If you are in Park City, please join me for a free live brainstorming session on how to evolve or overthrow the film festival industrial complex. Wednesday 1.24.24 4p at The Yarrow, 1800 Park Ave

In case you needed something else to freak out about: “People are swallowing 100s of 1000s of microscopic pieces of plastic each time they drink a liter of bottled water, scientists hv shown — a revelation that could hv profound implications for human health.” www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

We had many questions for the Oscar-shortlisted short doc "Island In Between" director S. Leo Chiang, but one of the many answers he shared is 100% bullseye for me: "Let’s work to develop more committed career producers...." tedhope.substack.com/p/5-question...

Hey film school teachers & students! I flubbed up when I published this post. I didn't want it to publish when I hit the button. I then removed it & didn't share. It's resurfaced and I think it is a useful one. tedhope.substack.com/p/the-hopefo...

"Only the observation with time, gives you the opportunity to love people & to understand them. Love is based in share time looking for someone, that is what I do in my films. The problem is that we do not have so much time to observe in life." tedhope.substack.com/p/5-question...

Please check out Vanessa Hope's interview on our film INVISIBLE NATION and Taiwan's challenging geopolitical predicament! en.rti.org.tw/radio/progra...

"I had submitted the film to many different film festivals, only to be rejected by all of them. The film also did not gain any traction in the distribution side. The initial 6 months of the film’s life were all rejections." But then.... tedhope.substack.com/p/5-question...

Wow. I have a long list of what I would like for 2024, but amongst it all, I'd love for this to lead to a major programming change across what was FKA The Film Biz. Personally, I'd love a world where we got more SALTBURNs and less of all the rest! flixpatrol.com/top10/amazon...

You are going to have an awesome year. How do I know this? Because I have a gift for you. Give it a read. You owe it yourself. Consider adopting a few & let us know how it works for you, will you? Personally, I'd settle for a pretty decent year if possible... tedhope.substack.com/p/ht15-this-...

ICYMI: Almost 75% of all films from the golden age of silent films (1912-1929) have been lost. www.historytoday.com/archive/miss...

Yikes! The climate crisis has cost $16 million per hour in extreme weather damage over the past 20 years!!! (finally looking at & closing the links from 2 months ago!) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This IS About The Entertainment Business: Can we change our priorities & if so, what would they be? Can we change our behaviors? Do our tactics align with our principles & goals? Why did we adopt all these to begin with? Have we conformed to others' expectations? tedhope.substack.com/p/consciousn...

RADICAL's director Chris Zalla about what in cinema lifts the good into great: "the attention to detail. You can create a vision, a central action or dramatic spine which is vital as an organizing force, but it’s the thousands of little choices... tedhope.substack.com/p/5-question...

There are 4 key processes needed to consistently lift to transform mediocrity into magnificence. And 3+ processes that help refine the results.These 7 become a creative practice – the thing that is needed to have a sustainable and generative creative life. tedhope.substack.com/p/make-it-gr...

WAS 2023 one of the worst years for the film biz EVER? This is a great read of how it compares with some other truly terrible ones. I wish The Trades would do more historical articles likes this. I wish I knew someone who could write these for HopeForFilm. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

Beyond entertainment, why do you see movies? Whether you are an artist or an exec, we also see them to be inspired. How can you do your work differently? Eric Kohn's recommendation of 10 movies to inspire new ways of using cinema to blow our minds: tedhope.substack.com/p/the-best-m...

"On the 1st day of shooting my 1st movie I felt I had to know everything. I thought I needed to know every lens, every light, every perfect way to shoot a scene, and every answer to all of the enormous amounts of questions a director is asked. Needless to say, fairly stressful." -- Nicole Holofcener

Are the Global Streaming Platforms hurting what is FKATheFilmBiz? You betcha! Let me wake you up this morning (or perhaps later this weekend): podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

“You [as the producer] have somehow to find the way not just to keep on coming back and pushing and pushing and pushing, but while you’re coming back, advancing your project so that people see that it’s going to happen whether they’re involved or not.” businessdoceurope.com/bde-intervie...

Love seeing ex-Good Machinists & ThisIsThatters Anne Carey, Anthony Bregman, & Stefanie Azpiazu have their productions THE PERSIAN VERSION & FLORA AND SON make the NBR list for Top 10 Indies of the year!

Woohoo! Holiday gift to myself arrived! Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris early & rare records. I hope Santa doesn’t make me wait longer to open further!

What if we used awards to incentivize better cinema, better behavior, & a better world? 1st Principle of all awards: level playing field. I have 20 Awards The FKATheFilmBiz Really Needs Now, 10 winners, & 6 Anti-awards To Stop The Downward Spiral tedhope.substack.com/p/a-total-ov...

Hey Los Angeles! THIS is where you should be on 12/28. I thought Jeffrey Wright would get nominated for this film, which probably is my best most-underseen film. Please see Ang Lee's RIDE WITH THE DEVIL on the big screen at this JW Retrospective. www.americancinematheque.com/now-showing/...

I have always wondered what one can do to get such a headline for your film… the truth is… sometimes you just get lucky! www.screendaily.com/news/slamdan...

Our film INVISIBLE NATION’s festival journey keeps growing more legs. The US appendage is headed to Park City for Slamdance Closing Night. Hope to see you there! variety.com/2023/film/ne...

What’s your favorite movie poster of 2023? I think mine is POOR THINGS but I need to do a bit deeper dive…

Let’s first drill down on how things changed this year. 2023 marks the year that most folks of all sorts in what was formerly the film biz have indicated they are eager for a change. Which is to say they all want to move on from where we currently are. tedhope.substack.com/p/contemplat...

Thinking I need a New Year's Day Kickoff Playlist. I am starting with this, but need some follow ups. Any suggestions? youtu.be/-hRCwByLb-E?...

Indie Awards? I saw #AvaDuVernay's ORIGIN yesterday, dug it, & was blown away what this Indie did. Boldboldbold & 3 continents. Great tales of how they "stole" shots. A remarkable production that should be on all BestOf lists -- particularly the Indies. They pulled it from Netflix!

I would love to see an article, or even a list I could research further, on block chain movie "success" (however someone wants to define this) and the best practices that could be derived from them. #JustSaying #PleaseShare

One of my tests of a film, is how I feel about it once my subconscious has had a chance to nibble on it. Filmmaking is about choices; I need my dreams to work through the alternative versions. It’s my own A/B testing. I saw Ava DuVernay's ORIGIN yesterday & really dug it. Even more so this morning.

Wow. The Boy And The Heron. Miyazaki. That guy. Most imaginative artist in pop culture in 50 years.

I am thinking of hosting "watch parties" of all my films with video discussions after, starting with DOOM ASYLUM, and then working backwards. www.amazon.com/gp/video/det...

The LocarnoMeets podcast just launched my episode: "Hope questions the pervasive influence of streaming platforms. He advocates a shift in perspective, urging the recognition of streaming as a utility rather than a determinant of content creation." 1/2 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

Everyone everywhere in the film business is now dependent on the globalstreamingplatforms, their mandates and whomever they are targeting. It is virtually impossible to make a financial model work without their license fee. It is an anti-competitive marketplace. tedhope.substack.com/p/swoosh-the...

We are neglecting our need for the new and novel, for the uncharted territory, and for the magic act where we pull it out of our hat by the skin of our pants. We’ve created a legion where so so many are good at what they do, but so few really do something different.

“Why did I want to make movies in the 80s? Because they sucked. I see a lot of people who feel the same way [nowadays] & I think that is going to give rise to a great blooming of expression that will aesthetically, narratively & politically radicalize audiences.” variety.com/2023/film/gl...

"Walt Disney may have built his company on creativity, but his successors have replaced it with an empire based entirely on brand extensions. It takes a special kind of stupid to kill off Indiana Jones or Toy Story or a Marvel superhero..." www.honest-broker.com/p/how-to-kil...

It's kind of unfortunate that our timing is perfect for INVISIBLE NATION. You work for 7 years on a story you know the world needs to know, & yet here it is "so of the moment". Come to the European premiere tomorrow! Love this Variety interview! variety.com/2023/film/ne...

Don't want to bum you out, but... We’ve allowed the corporate behemoth to eat the authored soul of cinema (and other creative industries) alive, and now it is living on fumes without the proper life support. The dominant structures do not serve singular voices tedhope.substack.com/p/where-did-...

Care to discuss the way filmmakers and audiences are trained by the major players to adapt and conform to a creative process that colors only between the lines? Join me in Amsterdam @idfa next week: festival.idfa.nl/en/compositi...

If you are around Stanford University today, here’s your chance to see INVISIBLE NATION, our festival winning film on Taiwan, and their challenging geo-political situation. Dinner provided! www.hoover.org/events/invis...

When I was at Amazon Studios I had a plan on how we could make something really special. We were stuck in a rut and it was the same rut that the entire film business is always stuck in. We were picking projects out of the rapids, taking what was fed to us. tedhope.substack.com/p/the-need-f...

Tomorrow’s HFF post is on how: if we just train ourselves to see the solutions wanting to happen (instead of the problems that stall us), we can move our art, business, industry, and world a wee bit closer to the pleasure planet of our dreams.

My newsletter HopeForFilm launched two new columns today: "Project Of The Month" and "5 Questions"--highlighting one of my original collaborators, Hal Hartley, who is in the final days of his crowdfunding campaign for "Where To Land". tedhope.substack.com/p/5-question...

You know how award races are often popularity contests more than they are about the work on the screen? It is going to be interesting this year when there is no campaigning, at least for actors awards. If all campaigning was banned, would it level the playing field? apnews.com/article/stan...

As we wait for our first mainstream review, enjoy Ann Hornaday’s Middleburg Film Fest roundup blurb: ““Invisible Nation,” Vanessa Hope’s unusually intimate portrait of Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai Ing-wen.” Read how this fest rose to great heights: www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

One of the things I like most about consuming a ton of movies in a short period is that is a bit of cultural thermometer for themes and techniques. Why do we tell the stories that we do? Why do we tell them as we do? What is needed to break t status quo? open.substack.com/pub/tedhope/...

Want to get your movie made? The power is more in your hands than generally recognized. Show them it is INEVITABLE. How? I have some tips (but it really always about doing the work and showing up -- and then a lot of good fortune). The long path is the shortcut. tedhope.substack.com/p/want-to-kn...

Boy oh boy, indie life is hard. 1thing falls apart, & everything else crumbles in unison. I've got some tales of wonder & the usual thunder of struggle. Where do we find the path forward? All the usual fun of monday morning movie musings, links, and ponders: tedhope.substack.com/p/mmmm-roadb...