JANES DISPATCH

Last night, I sat in a dark AMC theater surrounded by families, teens, and a few fellow nostalgia junkies, watching Casper on the big...

Somewhere between the dreamy ambition of “I’m going to make a feature film!” and the crushing reality of “Wait…how much does catering cost?”

The Hollywood acting landscape is on the brink of a major transformation as the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) is set to expire on July 1st, 2023.

During times of struggle, the inevitable is often accelerated. Companies that were dying go bust, new ways of working, that were once seen as too disruptive to the established norm, or simply too expensive, are fully embraced in order to survive. Companies that innovate thrive and new voices find their place.

Hollywood has been broken for years due to a lack of focus on three little letters that should be at the core of any modern business. But times are changing, and these three letters will be the key to the future profitability of filmmaking at every budget, for every genre, and for studios and indies alike.

Production, exhibition, and good old fashion power are all being violently uprooted in tinsel town and where we land twelve months from now is going to look very different from the last twenty years. Cue creepy music and a slow track into a crystal ball.

"THE BEST ANSWER I CAN GIVE IS: WHY NOT?” Within just three months we’ve discovered a new city, bought a house, and begun the move halfway across the country to Oklahoma City. It’s pretty darn exciting and goes to show how anything can happen. We had no intention of moving to this part of the country. NONE.

As a recent transplant from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City I had begun to see a rather haunting photograph of an African-American child sitting at a lunch counter and staring, steely eyed, directly into the lens of the camera. Directly into my soul each time I unexpectedly came across the image. Daring me to find out more about her story.