Every day the tea leaves change.
Every day the tea leaves change.
Links, Ponders & Wonders: 10.26.24 edition
For those of you that haven’t decided to support this newsletter financially, we have a special treat for you. Actually it seems to be happening every week now. As, like most of us, I make it a habit to read the news over my morning coffee, but like only a few of us, my interior monologue that results ends up in your inbox. Yes, that is what this is. It started as a result of my search to give “paid members benefits”. Lately it has been generating two or three such LP&W posts per week. I vowed to make the second consecutive day of them free. And for now I am sticking to it. So that is what this is: the free for all second consecutive LP&W post in two days. Woohoo! It’s a doozy.
Today’s LP&W Contents
Where are we headed?
Surprise! They are still making dumbass decisions…
From prestige to fluff: Docs 2016 - 2024
The mainstream kills truth, art, democracy, and culture.
Yup everything old is new again, again.
Are you on the bus… or not?
It could happen here.
Funding for your doc short?
I am loving this model
The best horror you may not have seen.
One big THANK YOU!
1
Wanna bet this only makes it worse?
Everyone, every brand, is launching a streamer or a studio or something else they know very little about. Sure they might give away their “content” as they won’t try to produce for excellence, but free does not equal good. Expect quality to continue to slip into mediocrity. Expect audiences to continue to feel they no longer love movies or series.
And FWIW, I differ with this Ted. It isn’t that the barriers to entry have been lowered. The barriers for entry for excellence are higher than ever. But these newcomers aren’t playing that tune.
2
How quick does a good thing die?
The Global Streaming Platforms birthed and killed the prestige doc in less than a decade. How fast have you ever ruined a really good thing? You sort of have to work really hard to ruin such a wonderful art form so quickly.
3
Surprise! Mainstream media avoids “risky” subjects.
What’s risky about truth? Oh, yeah, stock prices. You know what alter most distribution worship at. They will sacrifice truth, democracy, art, and culture for the dollar. Fortunate for you, there are bits of paths you can now find to avoid those entities and keep your good ways going.
And yeah, we’ve mentioned this before, but why same something good just once, when you can keep on repeating and repeating and repeating.
4
The Youngs are digging what the Olds once adored.
They’ve taken over the rep houses, and now those theaters are booming. https://www.theringer.com/movies/2024/10/23/24270869/repertory-revival-cinema-old-movie-screenings-vidiots-film-at-lincoln
Perhaps you wonder why? What built this craving?
The best and the brightest, most capitalized or powerful, consistently make dumbass decisions. It is sort of inspiring!
(HT David Holbrooke)
And yeah, my 23 year old son was amongst the crowd for SALO that night.
5
They are two different businesses and there should be little comparison.
Theatrical and streaming are growing further and further apart. Despite the fact that they both support each other, they have not learned how to work well together and as a result you have to decide where you stand. Are you on the bus or not? Of course as this latest example shows, the pricing differs too, and theatrical requires a much lower price tag, perhaps as low as 50%
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/business/media/margot-robbie-wuthering-heights-warner-bros.html
6
One of our greatest producers has been sentenced by Russia to 8.5 years in prison (in absentia) … for speaking the truth!
Don’t even begin to think that it couldn’t happen here. It could. And will, if things go in a certain direction. American producers must stand with Alexander Rodnyasky. The European Producers have announced their support already. His films are always remarkable.
7
Doc Short Funding opportunity, but the deadline is Nov 15:
https://airtable.com/appYlofvByApMoxCh/pagmfZkr8ZEi2umNo/form
8
The latest Metalabel release
If you’ve been reading regularly, you know my support for what is happening over at Kickstarter-founder Yancey Strickler’s latest endeavor, Metalabel. I particularly like the pricing strategy for Brian Eno’s new book and collab. You can buy one of the 777 physical first-edition copies for $240 bucks or wait a few months and get a black & white PDF in December for $1.
9
Let’s have a TV Party tonight!
Alex Berg over on Underexposed asked me, Vanessa, and many of our fellow film substackers what was the horror film we’ve seen, loved, and suspect most have missed. It added quite a few to my “To Watch” list. Check it out.
Alex is having a 50% off sale on his subscriptions now, so you should race on over and sign up. You can do so here: https://alexrollinsberg.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=9f4b36e3&utm_content=150589364
10
Thanks for the reads, thanks for the engagement.
Yeah, I’ve been posting more frequently (again), but I really appreciate you checking it out. It is encouraging and keeps me going.
I think by the time this post comes out I will have hit my two year subscriber goal, in only 23 months! Cutting it close, yeah, but I was also reaching high.
Thank you for reading and thank you for subscribing. It is inspiring. And motivating.
Ted - that Rodnyansky headline reads a bit misleading. He has ben sentenced IN ABSENTIA, meaning if he steps foot in Russia, they will put him in jail but he is a free man, outside of Russia. I follow him for years (and even had some dealings with his office). He is a brave and outspoken man.
As always thank you for the links, Ted, and BIG congrats on almost 10k Substack subscribers!! A big accomplishment, that.