I finally made it?
2024 pbs producers summit
Me and the STEMedia crew, Dr. Stephanie Castillo and Dr. Nehemiah Mabry! (I’m in the middle)
Having helped companies like Helicase Media and STEMedia produce shows for PBS Digital Studios over the past two years, it was an honor to be invited to the 2024 PBS Producers Summit! For three days, I gained valuable insight from broadcast presentations, learned about bonafide digital practices and, my favorite, engaged in meaningful one-on-one conversations over drinks. Meeting so many purpose-driven storytellers from both the film and Youtube worlds was truly heartwarming, but I realized there is a lot we can learn from and share with one another.
Traditional filmmakers need to embrace Youtube and other digital platforms as marketing tools. Your film or series can still exist in traditional and legacy arenas, but repackaging smaller segments of it for social media platforms will increase interest and spread the word about your incredible work! You won’t lessen the artistry of your original project by doing this, and no one will know about that artistry unless you meet folks where they are: Youtube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. Like many other folks, I hate uploading things to TikTok or Youtube shorts. But the analytics back it up; that’s where the people are.
Digital video producers need to develop strong connections with professionals in legacy media. There is a treasure trove of knowledge to be learned through this route including research methodology, ethical storytelling practices and the nuances not readily available via “Youtube University.” However let me also say that all these gems could benefit so many folks if they were more readily available via any free online platform.
Support each other! Regardless of what kind of project you work on or where you project lives, we all need to support each other as storytellers and filmmakers. Promotions, funding, collaborations, etc. - we can all work together in different ways to spread the word about each other’s work and help us all succeed!
First day was broadcast-only and covered a lot including the PBS submission process.
Katherine Berry, Blair Imani and Dr. Nehemiah Mabry and discuss creative burnout.
What I’ve Been Watching
Suspiria (1977): Italian horror auteur Dario Argento’s gorgeous mindf*ck of a film left me both confused and incredibly entertained. There is so much attention to physical set detail that even if you get lost in the plot, you can’t help but be impressed! The movie is streaming on Amazon Prime.
The Seventh Seal (1957): From legendary filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, the visuals from this movie have ingrained themselves in my mind even though I had never seen the film until this week! Images scattered through my film textbooks in college and newer reference materials immediately made an impact on me with its dramatic, black and white tableaus. Thinking this was supposed to be kinda spooky, I was pleasantly surprised that The Seventh Seal is a meditative fantasy on death and living. Sometimes funny, often times striking and all-the-times thought-provoking. The film is currently streaming on Max.
A Ghost Story (2017): A slow-paced meditation on legacy and loss, this film is not for everyone. Like me. But plenty of cinephiles I know love it! So I’m recommending it so that you can form your own opinion of whether this is a melancholic masterpiece or an over-indulgent tone poem. The film is currently streaming on Max.
Follow me on Letterboxd to keep up!
satanic panic
Hysteria! full season now streaming on Peacock.
I’ve been fascinated by the “Satanic Panic” movement that arose in the 1980’s in the past few years; ever since I saw the documentary Hail Satan? at the Full Frame Film Festival in 2019. It was a hilarious and ultimately uplifting documentary about equality, compassion and doing good. I had heard the phrase “Satanic Panic,” but never actually knew any details as it was largely over by the time I was a kid.
Hail Satan? showed how the movement rose from sexism about women wanting to rejoin the workforce, heavy metal music, Dungeons & Dragons and mainly any counter-culture movements. Basically, anything that went against mainstream. From this film, I listened to the CBC’s Satanic Panic podcast that came out a year later for a more in-depth look into events in Canada that led to the widespread panic. And my fascination of this phenomena has continued to grow in my ongoing mission to understand human perception.
But now, something fun has just come out! Peacock released Hysteria! last week, a new fictional series about the Satanic Panic. It’s equal parts fun, campy horror and emotional, family drama. The show does a great job of making you question what is the true threat to a small Michigan community, as well as what is real and what isn’t. It stars a great cast of young actors as well as compelling performances from Julie Bowen and Anna Camp, plus the horror-legend Bruce Campbell!
What other occult movies or shows are you watching this October? I’d love to know! Drop your recommendations in the blog comments💙
