I'm a big fan of Dust Studios, which have grown substantially over the years to become perhaps the best sci-fi short film distributor and producer of independent filmmakers. I see they now note 500 filmmakers in 50 countries that use Dust for production and/or distribution. They started years ago with an occasional 5 or 10-minute film on Youtube, with a few subscribers. I think these are among the most creative stories and productions today. The cost for that production must have been around $50k or 100k, if everyone was paid at least the minimum actor and tech union rates, not to mention the cost of the equipment.