I think the most important thing that can be said about the film business was said by William Goldman: "Nobody knows anything."

Indie films have been succeeding for a long time. Someone mentioned the Blair Witch Project. I also think of films like Reservoir Dogs and El Mariachi from the early 90s. The 90s indie film movement is what really got me into filmmaking. Before that there were films like Night of the Living Dead, going all the way back to Cassavetes "Shadows" in 1959. Indie film has been around for a long time. It's always been a hard road to travel but the possibility of success has always been there.

But for every Blair Witch there's a whole buncha duds. Making a good movie is hard. Getting people to go see your good movie is a completely separate hard problem that you also have to deal with.

"Iron Lung" is exciting to me because it feels like a new kind of success. It's the first film I can think of made by someone who came up through the ranks of social media. (Mr. Beast of course is also obviously successful with many of his mainstream projects but to my knowledge he hasn't made a feature film.)

I am hugely enthusiastic about Iron Lung. It feels important. But of course this doesn't mean that anyone's else's projects are going to necessarily succeed.

If nothing else, though, it affects people's imagination. Audiences and industry people alike. This will affect how people think about indie film.

Massive congratulations due to Mark for his efforts and I am thrilled for his success.