June 30, 2022
Do we ever get a break from this crap, or are we stuck in a global downward spiral of shit news-weeks from hell every week from now til the world just up and ends? I ask myself this in all seriousness too often for my or anyone else’s mental health. But as much as these past few weeks seem pretty bad, so were numerous others I could pick out of the memory hat of international traumas, going back time immemorial. I don’t have a handy set of solutions here, but I’m pretty sure we collectively need some trauma therapy via the arts, and for this newsletter that means via films. I’ve called for us to envision an army of filmmakers making important media once before – back in April of 2020 envisioning Trump’s (then coming) attacks on democracy to be precise – but now I feel like we need a new public health corps army of filmmakers helping us to make sense of multiple years of trauma, and just maybe to give us inspiration to make new futures.
I honestly can’t complain. I’m a white dude who just spent a lot of time on a beach relaxing, and who gets to vent to several thousand people each week who give me the time of day for some reason. Duly noted. But it’s become increasingly harder to write this newsletter each week, when what’s happening with streaming, films or (especially) brand funded content just pales in comparison to each day’s news events.
Not that this counts as news, either, but I spent more time than usual this past week with a diverse set of friends who work in various fields that overlap with a lot of the politics most impacted lately, and it was clear they’ve been traumatized, are demoralized and are pretty fed up. And so are most of the folks I follow on the socials, and get emails from in response to this newsletter.
“They” say that art helps us process all of this, make sense of the world and possibly change it. I’m not ever quite sure this is true, but what’s always made me believe in it is just how much the powers that be try to belittle the arts – which means they must be doing something. Which is what makes me wonder how film can best help with the trauma we're all experiencing?
Film can change the world, of course, and plenty of filmmakers are working hard at doing it every day – through every genre imaginable. But for every great film that might change the world, I see ten more things being made and distributed that count more towards an escape from the world, or a softer kind of change. This is more a fault of what distributors/streamers think audiences want than what’s being made in the marketplace. What sells are rock docs – either rock and roll or seemingly rock climbing of all things – true crime, reality TV, franchises, horror, and other entertainment. These have their place, and I watch them, have made them, and have helped to distribute a few of them – we do need entertainment and escape (and to be clear, I think fiction films can change the world as much as a serious doc).
But we also have some greater needs – some soul nourishing type needs – as a society, and I fear those are getting left out of the system more often than not. I also firmly believe that the best way to experience these and possibly effect change is through seeing them together, and letting them spark conversation. Which happens best in cinemas, at film fests, in community screenings, and the like. While there’s a whole army of folks fighting this good fight too – the people running these places, for example, there’s also been a marked trend towards privileging streaming and access, and belittling the communal experience.
And yes, access means someone in some small town (or with less ability to get to a cinema) can see the same stuff as anyone else and that’s a great thing that can lead to change. But that’s also precisely how these things can get lost in the noise – there are too many titles streaming, and all of them are competing for attention with other soporifics of today, like TikTok and Instagram, which have all, together, become the gin of the modern age – what we use to not think about what we should. They don’t call this the attention economy for nothing, but a lot of this stuff is keeping your attention focused on fun or rage, and not on the collective’s mental health. One would almost think our age of trauma has been caused by the systems we’ve made to keep ourselves busy, or something…
Anyhoo… my hope this week is that some other folks are thinking like this, and want to see more art that addresses the traumas in some novel way, or that offer solutions that can only be dreamed up through these arts. Or maybe it’s just me here, tilting at windmills. Either way, that’s what you get from me this week – which is more than I thought I could bear to scribble just thirty minutes ago when I sat down to write this. If you have good examples of these kinds of films, or thoughts on how to get more of them made and distributed – hit me up.
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Film
Living in A24 World: What makes A24 special besides their pretty great roster of films? For starters, they started selling $60 designer candle replicas of the butt plug that makes quite the appearance in their film Everything Everywhere All at Once shortly after its release (remember when an inter-dimensional assassin impaled himself on a sex toy-shaped Auditor of the Month trophy?). “This is part of A24’s grand design. Its movies, its marketing tactics, and its ravenously consumed merch all flow together to maintain an unmistakable vibe that pulls into its orbit the die-hards, the casually curious, and even some folks who may be barely aware of A24 as anything other than a streetwear line.” What else is new in A24 news? You can now become a member in an exclusive club called A24 All Access (AAA24). Sadly, your membership at $5/month does NOT include access to an A24 streaming library but it does include access to exclusive merch and live events and elevates members to Close Friends status on the A24 instagram account. Read Joe Berkowitz’ piece for Fast Company to learn about his immersion into the world of A24 and find out if their film-adjacent experiences are worth your $$. (GSH) I also recommend that every filmmaker, distributor, brand, festival and event read this article and think hard about how they would create their own, unique brand around their "label" because this is how it is done, and more people should be thinking this way. (BN)
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Branded Content
Anatomy of a Product Placement:The New York Times’ Sophie Halgney tells us that “[W]hen Larry David casually opens the door in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” these [fridge] shelves need to be full of food and drink, and each one of those items is likely to have a brand… All of this must usually be negotiated through carefully considered placements that give these products their 15 seconds (or less) of fame.” While paid placements are somewhat common, the majority of these negotiations “are more frequently a matter of finagling loan-and-trade agreements to reduce production budgets.” Product placement in film and TV is almost as old as Hollywood itself, but now it’s BOOMING. It’s a $23 billion industry, up by 14% since 2020 (that’s insane!). So what’s on the horizon for product placement in TV shows and movies? At an AI industry conference in May, Amazon said they were experimenting with “virtual product placement”, where brands can work with editors in post-production to splice a Cheereo’s box into the scene, for example. This way, brands won’t literally have to be built into the scene or script from the get go, giving directors more creative freedom. Sophie Halgney for The New York Times has the story. (GSH)
Snapchat is launching a mentorship and funding program for 25 Black creators: Just a few days ago, Snapchat announced the launch of a mentorship and funding program for 25 Black creators as part of an effort to provide support to emerging creators from underrepresented backgrounds. Selected participants will receive $10k a month for a year, be elevated to Snapchat Star status, and can provide feedback on Snapchat UX, among other things. Applications to Snap’s accelerator program can be found here. Deadline is August 12th. Hope to see more tech companies in the creator-space providing opportunities like this one. Mia Sato for TheVerge has the news. (GSH)
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Miscellany:
Publishers grapple with younger audiences avoiding the news: Young people avoid the news. It’s sad but true: About 4 out of 10 people under age 35 “sometimes or often actively avoid the news,” according to the Digital News Report conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. What’s more, ‘news-avoidance’ in the U.S. has grown from 3% in 2013 to 15% in 2022. Why? According to the report, young people say (1) the news cycle is too repetitive on topics like COVID-19 and politics; (2) the news is a mood-killer; (3) the news is hard to understand; (4) the news is untrustworthy. What are publishers doing to address all this? The LA Times, SF Chronicle and others are now present and active on Instagram — where younger crowds tend to hang out — and create content exclusively for the platform. The Washington Post formed a task force to reach younger readers, and The New York Times is experimenting with different story forms that might resonate with younger readers. Vox Media’s publisher Meliossa Bell’s takeaway post-report is “I’m very pessimistic about our current state of media in the U.S. right now. These numbers are deeply depressing and should be a very strong wake-up call for all of us in journalism” (mood killer, sorry… but hopefully you keep on reading). Sara Guaglione for Digiday has the news. (GSH)
‘Fat Finger’ Errors or Bad Investments? Here Are 10 NFTs That Were Sold at a Substantial Loss as Crypto Markets Have Cooled: When we talk about NFTs we usually talk about major sales for ridiculous looking images…etc. But in the past few months crypto has plummeted and many NFTs are being sold for way less than what they were bought for. There may be a few reasons for the price drop, including ‘fat finger mistakes’, “when the seller types in the wrong listing price or accepts the wrong bid.” Yes, apparently fat finger mistakes are pretty common. Take a look at Amy Castor’s piece for ArtNet for a list of 10 big NFTs that sold for way less than they were bought for. (GSH)
Is gaming the gateway to success in the metaverse?: Gaming is a $201 billion industry, twice the size of the film industry and almost half of the world is playing them (est. 3 billion people). So the short answer is Yes, but the how, why, and when is where it gets interesting/complicated. Check out this Financial Times video where experts in the field delve into the following questions and more: Who is the metaverse for and who wants it (and who doesn’t)? What will the future of VR and AR look like in our day to day lives? How will gaming and the technology used to create games be harnessed to to shape future evolutions of the internet? How will regulation affect our road to the metaverse? How will virtual immersive experiences replace or augment our real-world experience? (GSH)
GSH = Articles written by Sub-Genre's Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman, not Brian Newman (BN)
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