Good topic, and good list.
I won't name-drop/plug who we are (or are working to be) as it'd be innapropriate, but here's an annecdote.
My GF and I have dumped a bunch of money into cameras, recording equipment, computers, software, and music equipment to get our production company going, mainly off the list of people I named. Those who have been named by others--that I recognize--are the fuel for what we want to do.
Back in the day, there was Ed Wood, Troma Films, George Romero, and Roger Corman, to name a few. They did what they wanted to do, despite odds. Now, it's easier to do, but almost harder to get seen.
Now days, there's PBC Productions, Rooster Teeth Productions, Blame Society Films (the Chad Vader guys), Red Letter Media (Mr. Plinketts reviews and other), Channel Awesome, and Black Sheep Productions (the Star Wars: IMPS fan-series) to name but a tiny portion. I am sure most of you have seen content from these people, even if you didn't know who made it.
Two D.I.Y. garage dwellers who made it big were Kevin and Kerry Conran, the directors/producers of "Sky Captain and the World of Tommorow." The entire movie was developed out of their garage, shown to a producer, and worked with from there with Kerry directing the likes of Jude Law, Gwenyth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie for his first film.
These are but a few, and I have no doubt that the list will only get bigger in the approaching years.
With television moving slowly towards the internet, and films releasing on demand or through digital distribution, it only makes sense that talent is emerging/being sought from the web. A friend of mine took a screen-writing class not too long ago, and the teacher there relayed that a lot of what is seen as traditional television will be gone in the next 5-10 years. It's already been happening.
