds at points that it makes sense. The trick with getting people to contribute to an open source project is to limit the time requirement and maximize the benefit to the people volunteering their time. To this end, there are a couple ways that I think that you could open source the film-making process.
1. Open Source the Opening Scene - Inspired by the 3 page challenge from the scriptnotes podcast, filmmakers could submit the opening scene from their script and have the users critique it. This helps filmmakers because the opening scene needs to be especially strong when they are submitting to film festivals who have to review hundreds of entries and may not watch more than a few minutes of each in the first round of judging. It makes it easy for users to contribute because it can be completed in under 10 minutes and potentially have a huge effect on the final project. You would also make it easy for users by allowing them to browse by genre and length. Additionally, the feedback could be rated as 'constructive' or 'non-constructive' with the order favoring the 'constructive' feedback.
2. Open Source the Editing - Filmmakers having trouble in editing a specific scene could upload the timecoded raw footage to allow others to tackle the edit. This could be used by the hundreds of film schools around the globe as editing exercises, but also provide many variations on editing style and feedback as to what is missing.
1. Open Source the Opening Scene - Inspired by the 3 page challenge from the scriptnotes podcast, filmmakers could submit the opening scene from their script and have the users critique it. This helps filmmakers because the opening scene needs to be especially strong when they are submitting to film festivals who have to review hundreds of entries and may not watch more than a few minutes of each in the first round of judging. It makes it easy for users to contribute because it can be completed in under 10 minutes and potentially have a huge effect on the final project. You would also make it easy for users by allowing them to browse by genre and length. Additionally, the feedback could be rated as 'constructive' or 'non-constructive' with the order favoring the 'constructive' feedback.
2. Open Source the Editing - Filmmakers having trouble in editing a specific scene could upload the timecoded raw footage to allow others to tackle the edit. This could be used by the hundreds of film schools around the globe as editing exercises, but also provide many variations on editing style and feedback as to what is missing.