A Filmmaking Collective Can Create Sustainable Careers, but Is It Right for You?

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Hey, everybody! My week began with a grocery delivery followed by stumbling on the steps, olive oil all over my front porch, and a bandaged right hand that looks like a small ham.Surgery was definitely not on my to-do list, so this week I’m publishing an In Development take on a terrific Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, hosted by IndieWire’s VP Features Strategy Chris O’Falt. We’d already made plans to expand Toolkit’s scope to focus on topics for the Future of Filmmaking audience and, as it happens, he recorded a great one this week.It’s about the Omnes Collective, a group you’ve probably never heard of but you may know their work: “Christmas Eve at Miller’s Point,” “Eephus,” and “No Sleep Till,” now in release via Metrograph. It’s a true collective and the co-op approach allows them to create idiosyncratic works with support from across its membership.In a time when filmmakers struggle for all kinds of support, the all-for-one model is worth a serious look. And because nothing’s easy, working within a united group also presents challenges — even when they’re all your friends.

Listen to Filmmaker Toolkit on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.See you all next week,Dana

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Even indie directors like Sean Baker and Brady Corbet struggle to make a living. As increased costs, decreased financing, and shrinking distribution narrow the path. And then there’s the Omnes Collective, which has steadily increased its feature film output over the last two years while growing its audience and critical acclaim.

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“I actually have a lot of hope in American cinema,” said “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” director and Omnes founding member Tyler Taormina.

For Omnes, 2024 was a breakout year. “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” and “Eephus” both got into Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, with “Eephus” making its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival and “Miller’s Point” becoming many directors’ favorite film of the year. “No Sleep Till” received a special mention from the jury at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, while “Los Capítulos Perdidos” (Lost Chapters) received good reviews out of the Locarno Film Festival.

“No Sleep Till” opened at Metrograph this week. Producer Taormina and director Alexandra Simpson joined the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast to discuss the origins of the Omnes Collective, how it works, and how indie filmmakers can learn from its success.

Before they became a filmmaking collective, Omnes members were a dozen friends at Emerson College. And movies didn’t drive their friendships.

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“A group of us who were primarily musicians at that time all gravitated towards one another, all playing shows together numerous times a week,” said Taormina. “An important delineation is that we’re really friends first. It just so happens that this group of people who fell in love altogether with listening to hour-long sessions of harsh noise or ambient music, or any sort of weirdo music at that time, gravitated towards one another as friends and shared that experience.”

WIthin their group were a handful of friends who came to college wanting to become filmmakers. The collective took its name from a short made by “Eephus” director Carson Lund. Like their musical tastes, the group had a shared sensibility in the non-mainstream films they wanted to make.

Omnes’ films are driven by ensembles rather than protagonists and put a premium on atmosphere over plot. Technically, “Eephus” is a sports movie, but it’s really more of a “hangout film” about the moments between pitches. Omnes’ slowed-down style, inspired by films like Bela Tarr’s “Sátántangó,” is the opposite of the more maximalist approach of Emerson’s most famous film graduates, The Daniels.

“I think we all had our own ideas, but approached them from a similar standpoint, which is more intuitive or even against the stream,” said Taormina. “The stream at Emerson is very much in line with the films by the Daniels, which are I think are a bit antithetical to how we value and view cinema.”

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Taormina said he struggles with how to put their films into words, which becomes problematic if the group wants to pitch scripts outside the collective. Simpson, a French-born filmmaker and one of two non-Emerson Omnes members, brought “No Sleep Till” to the collective because she sensed kindred spirits.

“It’s similar to Tyler’s film and also to Carson’s film,” she said. “It’s very much about a place and a relationship to a place.” “No Sleep Till” is set in Atlantic Beach, Florida as a hurricane heads toward it. “I pitched it to Tyler, who knew my sensitivity, who knew my references.”

Simpson and Taormina said the collective offers encouragement while holding each other accountable to reach and exceed a standard based on their shared values.

“Approaching films as a collective is a bit different because it comes from a real excitement that we have, not only to make films in general, but — and I think Alex and I meeting is evidence of this — when you find the people who understand that without needing to go too far into all the weeds, that’s how we stand together,” said Taormina.

‘Ham on Rye’Factory 25

On the podcast, Taormina discussed a common difficulty they faced after college: the awkwardness of declaring yourself a filmmaker without having made a feature. When Taormina decided to make “Ham on Rye,” it marked the transition from a friend group to a filmmaking collective.

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“When ‘Ham on Rye’ came to the table as a feature film, it was all of our moment, not just mine,” said Taormina. “We were able to really rise together [to] diminish this horrible experience of calling yourself a filmmaker even though you hadn’t made a feature film.“

The next challenge was shooting the film for $20,000 in 16 days and it gave birth to Omnes’ “production clan” approach. “Every day we’d ideate and [put] our minds and resources together for how to make the best production possible,” said Taormina.

The ideation is not necessarily creative; an Omnes principle is to trust and support the intuition of each filmmaker. “It’s like a weird taking the job of one person, a producer, and spreading it across five minds,” he said.

A film like “Ham on Rye” does not follow traditional budgeting processes. (Taormina joked that a working line producer would be completely lost with what to do with an Omnes joint.) It’s an approach that depends on members wearing multiple hats and the collective’s diversity of talents.

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Jonathan Davies, writer/director of Omnes’ second film “Topology of Sirens,” also served as a music supervisor. Costume designer Meredith Cohen runs point on Omnes’ social media. “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” co-writer Eric Berger either takes a hand in writing or supplies script notes on most projects. Kevin Anton produces, edits, and writes while doing most of VFX work and serving as an uncredited post supervisor.

Joseph Fiorillo is Omnes’ in-house sound guru. Founding member Michael Basta co-wrote “Eephus,” was the first AC on “Miller’s Point,” and will direct the upcoming Omnes film “Racoon.” In addition to writing, directing, and editing his own films, Lund was the cinematographer on “Ham on Rye,” “Topology of Sirens,” and “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” while his brother Eric (the other non-Emerson grad) does all of Omnes’ graphic design, posters, and steps into production design when needed.

Another way the collective keeps costs low is members who work on a production take an equity stake, financially benefitting on the backend rather than getting paid upfront.

“I had quite a few experiences of filmmakers telling me, ‘Well, of course, no one cares about your film as much as you do. It’s just you doing it and they’re all there,’” said Taormina. “And I thought, ‘No, that’s actually far from true in my experience… when I’m on set, I have maybe five or six people who [the film] matters to an earth-shattering degree.”

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With the collective’s growing credibility, Taormina doesn’t shy from talking about Omnes as a brand. There’s there is a connective tissue across Omnes films and part of the collective’s success stems from the effort they’ve put into finding and cultivating an audience for their work. Omnes’ leisurely paced films are not the tightly wound stories that attract Sundance bidding wars.

“It’s really a love it or hate it kind of thing, and we’ve had to trudge through a lot of indifferent or even hostile audiences to find the people who actually really get what we’re doing,” said Taormina. “One thing that we’ve realized in the past few films is that there really is a very effective way to bring films out into the world.”

Omnes has formed strong relationships with specialty distributors, such as Matt Grady’s Factory 25 (“No Sleep Till”) and Music Box Films (“Eephus”), but remain acutely aware of theit limitations. That’s why Omnes is extremely hands-on with marketing: Eric Lund designs the posters and a core group remains active on social media to promote their films with the collective’s distinct voice and sensibility.

‘Eephus’Musicbox

Omnes’ biggest marketing breakthrough came during last spring’s “Eephus” road show, a tour so successful that it’s returning this August. The idea was sparked by advice from the “Hundreds of Beavers” team: Eventize your release and make going to the theater fun.

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Lund embraced that strategy, touring with the film and local cast members like Bill “Spaceman” Lee. They paired the screenings with social media promotion and unique live events. The tour focused on New England, where audiences were especially receptive to the film’s themes of baseball, the rhythms of small-town life, and the bittersweet passage of time, all steeped in the nostalgic atmosphere of autumn in the Northeast.

“It’s been incredible to witness that sort of momentum, but you have to really force it into being,” said Taormina. “It doesn’t really happen without a lot of people really putting a lot into it.”

While Omnes’ filmmaking style faced resistance from more traditional indie gatekeepers, it’s resonated with a younger audience — much as how niche music subgenres find their scenes. That connection gives the team something meaningful to build on domestically and internationally.

“Omnes Collective is extremely valued in France,” said Simpson. “People are so excited about the films, and I think that that’s also interesting for us in the future.”

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Omnes’ recent success has come with the need for heart-to-heart conversations within the collective. Recently, they were offered equity investment, but no one could imagine adding a partner whose motivations were more financial than the collectives’ shared artistic sensibilities. A harder discussion came with the idea of merchandising; some saw it as the natural extension of their marketing success, while others believed it was antithetical to the collective’s ethos.

So what happens if/when a member wants to make a bigger, more Hollywood project? Taormina said of course the group would support it — but would it be an Omnes Collective film? It’s a tricky discussion that he anticipates. The group takes pride in its somewhat paradoxical foundation: They reject strict dogma, yet remain united by a shared artistic sensibility.

However, Taormina believes one reason Omnes can grow is its ability to keep things “loose.” Each film is its own entity; implementing the rigid structure that would come from outside investment or partnershipwould limit the ability for members to grow and adapt.

Taormina said Omnes is “decidedly” an evolving project. Even their website’s “About Us” language was controversial within the group; some felt it was too rigid. (It reads: “Our mission is to fill a void in modern cinema. Our films are passionate, ambitious works made by friends that favor atmosphere over plot and study the many forms of cultural decay in the 21st century. Whatever the subject or genre, we seek projects that are original in conception and feel like they’ve never been made before.”)

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“Some of us are like, ‘Why is that there? What’s going on with that?’ As if we had a mission statement,” he said. “If ten of 12 of us are happy with something it’s kind of weird for the two who aren’t, so it’s just super loose. I don’t know how else to put it. It’s going to be very interesting to see the challenges that if someone wanted to make, let’s say, a completely main character-driven film that is completely in step with the sort of formula and prerequisites of a narrative structure, that would be an interesting conversation.”

“No Sleep Till” opens at Metrograph July 18-24.

To listen to Tyler Taormina and Alexandra Simpson discuss the Omnes Collective, subscribe to the Toolkit podcast onApple,Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

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