My ‘stack today on how Nixon inspired my poster design, how #NationalArchives is part of government shutdown, but mostly why logos, posters and key art matter. open.substack.com/pub/danmirvi...

Woohoo! I’m an American again!!!

Fantastic! I know my fellow Omaha Central alumnus Henry would be proud…

Who wore it better? Is someone writing about how the iconography of films like PATTON get co-opted by Trump/Hegseth? George C. Scott would be rolling over in his grave, I suspect.

Nice to see filmmakers in the UK using crowdfunding! What started as a US phenomenon has spread - good luck, @marczammit.bsky.social !

Can someone explain to me the difference between chasing and arresting people because they have brown skin, and chasing and arresting people because they have a yellow star on their clothes.

Yo, filmmakers, check out my new ‘stack with radical transparency on what “successful” indiefilm distribution looks like (and why quotes around “successful”). Hint: Divide & conquer and join the #MileHighClub…. danmirvish.substack.com/p/the-succes...

Uggh, passive voice. Better headline would be “Jared Kushner & Saudi friends acquire Electronic Arts”. ( and just wait til they find out how close Playa Vista EA building is to hard working immigrants in Home Depot parking lot.)

Today I spoke with Greg Bovino, a top U.S. Border Patrol chief, as he led dozens of feds in military gear through downtown Chicago. He said they were arresting folks based on “how they look.” “How do they look compared to, say, you?” he said, referring to me. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Massive tone shift in the Portlandia reboot.

Interesting phenomenon on Letterboxd… as it becomes increasingly prominent global barometer of films, US studios and publicists paying more attention. But also make it more susceptible to weird and/or nefarious influences. Random Indian user copying Mike Ryan’s review is odd to say the least.

We finish Remembering Robert Redford today with @moviesthatmademe.bsky.social podcast co-host @josholson.bsky.social’s trailer commentary for the Redford-George Segal caper classic The Hot Rock! trailersfromhell.com/hot-rock/

You had me at Nixon…

So many reactions to Comey indictment (& Trump firing prosecutor who refused to indict) call this worse than #Nixon’s #SaturdayNightMassacre during #Watergate. Reminder, our fun Watergate film 18½ is available now on @kanopy.com ! www.kanopy.com/en/product/1...

The Comfy Chair!?!

variety.com/2025/film/ne... #scriptsky

RIP Henry Jaglom: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/m...

From Henry Fonda to Robert Redford to Richard Nixon, Anaconda and Boats, here are the 5 things inspiring me this week. Part of the FilmStack Inspiration Challenge…. danmirvish.substack.com/p/filmstack-...

Interesting that no celebs said a word about Paramo/CBS’s acquiesce to Trump. But screwing with the guy who literally hosts every celebrity in town at Oscars and his own show, is a BIG difference. Disney paying a price. (The difference between Trump going after news vs. entertainment.)

New film idea: COCAINE SHARK!

“ Military flights also cost much more to operate than charter carriers, as much as $28,500 an hour, according to Reuters.” - charter flights more likely to have in-flight entertainment indie films than military jets. If ICE disappearing you, you should at least be able to watch 1 last film.

This should be a headline in all the trades: Kimmel should sue. Let’s see all the big entertainment law firms offer to take the case. Let’s see amicus briefs from all the guilds, the other late night hosts, and the big agencies… Hollywood, this is your chance to stand up to the new Blacklist.

James Gunn, on this week's Peacemaker podcast, talks about how Disney fired him from Guardians 3 after bad-faith right-wing trolls hammered the company. He recalls going through a dark time, realizing he had good friends who loved him, creatively realigning, and now he's running a movie studio.

When remodeling, I used the same wood-stain subcontractor as Jimmy Kimmel. We were at the mercy of his much larger house’s schedule, understandably. Notwithstanding any of that, please count me #TeamJimmy.

This is why we have unions.

Every major talent that works for ABC and Disney should refuse to show up for work until Jimmy Kimmel is reinstated. Marvel movies need to shutdown. Ditto the sitcoms. Collective boycott. Corporations love money more than anything,& this will harm them and force them to do the right thing.

KEY to the story about ABC suspending Kimmel's show: Nexstar and Sinclair, two big owners of ABC-affiliated stations, both need FCC approval for pending deals. With a lot of $$ on the line, both have reason to curry favor with the Trump admin. Both decided to yank Kimmel's show.

Might be a good day to repost what I wrote a few months ago…. open.substack.com/pub/danmirvi...

WGA Statement on ABC’s Decision to Pull Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Thank you, Biff!!!

At least with MSNBC and CNN, since after around the 2008 election & a couple pundit scandals they’ve both done a better job ID’ing which pundits are the paid ones (aka “contributors”). @brianstelter.bsky.social would have a better historical sense of when the networks made that conscious choice.

A big part of our book I AM MARTIN EISENSTADT is about this phenomenon of which cable pundits get paid, which don’t, conflicts of interest, and levels of transparency. (See our chapter on Donna Brazile and CNN during ‘08 campaign. Spoiler: Marty winds up wearing her underwear.) #punditocracy

I can’t wait for the new Balkonkraftwerk album! “Panels have already been installed on about 1.5m German balconies, where they are so popular the term Balkonkraftwerk (balcony power plant) has been coined.”

Nice, but as the head of ASCAP’s musical theater department once told me, Stephen “Wicked/Pippen” Schwartz’s most important element to musical theater was “No false rhymes!”

On balance, this might be good news for authors like me… “Alsup instructed the parties to design a claim form that requires anyone with copyright ownership to opt-in to the settlement. If one owner opts out, the work won’t be covered by the settlement.”

Congrats, @rianjohnson.bsky.social !

I think this may be what they're worried about ... Is This The Hidden Part of the Trump-Epstein Drama? talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/is-th...

The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.

Uh, as someone who’s written a few books, how do I find out if I’m covered by this or the other pending cases??

Someone needs to tell CBS that at some point you bend the knee so far that you are just kneeling.

Yo where’s the DGA on this? Or ACE? I’m pretty sure that’s a violation of the DGA contract (if news shows covered by DGA?? Not sure on that.)

It's December, 1963. Been a bad end to a tough year, to say the least. You go out to the pictures for a little distraction—to watch, say, Elvis Presley & Ursula Andress in FUN IN ACAPULCO. Before the feature, this is the thing you see. What a time.

I legit feel like the best reporting on this will come from Teen Vogue…

Yo, filmmakers! He’s talking to you. He’s talking to all of us. And all of us are now filmmakers. (And yes, this could also be the rallying cry for every film school professor in America.)

See my new ULTIMATE film school list of the top 276 [!?!] film schools in North America!!! Just in time for high school seniors to start freaking out on college apps. See if your film school “ranks”! danmirvish.substack.com/p/the-ultima...

Very funny… and sadly on point:

Congrats to daughter of cofounder of Cannes Directors Fortnight (the Slamdance of Cannes) and star of Carnal Knowledge! (Aka Louis Malle and Candice Bergen.)! So… does this mean Vogue will be more about film? The next Vanity Fair? Oscar parties? Curious what Hollywood’s take is…

George Lazenby is the best Bond to have ever been in my back yard.

Wow! Collider just named our film 18½ #7 on “10 Greatest Movies About Watergat” list!! Wow! Better than Secret Honor or D*ck!?! I’m truly humbled. collider.com/best-movies-.... #Watergate #PresidentialScandal

Great monologue by @velshi.com ! But also reminds me that I once was interviewed on the Dutch TV show called “Where’s The Party?” that did a segment in Park City at Sundance /Slamdance. They even took me snowmobiling into the mountains. Apparently I WAS the party.