Sitemap - 2025 - Hope For Film
What does it mean for a cinema industry leader to be prepared?
Please invite your friends to read Hope For Film
Five Ideas to Strengthen Film Culture
FilmStack Challenge Of The Month #4: my consideration on effective uses of sound in cinema.
Cinema's Secret Formulas: How to win Sundance.
Why all filmmakers should have their own newsletters (30 Reasons Why)
The FilmStack Manifesto v1.0 (and some accompanying tactics) perhaps?
Our Irritation With Hollywood Isn't a Bug In the System...It's a Feature
From Taipei to LA: What I'm Bringing Home with Me
The Radical Act of the Artist.
"The most fun we have ever had doing anything"
Imagine: the total & utter destruction of everything we have ever loved or admired
This is the game that moves as you play.
Cinema's Secret Formulas: How to advance up the professional ladder
Hello, Sh*tstorm, 2025 — how we make sure the sun shines brightly tomorrow
What makes a movie great? ALL the unsung heroes!
"I do not think that art needs to entertain anyone. "
Returning to the scene of the crime
20 practices to achieve an Optimum Production Mindset
Producing Well: Part 2 of The HopeForFilm Masterclass on Producing
Monthly FilmStack Challenge: How to turn someone into a film lover
5 Things You Can Do to Help Yourself and Make the (Film) World a Better Place
"almost like distributors try to gaslight filmmakers into thinking their films have no value! "
Q: How do you best prepare for your film's distribution? A: far, far, far in advance.
The JUST-RELEASED-FROM-JAIL-AND-NOW-WHAT Adventure
Five Additional Qualities Of Better Film
My Deep-ish Dive Into Theatrical Exhibition
What's the news today & how do we trust it
"if you keep throwing your hat in the ring usually something good will eventually happen"
Genius is not a noun -- but it can be found in a process.
Build Your Audience, Own Your Future
"designed to help build the muscle of sharing"
Five Fun Ways to Break Free from the Algorithm - Before It Breaks You
"We don’t have to pretend any longer that there’s a path we’re supposed to take!"
Let’s Reclaim The Language Of TheFKAFilmBiz
Stop whispering! The 13 new evolutions the FKATheFilmBiz needs to be SHOUTING about right now...
Why do we try to make it better?
An Introduction to Film Producing
Further reflections on working with Ang Lee
What Indie Film Has in Common With the Attention Crisis
"This is the inspiration we need."
INVISIBLE NATION Film Release in Full Bloom
Please value YOUR own attention even more than THEY do.
The hummingbirds come out in the rain…
25+ Tips For Packaging Your Project Successfully
If you change the system you are in, you will also change the work that you create.
Squeezing the lemon of cinema 🍋
How To Improve The Moviegoing Experience... HFF's Monthly FilmStack Challenge #2
"“work creates inspiration” rather than the other way around."
Their lies & chaos inspire our collective action... but we should go play on another field, right?
How to destroy something beautiful... and build it back better... maybe!
What I Learned Producing Ang Lee’s 1st Breakout Hit
"Without chaos, there's no discovery. If everything is planned, everything is expected."
"they have rewired how I think about cinema's place in youth culture"
"When trying to express the intangible parts of your mind and soul..."
Your FIRST look at The Popcorn List 2025 Films!
A small feast of beauty, death, and revolution
Coming to peace with uncertainty
Resources: (Other People's) Advice On NonDē Distribution
Film Financing Masterclass, 2025 edition
"I did not listen to conventional wisdom, I followed my passion..."
Reasons To Be Cheerful (About The State Of Cinema)
Hate To Tell You… It’s Getting WORSE
Why we must change the goals of so-called "indie" film
25+ Good Ideas For The Cinema Industry
Short and fast. Get in, get out. Move on.
"vision, hope and plans... for building a better world"
Let’s admit it: we failed… massively.
Throw out the old way. Time to learn how to do it right.
TRU #11: How to win in Hollywood
The Bad Ideas That Have Infected The Film Industry
Are You Paying (For) Attention?
"putting out an indie film feels like being a 120 lb fighter in a heavyweight competition"
Why I will never be discouraged
What would YOU do if you ran a film studio?
How many ways can you say "it is time to make something happen!"?
How To Stay Sane In This Crazy Business
"Think of this list like a mullet"
TRU #9: Let's save EVERYTHING, okay?
Opportunity Is The Devil’s Playground
TRU #8: What works, what doesn't, and what to quit fast
What to do when bad shit happens
The Film Business’ Recent Inflection Points
You say you want a revolution…
How to improve a director/producer collaboration before it even begins
HFF's The5: 03.14.25 Edition "Takeover"
Do We Really Have To Set Film Budgets For "What The Market Tells Us"?
What would an ideal producer/director matchmaking service look like?
Check it out! The Rushfield Lunch with yours truly.
Do Most Film Directors Actually Want A Partner In A Producer?
Flip it, toss it, weave it, share it.
Cinema's Secret Formulas: How To Save Money
"Stand behind your art, nobody will represent it like you."
The Big Messy: a cinema style that I want but rarely ever get
Sorry to bum you out a bit, but...
May the corporate cinema style of today now die a rapid death please
Cinema's Secret Formulas: Why Non-corporate Cinema Has Tremendous Power
Where Have We Failed: Staged Financing
How to get hired on a great 1990's NYC indie
All films are political, Part 4
These days, everything begs to be a movie.
Recategorizing The Bad And Negative
Cinema's Secret Formulas: How to work with "The Best"... And....The5: 02.09.25 edition
Checking In!... with 2024's The Popcorn List's Films
Substack’s Cinema Community has arrived!
With So Much To Do, Where Do We Begin?
Cinema's Secret Formulas: The Differential
We've Really Got Our Work Cut For Us!
Cinema's Secret Formulas: Why We Don't Think Clearly
How do communities deal with colossal loss and disaster?
If We Addressed The Problems In The Cinema Ecosystem, Would It Better This World?
HFF's The Five: 01.11.25 Edition
HFF's The Five: 01.09.25 Edition
The GOOD Things: Some Additional Add-Ons
Cinema's Secret Formulas: Why Artists/Entrepreneurs Need Better Routines