Being aware of these developments is only part of the recipe towards making a successful independent feature film. One needs to know who the audience for the film is and then develop a plan on how to reach them...
And as we are only now discovering - having all of the above is still not all that you need in order to make it! In other words, having the right film, for the right budget, with the right team behind it and a clear route to market isn't ALL that you need to make a film in this day and age. You also need a supportive environment. You need people (in power) to back you. People who keep their promises, who help nurture and support you. It may be your parents and peers or it may be a commissioner or financier or it amy be all of them. At some point someone, somewhere has to take a chance on you and back you.
If they don't, and if as in the worst case scenario, they actually try to block your progress then they too become another barrier to entry. Evolution has shown that eventually these barriers go the way of dinosaurs and get bumped out of the road by progress or alternatively the struggling peons get wiped out and replaced by a more resilient species...
Well this blog post is really just to announce that I am not a peon and that come hell or high water the dinosaurs will be moved.