In Development Vol. 008 — Indie Filmmakers Have a New Backer

• New-model studio supports creator economy’s feature ambitions 
• Future Adventures saw a multi-platform creator in this author, podcaster, and Sundance winner
• Others will move into this space, but will the creator economy share the wealth?

When Further Adventures co-founder Steve Beckman joins our Zoom, his camera’s off. He’s deep in West Virginia, scouting creators who live — and power their channel — completely off the grid.
 
“They started making YouTube videos as a way of keeping in touch with their family,” Beckman said. “And then all of a sudden other people started watching. They became filmmakers.”
 
That’s exactly the kind of origin story Further Adventures wants to scale. Beckman, a former YouTube exec, launched the studio with longtime Black Bear Pictures producer Ben Stillman. Right now, it’s just the two of them — no bloated staff, no legacy overhead, just a belief that creator-first storytelling can go bigger. (They’re mum on the studio’s investors.)

They want to partner with creators who, with support, could become the next MrBeast or Dude Perfect. That goes for indie filmmakers as well. Future Adventures believes YouTube masters, Sundance breakouts, and investments in internet phenoms like golf disruptors Good Good Golf can be part of the same storytelling ecosystem. One project, “Greener Grass Awaits,” is a horror-golf video game that’s becoming a horror-golf movie. Horror, golf, and a rabid online fanbase: the unholy triumvirate.

“We’ve seen such a changing landscape with more talented people and more creators than ever, with more limited opportunities than when we started 15 years ago,” said Stillman. “People who have unique perspectives but don’t have the infrastructure, don’t have the resources, don’t have necessarily a lot of companies at the moment to jump in and be that for them.”
 
In other words: Further wants to close the widening gap between creative talent and opportunity … for creators with an audience or the potential to build one. That includes the off-grid West Virginians (no name yet, the deal’s not done) and Andrew Rea of Babish Culinary Universe, which has 10M+ YouTube subscribers.

That said: It’s worth noting that, for now, they’re not participating in Rea’s food-based IP. They’re developing his metaphysical action-thriller, “Old Soul.” However, Further wants its development to lean into his massive fanbase by starting as a digital short.
 
They’re also backing “If I Go Will They Miss Me” from Walter Thompson-Hernández, based on his 2022 Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning short. On paper, he is the definition of a Sundance ascendant: Before making his short, he got a Masters at Stanford, did PhD studies at UCLA, was a multimedia journalist at the New York Times, created NPR One podcast “California Love,” and wrote “The Compton Cowboys.” 
 
All that, and Thompson-Hernández struggled to finance his feature adaptation.

 “Ben was very important for finalizing the financing,” he said. “There was a wave of support for filmmakers of color beginning in the early 2020s. Because we made it at the sort of tail end of this wave, I think it was tougher.” The production shot in Los Angeles this spring with a budget of around $1 million. He hopes it can premiere at Park City’s final Sundance.

Thompson-Hernández is not a digital juggernaut (his IG following hovers around 68k), but he fits the Further mold: multi-platform storytelling, festival credibility, and a POV that’s sharp enough to cut through. His most recent project, “Kites,” just won the Viewpoints Award at Tribeca.

Further Adventures is making a smart bet as a lean studio built to meet creators where they are. They’re treating online audiences and festival buzz as equally valid launchpads. And while their “creator-first” model feels fresh, it won’t stay that way for long. Agencies may have repped digital stars for years, but let’s be honest: It wasn’t that long ago those same creators were stuck at the kids’ table. Now even your mom knows who they are.
 
And frankly? While Further’s current slate leans feature-heavy, the real winners of this arms race will be the ones who look past film and TV. That’s hard to pull off: Creator-first means creator-power and they’re not looking to hand that over.
 
“There are a lot of reps who have really talented clients who have something that’s really working on YouTube or TikTok and they’re trying to figure out, ‘How does that IP that works there apply to the traditional space, and how can that audience that exists in that platform come to a feature film or a traditional series?’” Stillman said. “I think part of it is focused companies that want to be able to do both, like ours.”

See you next week, 

Dana

✉️ Have an idea, compliment, or complaint? 
dana@indiewire.com;  (323) 435-7690.

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