20 Comments
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ThePossum's avatar

Get David Mamet on board.

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Alicia's avatar

Please.

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Chris Coffman's avatar

I like it!

Would it be putting too fine a point on it to define the Fun strategy as unleashing heterosexual men to be rambunctiously creative again?

Everybody benefits when we’re having fun and performing at our highest level of creativity.

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Alicia's avatar

Or just unleashing heterosexual men. Full stop. (Too much? Possibly too much…)

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Jared A. Brock's avatar

I'd love a streamer that does the quality of Succession, Billions, Mad Men, Shogun, White Lotus, etc, plus comedy. Apple TV+ has no sense of identity and could do this. I'm surprised HBO Max hasn't already.

Totally different genre, but Angel Studios is scaling up with a following-first approach. Their list of upcoming releases is deep: https://www.youtube.com/@AngelStudiosInc/videos

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Ben Odell's avatar

Thats sort of what vice was it it’s moment. Different audience but kind of taking cool

Gonzo journalism and scaling it. Not sure if a magazine necessarily leads to cool tv and film. Maybe you could grow something out of Latterbox. There is a thriving community there

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Lee Bacon's avatar

All great points. I miss good comedies. Excited about the new endeavor. Just subscribed.

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Librarian of Celaeno's avatar

I think it’s a great idea.

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Kshitij Kokas's avatar

Loved it! Can you please make the Fun Manifesto public? Can’t access it.

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Roy Price's avatar

Done. Fixed, I think.

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Tim Lorge's avatar

It’s working… just signed up!

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...down to make a new MAD/CRACKED/SCREWED...print/audio/video/etc. -- what are your thoughts on making that w/o AI?...

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J.D.'s avatar

I think more than anything the goal would be a streaming service that is culturally apart from the status quo and buying and greenlighting films that are in the “fun” camp. One indie streaming service is MUBI, which is mostly the typical art house indie that’s always been there. That’s not the way. The new service should re-envision what was the “fun” stuff bought on VHS or DVD on the ‘90s, the Lloyd Kaufman, Cannes-rejects types that were out there, as well as the mature cinematic smarts of what was Miramax. Plenty of other examples through history. Assuming any kind of filmmakers even exist anymore that existed in the ‘70s and ‘90s, let’s even say the ‘20s, (if incentive is there, anything is possible ) Can a place exist today without getting taken over by the current culture that is Hollywood?

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Roy Price's avatar

Totally agree.

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Mark Forstater's avatar

You need to create a different streaming service that is interactive and brings creators and consumers and producers together . That’s what Dreamby will be www.dreamby.com

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PricklyPublius's avatar

In my view, HBONow was once the official digital home of the truly remarkable stuff for discerning audiences. Definitely not "all A24/Neon, all the time". But at least as far as series was concerned, it was in a league of its own. It's devolution into Max proves your lead-in-the-water theory. Bummer.

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Liam Easley's avatar

I love this pitch. In college, I tried to resuscitate the satire publication they used to publish but to no avail - the blandwagon had already devoured to hearts of my co-years. I’m thinking of starting a separate substack for a simple film-based satire premise, but it’s been a while since I’ve written any satire. Still, I would love to see something like this come into fruition!

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Georg Csarmann's avatar

I'm a big fan of Daisy Alioto's "taste economy" concept, which presents a different angle to think about "the magazine in the digital age" and basically touches on similar points along the lines of what you're describing as a new kind of brand building: https://dirt.fyi/article/2023/03/the-taste-economy

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Roy Price's avatar

Love Dirt!

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Alicia's avatar

“Beverly Hills Drinks Party: Post #metoo Does Anyone Still Have Fun?”

I asked a version of this out loud last year and was asked to leave the event I was at.

Ps. I’m in.

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