Driving down my high street yesterday I noticed a Prime Video Store was closing down. Another stark reminder of the huge changes the film and TV business is going through. Other distributors tell me that Blockbuster are likely to be gone within a year – you can already see they are trying to diversify by selling iPods, Xbox and PS3. Personally, I can’t believe the like of HMV can survive much longer too.  No-one can be certain why the market is shifting so much, but I would point to a number of factors that certainly add to the mix. These would include…

• Better TV technology and choice – PVR’s like SkyPlus and Tivo (it will record your shows without much hassle and it’s easy to skip through ads)
• eBay – why rent when you can buy for a few quid?
• LoveFilm – why go down the shops when you can have it delivered?
• Better TV programming – TV shows are now shot and marketed like movies, even hiring movie stars.
• Digital technology – while not very attractive for film just now, music has been transformed by iPod and MP3, movies will follow, but perhaps not as quickly as some pundits would have you believe.
• The Internet – I believe the only significant impact the Internet has right now is through  piracy.
• Piracy – get that new movie for a few quid down the pub or from a Chinese girl in the B&Q car park.

Of course I am sure there are other reasons too, but I guess we all need to figure out how our material can fit within, or combat, these brave new worlds and problems.

Chris Jones
Get filmmaking tips on Twitter @LivingSpiritPix
Sign up to my mailing list for updates on events, books and free film making tools