Screw the Old Way of Thinking
The rules are changing. Technology is breaking down how it used to be and leaving an empty space which very few people are willing to fill. Make a movie and get it into film festivals. That was the goal in 1991. But that game was rigged and it's even worse now. The best part is that you don't need it. You can find an audience on-line. You can connect with fans over social media. You can build your community of followers without the guise of dropping $1000 in festival submission fees per project.
This is a business. Every project you start is a small company. When you make a feature, you should be creating a small LLC for that feature. Your company is My Awesome Movie and your product is that awesome movie. We need to stop doing it the old way. We need to stop doing it "the way it's always been done."
Screw that thinking! The market is out there for us. Go get it. We're starting a business. We need to act like it. We have the tools. We have the talent. (No, we're not the Ghostbusters) We have the access. We have the technology to make it happen.