They Say Truth Will Set You Free
But you may wake up to find you are in a nightmare.
….But first we have a special announcement!
Before getting into today’s post of twenty more truths about what was formerly known as the film business, we have something special to offer our readers based in Los Angeles. There is a FREE screening of our feature documentary INVISIBLE NATION tonight at USC on their IMAX screen. Yup. Just RSVP right here. Do it now though, as we are sure to sell out. And thanks for that and for helping to spread the word. This is grassroots indie distribution and it only works when YOU make it work.
And btw, if you are an AMPAS Doc Branch member, please check it out on the Academy Screening Room website!
Onwards!
And now…. Part 3 of 4 on Truths About The Film Industry
If you’ve been reading along, you perhaps recall that way back when, back in our first year, we launched we dropped a list of truths. We then followed it up the last go round with twenty additional nuggets. We now have twenty more for you to ponder.
But allow me to ask you something. Is it arrogant to try to define the truth? Is that where we are at these days? Is this helpful to you? Should I just shut the f up and keep these thoughts to myself? I wonder sometimes.
I remember all too well when I was starting out. It wasn’t easy and I could not make much progress advancing in the realms I wanted. I also was completely dissatisfied with the films that were being released, yet I knew there were many films that I was curious about getting made. I knew there were issues, challenges that needed to be solved, yet no one was talking about them. It felt like a riddle or maybe a labyrinth.
Back then, I had a dream of creating a fanzine. It wouldn’t have been like HopeForFilm, as I was a different person then. What was similar though was that I wanted something to stimulate the conversations I thought we needed to have. I still do.
I don’t ask you to agree with what I put out, but I am glad to connect with those that do. I want there to be conversations. Where do we go for those? We don’t even go to the office or workspace now. Is this the new water cooler? When folks write into this newsletter and leave comments, it makes my day. It helps me get a clearer picture of the system we are in, and how that system is within us. Sure I have to lead, but I don’t have to be right. There is great joy to be found in being proven wrong. There is great joy in moving towards truth. Who wants to live a lie? Or in one? Yeah, that’s why I am putting these out there.
Back then, when I was starting out, I wanted access to someone who had already been through it. As things progressed, I wanted to compare notes with those that were doing it too. As a boss, I wanted to hear more from those coming up and how things were changing. Now as someone who has been around the block a few times and then some, I want to hear it all from all sides. It seems possible. It seems like a conversation we can have together. I’d be very curious to hear how such a list as this one when I complete it then affects you, sits with you, and inspires you. Or whatever it is that it does.
Please share your thoughts. It is not easy to try to amass these. It runs me down, honestly. And it picks me up when you respond. Thanks for that.
Ted’s Film Business Truths, Part 3 of 4.
Read Pt 1 and Pt 2 if you have not already. And prepare yourself for the one still yet to come. And if you find the truth a bit hard to take, and you feel you need to inoculate yourself a tad before diving in, I’ve prepared this special New Year’s elixir for you to look on with bright eyes to all that’s still to come. Maybe gulp that down in advance.
True customer (and creator) choice and curation work against conformity — which is a tool the platforms (and other businesses) use to drive much of their enterprise.
One of the great joys and attributes that cinema captures is… our compassion and understanding of others’ diverse perspectives.
Choice and curation celebrates diverse perspectives.
There is no need to politicize choice or curation; having a variety of attitudes or perspectives encourages discovery — the joy of escaping your own echo chamber.
Cinema used to be a single title focused industry based on profit or loss, but it is now an industry focused on a portfolio of related titles targeted to specific audiences with the goal of signing those up as long time subscribers. It is now the audience-acquisition business.
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