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👋 Good morning! As you read this, I’m flying to the Cannes Film Festival where I’ll host a four-panel Future of Filmmaking mini-summit at the American Pavilion May 15-18. If you’ll be in town and would like to attend, or just want to connect, reach out to the contacts above. (A festival badge is required for the summit, but not to talk with me.)
- Why Cannes still flexes in a chaotic industry
- How to roll with the chaos without losing your cool
- Why hustling beats clinging to the past
This year, Cannes will have an extra frisson of, uh, excitement thanks to Trump’s tariff tantrum and the vibe toward Americans in general. That could impact the Cannes market, but the festival? Non.
More than any other film festival, Cannes floats above whatever’s fraying. It has rules (or deeply held principles, depending on your POV) about everything from auteurism to the shoes allowed on the red carpet.
Snobby? Yes! And in its way, comforting: Consistency is a rare commodity. It’s also the festival that means the most to filmmakers and film culture, full stop.
And this is where I suggest that tradition represents something of a problem.
Cannes isn’t the issue. It’s the tendency to conflate engagement with any industry institution — festivals, agencies, studios, networks, distribution deals — with safe harbor. It was really hard to get here; isn’t that enough? Today, it’s not.
It doesn’t make legacy Hollywood out to get you (although it could be — depends!), but the establishment is in a full-nelson of existential crisis that touches every bit of the film and TV lifecycles. Development? Production? Distribution? Theaters? Advertising? A hot mess, all of them.
While no one should ever have confused the entertainment business with a warm binkie, the institutions themselves are in the new and awkward spot of having to justify their existence. This isn’t a recession, at least not yet; that might be less stressful. Instead, the balance of power is shifting and it’s cool to cede power said no one ever.
Maybe a chunk of it will go to the kinds of creators who are building their own studios. Maybe a piece will finally go to the XR, AR, and VR companies. (This is the second year that Cannes will host a juried Immersive Competition.) Corporations are deciding YouTube is interesting, again. Maybe the studio system will shrink to Disney, Sony, and Universal. Maybe Netflix will own everything. (Please, not that.)
The thing is, no one should waste energy worrying about the stuff they can’t control (unless you’re one of the legacy entities, in which case I feel you).
However, having the courage to recognize change also gives you the power of deciding how to respond. It’s probably harder than putting your head down to charge over well-worn paths, but decreases the likelihood of breaking an ankle.
Young creators have to seek new case studies; the ones in film school are out of date. Those already in the business, who fought so hard to be here, have to fight all over again.
Helping people understand how they might make sense in a time when little does is why IndieWire created Future of Filmmaking. If there’s specific topics you’d like us to explore, tell me: [email protected].
Next Monday, I’ll tell you what I’ve learned at Cannes. But for now, I’m going to close with a chunky quote from my friend Brian Newman’s newsletter (Sub-Genre, strong recommend).
He culled this gem from a conversation between MoMa curator Michelle Kuo and artist Mark Bradford as they discussed exhibition Jack Whitten: The Messenger. I’ll let Brian take it from here:
“As [Bradford] put it, when he was starting his career, he had to really create most of his own opportunities. Perhaps there was room to hang his art in the bathroom stall of a nightclub? Fine, he would take it (he wasn’t exaggerating). Someone told him he would have to paint the walls for his own show at a gallery? His first reaction might be, ‘Not me, I’m a Yale graduate,’ but … ‘Uh, uh,’ he said… ‘you paint those walls.’ He always thought to himself – I am a 1099, not a W2 worker. You don’t have job security, you don’t have a regular paycheck. You have to make it work. And make your own opportunities.”
See you next week.
🌟 Coming Attractions
In addition to our summit in Cannes at the American Pavilion, Future of Filmmaking has partnered with Universal Studio Group for a series of virtual panels about the making of TV shows like “Hacks,” “Man on the Inside,” and “The Four Seasons.”
Check out USG University: Consider This, starting May 19.
Weekly recommendations for your career mindset, curated by IndieWire Associate Editor Harrison Richlin
5. Trump’s tariffs: bad for the industry…or are they? by The Industry
As a companion piece to our own breakdown of Trump’s tariff threat, we recommend checking out this item from The Industry. It not only pinpoints which companies and creatives are most at risk should these tariffs go forward, but also why federal tax incentives are preferable and could actually fix the nationwide production decline.
4. Networking: riseflix at new york cinefest by Alan McIntrye
Alan McIntrye is a cinematographer, filmmaker, and educator whose WTF-Stop Substack is littered with helpful advice. Here he goes into detail on the power of in-person networking and learning to both embrace your social skills — and know when to hold back.
3. How to prepare for any film festival by Stephen Fellows*
In addition to a recently published Cannes Guide, film analyst Stephen Fellows offers key guidance on how to navigate the frenzied chaos of any film festival. In the piece, Fellows outlines what to do Before You Go, While You’re There, and After You Leave.
2. Creators are building their own supersized studio system as hollywood cuts back by Alex Werpin
“In the early days, when we were shooting out of my apartment and we needed different film sets, my dining room was a restaurant, my bedroom was a patient room for a hospital, every single thing in my apartment was used for production sets,” said video creator Dhar Mann for a recent piece in The Hollywood Reporter. Find out why his new hub in Burbank is looking to best studios at their own game.
1. The quiet death of movie culture by Ellis Jamal Sutton
Filmmaker Ellis Jamal Sutton may just be starting out, but his recent commentary on the state of cinema for his substack, Notes from the Studio, speaks to an awareness that will get him (and possibly you) very far. He speaks of embracing story not in the abstract, but by practical means, and maintaining the medium, while also moving it forward.
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Last week, Future of Filmmaking published a piece related to the shuttering of Industry Arts brands — Coverfly, ScreenCraft, The Tracking Board, and more. The positive response has been greatly appreciated, but the way people have expanded on the conversation moves us even more. Screenwriters Nicolas Curcio and Julia Yorks both made TikToks commenting on the piece, and we welcome their perspectives. As we like to say, there’s never just one way to break in, but we recommend you give their channels a follow if you want a leg up.
