THE SLAM- NOW ON SUBSTACK!
Utopian Ideation, Leaderless Movements, and the Benefits of a Nondependent Cinema Ecosystem
“We have to embrace a practice of capturing institutional knowledge. This is another failure of so-called “independent film.” When you start to try to examine the process of change, along the way you start to see how key this fits – that generally when people ask, “why is change so slow?”, we have kind of a broad answer. That is: change won’t occur until the pain of the present exceeds the fear of the future. How do we recognize that we can’t, we can’t afford to wait that long? We need to embrace a practice of both production and overall sustainability that has the tactics of looking at recommended best practices for every aspect of cinema. Indie film had one tactic that served that one principle, which was to demystify the development and production process of our work. One thing! There are so many other aspects of it. A lot of this day’s focus is demystifying distribution and exhibition, but there are many others, across all perspectives and all ways that we engage. To do this, we each – and this is where my list starts to build, these are the tools – [we] need to take it upon ourselves to develop the resources that we can share with others. So if you read my newsletter, you’ve already got a list of over two-hundred film financers that are out there. You already had the list of the over a hundred theatrical distributors that work in the United States. You have a list of all the podcasts that deal with the film industry. You have a template to help you and your distribution planning. You have these things being mapped out by Filmstack right now. We need to create resources. And the key piece of this, the practice that we have to embrace with it – hence the list growing – is transparency. Transparency in all things. Drop your shame about anything. To embrace transparency means that we all have to start to recognize the beauty in becoming. The fact that we are all in process in one way or the other. Don’t look just to the end state, that final product, to say that that’s where the vessel for beauty delivery is. To do that, you know, we have to also recognize that a key part of the process is always going to be failure. And that means that all of us have to stop being so damn judgy. Like, let it go! Get over it! We all make mistakes all the time. We learn. Franklin’s called me out several times. Courtney evaluates what I’m saying. They help me get better at what I do, and I appreciate it. We’re moving to a better process of recommended best practices.”
-Ted Hope
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Welcome to The Slam, Slamdance Film Festival’s official Substack on the future of filmmaking. Through its ecosystem of alumni and guest writers around the world, editorial coverage spans new ideas, emerging voices and sustainability in filmmaking and digital media. The Slam is guided by a cooperative spirit, non-conformity and commitment to empowering artists.
What better way then to launch The Slam than with The NonDē Way: Fun & Dangerous Ideas To Disrupt What Once Was “Indie” & To Separate From A Lame Ass Corporate Film Industry?
Working from the premise that both Hollywood and Indie are on their death rattles, what does an ecosystem that prioritizes the sustainability of the art, artist, and audience look like? In collaboration with Slamdance, NonDē presents a feast of dangerous ideas that were first delivered by its instigators at Slamdance ‘26. For the first time, The Slam is now publishing each idea as a complete series, to keep building this thing we love – cinema – better than before – and always along practical and positive lines.
-Peter Baxter