🎧 A Dire Sundance, Indie Peril & the Creator Incursion
It was definitely a mood at the festival; plus: Peacock thwacked
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Just two deals and Sundance is almost over? Ouch. Richard Rushfield, on the ground at the fest, gives his report on indie malaise and how to fix it. Plus: Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard on Peacock and NBCU’s troubling Q4, and Netflix’s showy 2025 slate, while Natalie Jarvey, author of the new Like & Subscribe newsletter, on why Hollywood absolutely should “work with” the creators upending entertainment.
Feels like the ankler team missed one of the indie success stories of the year, Hundreds of Beavers, an indie microbudget comedy that self-released in theaters in 2024 and has grossed nearly $800,000 worldwide at the box office, was rated Letterboxd's top comedy of the year, and had many articles in the Wrap, Variety, NYT and LAT about its disruptive release strategy. Everything Richard says indie films "should" do, we did (I'm one of the producers, so obviously biased). I find Richard's take EXTREMELY encouraging, there are a bunch of us in the indie community ready to swing for the fences and distribute direct to consumer with apps like Filmhub.