Let's Talk About... "Captain America Must Die": why filmmakers should care about international audiences now. Plus YouTube & AVOD strategies you should think about when releasing your indie film.
Plus the best overview of current pop culture I've seen in a moment and a reminder to join me for my panel with Oscar winner and DARUMA EP Peter Farrelly at Slamdance on Monday Feb. 24th.
Please Join Me on February 24th at Slamdance with Academy Award Winner Peter Farrelly.
Apologies for this week’s newsletter going out on the weekend. I’m on the jury at Slamdance, which is now in my hometown of Los Angeles and it’s been a little busy around here of late and as I promised last week, this week’s post was going to be meaty and it is.
This past Thursday night was the opening night event and red carpet for the inaugural Los Angeles edition of Slamdance. The opening night film was LA Times Environmental reporter Rosanna Xia’s documentary, Out of Plain Sight. It is a must see.
As a reminder I’m on a panel with my film DARUMA’s executive producer, Academy Award winner Peter Farrelly to discuss writing and filmmaking on February 24, 2025, at the Quixote West Hollywood at 4:30PM.
I’ll also be making an announcement regarding a new project I’m getting off the ground… so stay tuned.
But Before We Get Into This Week’s Newsletter…
I wanted to share a podcast that is hands down one of the best explainers of the current zeitgeist I have seen. Please watch this podcast from
, and Matt Bernstein. I legit have not seen a single piece of commentary in MSM that made as much sense of what is going on right now than what these three have managed to articulate in this episode.You will walk away with an incredible understanding of the current pop culture and fashion landscape, which, you guessed it… dictates what films people are watching and why, which will help you read the tea leaves for your own strategies.
"Captain America Must Die": why filmmakers should care about international audiences.
I write about film and film marketing and PR because it's my profession: I’m a working screenwriter and filmmaker in addition to being an indie film PR & marketing and distribution consultant. It’s my job to know market trends and online chatter because it helps me effectively do my job for both the projects I’m spearheading and writing as well as the ones I’m guiding my clients through because I have to shape not only storylines, but the narratives we build to market the projects as well.
It’s my job to make people care about things so hopefully I will effectively be doing that today when I share headlines like this one (amongst many, many other recent headlines) that get me alarmed.
Because filmmakers, execs, writers, producers, directors, anyone who works in media should read this piece in the BBC. It’s very telling to see what the rest of the world thinks of us at the moment because it affects whether or not people will ultimately buy your product (ie - your film, script, tv show, article, book, whatever).
So this topic is incredibly relevant to what I do and how I make my income (I already lost one docuseries to the executive orders last month and subsequently found my income cut off at my knees suddenly. A huge thank you to all who took out a subscription to my Substack: it is genuinely appreciated) and I’m going to discuss it before today’s paywalled because I think it’s important.
Again if you want to subscribe, the support would be appreciated.
From the BBC article about Captain America:
"It's not Captain America that's dying, but America that's dying," reads the title of an essay on an online forum analysing the movie's lack of appeal in China.
The author goes on to argue: "In reality, the US does not have superheroes and the US is not a peace-loving, peace-defending beacon for humanity."
One cinema in Sichuan province reportedly decided to hold off screenings of Captain America 4 in its theatres "in order to support Ne Zha 2".
“It’s America That’s Dying”
I felt a literal pain in my heart when I read the quotes above because that is how others around the world feel about America right now.
The US is not a peace-loving, peace-defending beacon for humanity. The US does not have superheroes. This makes me want to weep.
I keep going back to this quote from a 1987 Los Angeles Time Article that I wrote about in my Substack post from May of 2024:
For viewers the world over, America is the place where the individual has a chance to make a better life. And that’s a very powerful message for people in other countries, many of them newly coping with the social changes of this “century of the common man,” as the late U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace once called the 20th Century. What the world sees in American entertainment, says one producer, is political and economic freedom. - 1987 LA Times Article
Look at how not even thirty years later, the once wholly embraced, coveted and aspirational bedrock of what was once one of the most valuable commodities and exports in the United States (film, which is directly tied to formulating public opinion) has corroded so sharply that the very image, the very words Captain American elicit such vitriol that viewers around the world call for his death, and in tandem, the death of America, and its influence in the world and its standing.
It’s easy to brush off the notion that current world events don’t affect you, but they do. And we need to understand that if we don’t do something, filmmakers and writers, just like Merry had to explain to Pippin in The Two Towers… there won’t be a Shire to save any more, Pippin.
Film is a soft power in that it controls much of how people shape their worldviews. I don’t know why something that has the power to shape a worldview would be considered soft, but the point I’m trying to get across is that filmmakers, and especially indie ones not tied to funding or mandates set by corporations kissing the ring, wield an enormous amount of power right now… if they will use it.
I watched A Complete Unknown last night and I confess I didn’t know that Woody Guthrie penned This Land is Your Land nor did I know about the controversy surrounding him. I did some digging and well… let’s just say that history has a nasty habit of repeating itself.
I also suggest you read Anthony Kaufman’s recent Substack in its entirety to get a better read on things. Here is an excerpt:
According to a recent New York Times article “Venting at Democrats and Fearing Trump, Liberal Donors Pull Back Cash,” foundations that have long supported causes like voting rights, L.G.B.T.Q. equality, and immigrants’ rights are pulling back, devoting time and resources instead to prepare for expected investigations from the Republican-led Congress.
Jeff Skoll, founder of the recently shuttered progressive film company Participant Media, told the Times there was “an awful lot of pressure” to side with Mr. Trump. “There are people who were absolutely against Trump, never Trumpers, who fear that they’ll be retaliated against and they’ll have to leave the country,” Skoll said. “Folks who wish to oppose him — it may take some time before they gather up the courage.”
Sorry Bonnie… I don’t think we can hold out for a hero any longer. We’re gonna have to save ourselves.
But I have hope that we will, I really do.
This is why I’m sharing information about a town hall from a new organization called The
.The virtual Town Hall is on February 27th at 12p PT/3p ET where they will tell everyone a lot more about what they have been doing and plan to do. You can register to join the Town Hall here.
Also, like I said, I’m announcing a new project next week at my panel, so keep an eye out for it.
And now… let’s get into this week’s paid post:
YouTube & AVOD strategies you should consider for your indie film’s distribution strategy.
Content below is for paid subscribers. Please consider a subscription to help support my work or DM me if you’d like to work together to discuss a marketing and PR strategy for your film.