The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood

<div>On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Scott Mendelson of The Outside Scoop to preview the summer movie season and address some of the hottest questions in the biz. Why did Netflix push Greta Gerwig’s Narnia movie to next year and give it a full(ish) theatrical window? What’s shaping up to be the biggest flop of the summer? Is box office health finally back on the upswing after some down years post-COVID and post-strikes? And what the heck is “Infinity Vision”? All that and more on this week’s episode. Leave your most-anticipated film in the comments!</div>

<div> <p>Occasionally, someone will ask me if I think they should invest in a movie. My answer is, invariably, the same: you should only invest in movies you really believe in; you should understand that even if you invest, the movie will likely never get made because most movies never do; and you should only invest if you’re willing to lose everything you put in, because even those movies that <em>do</em> get made tend to show a loss.</p><p>I lead with this because today I’m talking to Jeff Annison of <a href="https://legionm.com/">Legion M</a>, a production and distribution company built on the idea that fan investments are a great way to both develop seed capital and drive enthusiasm at theaters. Legion M is not a fly-by-night company and has a number of productions under its belt, including <em>My Dead Friend Zoe </em>and <em>The Man in the White Van</em>. Jeff will be the first to tell you that investing is risky and should only be done if you’re comfortable with losing it all, though he obviously has staked his claim with Legion M and put no small amount of his own capital at risk. And they’ve certainly seen some successes with films like the Nic Cage-starring <em>Mandy</em> (one of my favorites of the 2010s).</p><p>We discussed how changes to investment laws in 2016 helped spur a shift in indie fundraising from crowdfunding models to models that allow individuals to earn equity in the movies they contribute to the production of. We also discussed the Legion M Film Fund, their distribution-minded arm that provides last-in, first-out money for films seeking a domestic release. And we chatted about the effort to build a consistent fan base via the cultivation of retail investors.</p></div>

<div>On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Lou Diamond Phillips, who you know from … well, tons of stuff. <em>La Bamba</em>, <em>Young Guns</em>, <em>Longmire</em>, and last year’s best new TV show, <em>The Chair Company</em>. He’s on the show this week to discuss his new film, <em>Keep Quiet</em>, which is playing this Saturday evening at the Dallas International Film Festival and should hit theaters this summer. We talked about all sorts of stuff, but one thing I find really fascinating is <em>Keep Quiet</em>’s place in the burgeoning mini-genre we might think of as Native Noir: films like this, <em>Killers of the Flower Moon</em>, and <em>Wind River</em>, TV shows like <em>Reservation Dogs</em>, <em>Dark Winds</em>, and <em>Longmire</em>, etc. It’s an interesting moment, and <em>Keep Quiet </em>is a key part of it. I hope you’ll seek it out once it hits theaters … don’t worry, I’ll remind you when it’s about to happen.</div>

<div> <p>Special two-part episode of the podcast this week! The big news in Hollywood this week has been the burgeoning effort by Hollywood creatives to fight the purchase of Warner Bros. by Paramount Skydance. Thousands of names—including some of the biggest in the business—have signed an open letter in the hopes of demonstrating that not everyone in the industry is on board with the potential deal. So I wanted to talk to some of the folks behind it.</p><p>First up is an interview with Ted Hope, indie producer extraordinaire and author of the <a href="https://tedhope.substack.com/">Hope for Film</a> Substack. We talked about how indie production has changed over the last few decades and what could be lost if Warner Bros. and Paramount are allowed to merge. </p><p>Then I got <a href="https://jonreiss.substack.com/">Jon Reiss</a> and Jax Deluca of the <a href="https://futurefilmcoalition.substack.com/">Future Film Coalition</a> on the horn. We discussed what concrete steps could be taken to help fight this merger and what media consolidation means to the indie filmmakers out there. </p><p>If you found this podcast interesting or informative, I hope you share it with your friends!</p></div>

<div> <p>I’m joined on this week’s episode by Ed Solomon, the writer of the new Steven Soderbergh feature, <em>The Christophers</em>, which is in limited release this weekend and going wider next. It’s the story of an aging artist, played by Ian McKellen, and his new assistant, played by Michaela Cole, who has been hired by the artist’s son and daughter to forge a series of paintings from an earlier, more successful period in his career. The idea being that, when he dies, the kids can sell the “found” works for millions.</p><p>Solomon discussed the idea for the film, which began with a single sentence from Steven Soderbergh, and blossomed from a twisty noir into something more emotionally resonant. We also discussed their previous collaboration, <em>No Sudden Move</em>, and why he wishes more people had had a chance to see it; the difference between more conceptual art and actual paintings; and the joy of working with McKellen and Cole in shaping the voice of the characters on the screen in <em>The Christophers. <br></em><br>It was a wide-ranging chat, is what I’m saying, and we didn’t even get a chance to discuss <em>Men in Black</em> or the <em>Bill &amp; Ted </em>series of films, which he co-wrote. Maybe next time! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!</p></div>