Oscar nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay told a BFI London Film Festival audience that conventional studio filmmaking has ended amid new ways to finance and release work. She described using apps, websites, and small groups of backers who each contribute a few thousand dollars, then recouping costs through festival screenings, online video, or sales.

DuVernay noted studios now acquire one another, shut down, and sell property while old festival-to-studio contracts have vanished. She said the landscape has shifted throughout the past decade of her own film and television work, leaving open the question of what fresh systems can support a wider range of creators and narratives.