Hey friends. Hope you’re week has gone well and you’re cruising toward a weekend of rest, relaxation and something cinematic.
Because I’ve suddenly gotten an influx of new readers since my last post, I wanted to say hello and welcome to any new Cinesthesia readers!
Rushes is a weekly(ish) post where I toss out some bits to chew on from my week of surfing the tides of being an indie filmmaker. Here’s some tossed bits.
PTA TRAILER! PTA TRAILER!
If you’re like me, you will pay money to watch anything Paul Thomas Anderson decided to put to screen. This go around, he snagged the most money he’s ever gotten to make a film (140M). Is it yet another example of Warners’ insane spending? Definitely! Is it likely going to play a part in getting Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy fired. If they make it to September! Whether the movie makes its money back or not, it matters not to me.
COFFEE THOUGHTS
I sat down with two filmmaker friends this week for coffee meetings, and both independently shared similar insights about releasing their recent indie films. Perhaps it resonated strongly because I'm currently navigating the sale of my own film, but their experiences gave me pause. Both filmmakers said the one significant change they'd make next time is allocating a portion of their budget specifically for P&A (print and advertising), rather than relying entirely on their distributor to carry that load.
At first glance, this makes some sense, particularly for films without bankable talent attached. Distributors, in such cases, tend to do the bare minimum required to advertise the movie. A mutual friend who works in film distribution bluntly advised us, "No matter who the distributor is, big or small, you can't trust them." This came directly from someone inside the distribution world.
His reasoning was straightforward: distributors often promise a certain amount for P&A but rarely deliver in full. Attempting to audit a distributor's actual spending on P&A is notoriously challenging, if not impossible.
Interestingly, our distributor friend noted that films investing their own money—often a couple hundred thousand dollars—into P&A have had notable success. By doing this, filmmakers ensure the funds are genuinely spent and can target advertising more strategically. Additionally, this approach tends to motivate distributors to invest more significantly themselves, viewing the filmmakers as active partners in the distribution process.
Of course, setting aside $200K for P&A is not feasible for every indie filmmaker. However, the broader takeaway is clear: the relationship between filmmakers and distributors is fundamentally unbalanced. Ideally, we should share aligned incentives, but, unfortunately, that's often not the reality.
BOULDERDANCE
They actually did it. The scrappy little nonprofit out in Utah that’s been bringing indie cinema hits to audiences for four decades has officially decided Park City isn't cutting it anymore. That's right—after more than a year of speculation, Sundance is packing up and moving to Boulder, Colorado.
If I’m honest, this feels both strange and a bit unsettling. Don't misunderstand—I get it. Anyone who has attended Sundance recently knows that Park City simply can't keep up. The city’s infrastructure buckles under the influx of visitors, and coupled with the festival steadily losing theatrical venues, this move seemed inevitable.
Still, I'm hopeful that a fresh(ish) setting will reinvigorate Sundance. Ideally, it can return to the spirit of the festival I grew up with and found my own path through. In recent years, it feels as though Sundance has drifted away from its roots. Film sales have largely evaporated, and while much of that is due to market dynamics rather than the festival itself, recent programming choices and the constant shuffle in leadership have shaken the confidence of many filmmakers I know.
From a filmmaker’s standpoint, Sundance is undoubtedly at a pivotal moment. This relocation to Boulder might very well determine whether the festival sinks or swims.
FIRST THEY CAME FOR OUR TRAILERS
If you're interested in the evolving conversation around AI and filmmaking, take a moment to check out Deadline's latest piece on the rise of AI-generated trailers.
For those unfamiliar, YouTube hosts a thriving community of creators who produce fake movie trailers, such as Screen Culture's recent Superman teaser. While fan-made trailers aren't new, AI has significantly increased their sophistication, allowing creators to customize these clips far beyond the traditional rip-o-matics of the past.
To my eye, they still look like junk. But clearly, I'm in the minority—the internet can't get enough of them. What's particularly striking is that studios themselves have begun embracing these fake trailers, even monetizing them through ad revenue on YouTube.
If Brady Corbet's recent use of AI-generated posters upset you, the ones that showed up in the background of five shots, consider this: studios are now openly profiting from AI-created content. Where's the outrage here? For my friends working in the traditional trailer industry, studio enthusiasm for these AI-generated trailers must surely be causing some sleepless nights.
RECOMMENDATION
This week I picked up The Studio, Apple TV+’s Hollywood satire created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and I was not disappointed. I’ll admit, I went in with low expectations. Finding a way into the behind the scenes world of filmmaking tends to be obtuse and niche to filmmaking nerds like me, and most don’t travel well for that reason. The Studio however, feels like the perfect thematic oeuvre for our current social, political and economic climate.
Production design choices are sharp, the filmmaking is bold and the show has apparently struck a raw enough nerve around town that Rogen is getting barked at by people who think they’re being lampooned on the show. If that doesn’t explain Hollywood, I don’t know what does.
Episode 2, The Oner, is a standout work of television. Plus, Martin Scorsese features in a plot line that is so absurdly real it hurts.
RYAN STONE’S SHANNON
My good friend Ryan Stone has released his first album, Shannon. Ryan is such a staggeringly talented songwriter, it literally inspired a screenplay out of me. True Folk will get made one of these days, but to say I’m in awe of him would be an understatement. Very few people can paint a portrait the way Ryan can.
“Fly away you whooping crane, scattered ashes have to wait. He’s not ready anyway, and ice is forming on the lake. Thermometer is going down, silence falls upon the house. Everything is stillness in the berth. Visitors are gone again. The plain saw is his only friend. The plain saw and the woman in the urn.”
