issue 203
Hello! It’s my last full day in New Zealand. It’s bittersweet. I’ve been here exactly one year. I’m excited to get back to the states where it bleeds eternal optimism. There's a hint of freshness in the air. Spring. The start of something new. Sunshine. A door opening, brightness, rebirth. An awakening. Let’s go.
Capture inspiration. Boost confidence. Brevity is beauty. Attention spans wane. Seamless design. Aesthetics that please. Create heat. Sales.
Submissions. I think the best way to tease projects - concepts generally - is to visually pack key information in the cleanest, most frictionless way possible. Unless you rely on your company email address to do that for you. That’ll only get you so far, that’s not your reputation (it’s probably your boss’s). You past, best work, is your currency.
Get to the answer quick. The decision is the point. It’s binary. Yes or no. In or out.
Websites are decks. Many people will blast out a script with a logline and a sprinkle of references to other films (X meets Y). Yawn. Sometimes there’s a deck, an outline, storyboards, a ripomatic, or some other form of ancillary material — perhaps a written letter or video testimony. A sizzle. Special features. Gimme it all. I’ve only seen it a handful of times, but I’m instantly sold I’ve been sent a link to password-protected site with all the delicious goodies. Yes please, more.
Obviously this costs some time and money, but it’s persuasion butter.
Make the work, work for you.
It’s all marketing. Curiosity hooks. You have mere seconds to grab someone’s interest, and hopefully they’ll toss your script to the top of the queue. Speak to the story, world, idea; sell the product, process, person. The future. I still can’t believe some reps and producers send submission emails as if they’re being faxed with a cover letter. Get with the times.
Mirroring psychology. The obligation to reply in similar length and fashion. Write short emails, expect short replies. Yes I’m acutely aware I contradict this with these long meandering emails, typed in a fit of fury. And my work website is pathetic, but I’m generally in the outbound business. Each project requires a custom strategy. They’re all different. Bespoke. A bonus in this field.
Glamor’s lost when everything’s shared. The enigmatic industry works in private. Information games. Secrets.
Announcements. Press. To me, building in public is a form of exhibitionism. There’s this trend where founders and creators put themselves and their business out on display before really having a product. That kind of openness is an indecency, often misleading. Non-iterative, nor intuitive. There’s no signal in noise. Fame for five seconds, for the follow, drop delayed. The proof is in the pudding.
Grand ceremony. Publicity, for surprise and suspense. Headlines for self-congratulation. Production companies sites tend to look similarly, or there is none at all. Early-career filmmakers need a reel, same with actors. And perhaps with producers. I like when a company has their own trailer (Imagine, Annapurna). Proposal pre-empted. Hack into the creative industry by making on-brand trailers, commercials, ads, and music videos. Content. Get it in front of the right people.
Tone. Expose the common thread, the underlying theme. Rarely are there mention of projects in development - the upcoming slate - where so often things goes wrong. But this might give reason for people to write with good ideas or intros. Suggestions shared. To stew on later. The hard work is done behind closed doors.
A couple quick examples. The Matrix Resurrections just launched their site. Immediate love. It’s my favorite movie, so I’m predisposed. Biased. And I recently stumbled upon this Insta account, Betty’s Booklist, that summarizes books in the first person. Wouldn’t be surprised if publishers and studios start doing something similar, then content crowdsourced. Feedback loops. Let the audience work for you.
Curtain call. If you want a masterclass on how the film business works from the highest level, I’d recommend you listen to Roger and James Deakins interview the legend Rich Klubeck on packaging, finance, and sales. Enjoy.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Less is more. See you next week.
Tech
Humane, secretive hardware co from Apple execs, raised $100m Hum
Apple AR headset will need to tether to an iPhone or watch Info
Maykit, social music creation app, raised $4m TC
Gamestry, spanish focused game streaming, raised $5m TC
Marpipe, marketplace for brands for a/v ads, raised $8m BI
Flip, live social commerce app, raised $28m TC
Callin, social podcasting, raised $12m TC
Sanas, reduces accents over calls, raised $5.5m WSJ
Clay, CRM for personal relationships, raised $8m TC
Red Circle, indie podcast platform, raised $6m Fins
Probability Monsters, game studio, raised $200m GW
FingerprintsDAO, curator of art on chain, raised from heavies FDAOtwtr
Nifty Games, sports mobile games, raised $38m VB
Syndicate, hopes to become platform for DAOs, raised $20m CT
Thatch, travel creators monetize recs, raised $3m TC
Wanderlogs, easily itemize itineraries and more, raised $1.5m TC
FB gets into fantasy gaming TC
App Store rules reset NYT
XMTP, crypto wallet protocol, raised $20m XMblog
Enthusiast Gaming acq maj ($2m) position in Waveform, experiential esports EGblog
Groundswell, corporate philanthropy platform, raised $5m Axios
Product Hunt picks for top creator tools from demo day PH
Snap, fundraisers for high school teams, raised $90m GW
Playtika acq Reworks (redecor) to get into home design market GN
Trengo, omnichannel marketing, raised $36m VB
Anima, turns designs into code, raised $10m TC
Class101, online learning platform, raised $26m TC
Stravito, market research platform, raised $14m TC
Ellipsis, bot for mental health, raised $26m Cison
A look at Hour One, virtual humans with speech synthesis MIt
CB Insights makes algo to score founding team (is this like Cinelytic?) Cision
Offchain, aims to fix some Eth issues, raised $120m TC
VC funds buying NFTs Galaxy
Shutterstock to acq PicMonkey, image editing and designs, for $110m Cision
Smirk, social apps studio, raised from Dune Lightshed Stwtr
Twitter will let you hide old tweets Verge
Whoop, athlete focused wearables, raised $200m TC
Substack’s Panels comic strips app AppStore
Dotdash launches online store Axios
Apple banned a pay equity Slack channel Verge
Startups in the YC demo days TC
Media
Vice raised $85m (or $135m?), ends Spac talks Info THr
Amazon building out a live audio biz Axios
MGM to focus on modernized nostalgia in gaming push (reminds me of the Draper speech) GIB
Netflix tests interactive polling to vote on shows Stream
Intuit to buy Mailchimp for $10b Bberg
WarnerMedia sets 45day window in Asia Var
Vox / Verge to acq Hot Pod, podcast newsletter Var
Apple acq classical music streamer Primephonic Appl
Google ML’s photo upscaling (crazy) PP
Vizio snags $100m in ad commitments (CTV ads going to be major) Adage
YouTube music 50m paid subs Yahoo
FB aims to lower the amount of political news in the feed Axios
MG Empower acq influencer marketing shop Amyris Cision
Tencent ends exclusive deals w labels Musically
Reddit might IPO at $15b Reut
Barstool to launch a channel on Sling TV Digiday
The battle for tv ratings and Nielsen Var
Hulu to hike prices next month THr
Rupert’s Fox News eases on climate denial NYT
5G experiences and connectivity across the states OpenSig
Certified Lover Boy most streamed album on Apple Music Complex
Hudson Pacific acq Star Wagons and Zio Services for $222m THR
Accenture making $500m advising FB on ethics vs profits NYT
Riot Games partners w Wave for interactive experiences THR
A look at Playbyte, hopes to be TikTok of games TC
Softbank and Deutsche Telekom stock swap Bberg
Game streamers moving from Twitch to YT THR
Liquid Media acq IndieFlix GN
Streaming ads overtake TV everywhere ads ATV
A-Rod’s SPAC abandons Panini deal after loss of MLB/NHL memorabilia Bberg
Entertainment
Telluride lineup (lots of reviews from here and Venice) IW
Hunter, Malkovich, Gemma Chan and more cast behind Cuckoo from Tilman Singer for Neon (yes pls) Dead
Shrader preps Master Gardener w/ Joel Edgarton and Sigourney Dead
UTA signs Larva Labs behind CryptoPunks (wonder if they’re on retainer) THR
Netflix and Ghetto film school filmmaker scholarship Var
Vanessa Kirby first look at Netflix, launches Aluna Ent THR
Peele’s Monkey overall at Universal TV from Amazon (that’s what happens when you thank Brian Roberts in your Oscar speech) THR
Protagonist restructures builds its own slate Var
Endeavor invests in Scandinavian prod co Nordic Drama Queen Var
Kesha in sci-fi pod for Q Code Electric Easy about ai and relationships (into it) RS
Hello Sunshine and Baileys (yes, booze coffee) to make short series Meet Cute Dead
Apple TV does a 45min Daniel Craig Bond retrospective Var
An Ocean Apart casts Matt Dillon and Gainsbourg Var
Billy Bob and Robin Wright cast in Where All Light Tends to Go for Bankside Var
Fremantle to acq Lux Vide Var
Elliot Page first look UCP Var
Bomer to star in Fellow Travelers based on book for Showtime Var
The skinny on Agnes Chu’s regime on Conde Nast Ent (always a curious one) Info
Russos and other talent suspicious of Disney and its distrib priorities WSJ
Netflix and PGA set doc series Guard
Seth Rogan getting into the podcast game Coll
Riot Games taps Nflx exec to lead ent division (guy’s salary must be eye-popping) THr
Iatse Insta account tells stories of long film/tv hours LAT
Study shows docs provide more opp to women directors than narratives IW
Filmmakers behind Marcel the Snail on why they chose the DIY route IW
Collaborative
The new puritans and social codes online Atlantic
Black surfers NYT
James Bond final trailer No Time to Die YT
The era of big anime is upon us Wired
William Gibson, literary genius Walrus
Tackling the play to earn games economy Coinbase
The business of library and e-books NewYorker
Wheel of Time teaser trailer YT
AI that helped write a play (meanwhile, founders of AI writing startups aren’t allowing the actual writers I work with to use their tools) Time
Ian Cheng’s piece Life After Bob at the Shed (brb, flying to nyc) NYT and the trailer YT
Edge processing for mixed reality Med
Ben Thompson on tech epochs and app stores Stratech
Bitcoin and electricity NYT
A look at BCCW, Korean entertainment co THR
Space traffic only needs to look at maritime laws MIt
Scientists foster public trust in media thru social MassSci
Kyle Russel on Loot Project (tracking closely) KRss
Newsletter that tracks the progress with Loot, NFT game LPss
Dave White paper on Floor Perpetuals for NFTs (impressive) Paradigm
Case on a Abu Dhabi music streamer ROW
Gaby Goldberg on the social token paradox (kinda like what I said last week, but better) Mirror and her reading list on Web3 Notion
Mike Palank on follow-ons in VC Med
Crypto and sports mania Bberg
Effort underway to help a girls soccer team in Afghanistan AP
Ready Player DAO collective buying into play to earn games Med
Vans launches skate park inside of Roblox Fastco
Newsletters as a new literary style Cut
Dave Eggers short book Museum of Rain McSween
Abba plans new album and virtual concert with their younger selves BBC
Retracted white papers still make the rounds on social MassSci
Esports moving beyond competitions into content creators (as I’ve been told, there are players and then personalities) Digiday
Myers Briggs is dumb Guard
Wall Street looking at Reddit to track investment WSJ
Annika Lewis peeking into a bunch of DAOs Mirror
History of Adult Swim NYT
Mobile shopping apps report Liftoff
Leyna Bloom and Ernesto Macias Interview
Benedict Evens on digital transformation BElog
Dylan Field on proving IP in crypto-space (call me) DFtwtr
Benedict Evans on ads and privacy BEblog
Hans Zimmer on computers and sampling, a fan MT
Intelligent machines to find intelligent aliens (I just love the headline) SuperC
A quick breakdown on Loot Project (pretty neat) Tandtwtr
Weta Digital (cloud and simulations) and Houdini (procedural workflows) partner for Weta-H YT
Naughty Dog game studios leadership on crunch GI
MG Siegler on the hucksters in crypto (a lot) Med
Red Notice trailer (not the Browder book fyi) Yt
Q2’21 TMT earnings takeaways EMC
Profile on VR guy Walter Greenleaf Neolife
Uncanniness in digital cloning Journ
A Cop Movie trailer about Mexico police force (I’ve had some crazy run-ins) Yt
A look at the companies behind 1/3 of all carbon emissions Guard
Howard Shultz funding online edu content platform BacktoBiz Yahoo
Quick breakdown on tax gifts with stock JEtwtr
Alvy Ray Smith, early animator at Pixar Wired
Brown dwarfs hint at population of cosmic objects JPL
Profile on Dave Raymond, consults to sports teams mascots NYT
Remakes in video game world (same applies to film/tv - they perform) Nielsen
Computer vision that creates volumetric scenes from monocular broadcasts (holy) GCtrwtr
Taliban captures biometric database (this is scary af) MIT
Australian toads turning carnivorous (that island is treacherous) Nature
The deal behind Politico’s $1b acq NYT
Dragonfly Research on Eth as an investment Med
Moss trailer YT
Julia Fox and Tommy Dorfman Interview
Spire gets 6month deal for weather data from NOAA St
The story behind global supply chain shortages NYT