We’re Not Waiting for Hollywood

Hey, Thomas here!

So, here we are at the end of another year, and I think we’re all collectively asking ourselves: “Wait, where did that year even go?” I swear the universe cranked up the speedometer on time itself. Every month just blurred by faster than the last… or maybe that’s just a sign we’re all getting a little older. Sigh.

Anyway, if you’re curious how I’m looking back on 2025, here’s the gist: This was the year I feel I lined up all my dominoes. And 2026? That’s when I hope to knock them all down.

If I had to recap one thing I really learned and understood this year, it’d be that
your team is everything.

Yeah, we’ve all heard that before. But truly: having the right people around you – those that challenge you, fight for you, and bring complementary skillsets to the table – that’s the backbone of any great startup, any great movie, any great creative movement.

If you’re ruthless about scouting and hiring the right people, you’ll end up with a company culture that fits somewhere between a creative family and a Navy SEAL squad. Of course, mixing personal with the professional can be a blurry line; but if it works, I believe it leads to some of the most rewarding, fulfilling relationships you can ever experience.

That’s why so many of the greatest directors – Nolan, PTA, the Daniels – keep the same team around every film. They found their squad. Their shorthand. Their people.

We’ve already started building together – from huge narrative commercials to, most excitingly, our new YouTube series: Little Letters. It’s part podcast, part storytime – sitting somewhere between Mr. Rogers, Hot Ones, and Actors on Actors. Each episode, a guest writes a letter to their younger self, plays with nostalgic toys, and excavates the tiny, forgotten moments that shaped the artist that they became… at least, that’s what we have now. The concept will shift and change as we iterate on the best version of itself. The first 2 episodes are being edited right now, and the plan is to ramp up to bi-weekly uploads.

And of course, beyond all these new projects, we’re making sure our narrative chops stay as sharp as ever. Right now, I’m deep into writing my next feature film, tentatively titled, STARING AT THE SUN, with my co-writer. We did a location scout across the countryside of Korea this past Fall and found the most beautiful, character-filled house you can imagine.

We’re hammering out the second draft right now, and the aim is to revv into production as soon as early Summer 2026. We’re already circling investors, and we are considering using the same Crowd-Equity strategies we’ve been helping other filmmakers with – raising upwards of a million dollars for their own films – and “copy and pasting” that playbook onto this project. And we’re considering live-streaming the entire production for a month straight, so you can be there and learn with me.

So what happens after we wrap STARING AT THE SUN? Well, the moment we hand off that footage to our editor, I plan on diving headfirst into the next adventure: executing a full-blown, grassroots marketing campaign for my first feature, ISLE CHILD. We had an amazing festival run that’s continuing into the second quarter of next year, and now it’s time to tackle the beast of distribution head-on.

I know so many filmmakers who get into Sundance and think they’ve made it, only to find out they’re still struggling to sell their films. Most movies aren’t getting MG’s (minimum guarantees) anymore, and the traditional distribution system is broken.

So we hope to pave a new path forward. We’re crafting our own democratized release strategy – taking ISLE CHILD directly to audiences. If it works, we’ll have a roadmap that we can share with other filmmakers – just like we did with crowd-equity film financing.

And that’s the heart of what The Vandalist is all about: giving filmmakers the tools to create permissionless work. We’re not just here to make our own films; we’re here to reinvent the whole process and share it with everyone else who’s tired of waiting for permission.

On top of everything else, we’re slowly rolling out a Beginner’s Bootcamp. This is for those early first-time filmmakers who want a straight-up blueprint from zero to creating award-winning short films, so they’re ready to tackle their first feature using crowd-equity. It’s hosted by one of the best screenwriting professors I know, and it’s all about giving you the storytelling tools you need to make a great short film. And that’s on top of the steady stream of digital resources we’ve been building – pitch deck templates, storyboard guides, and more.

So yeah, that’s the vision. And before I go, I just want to say thank you for being on this journey with me. 2025 was all about experimenting – learning the ropes on YouTube, figuring out what works and what doesn’t, and getting a handle on this industry as it undergoes massive changes in the post TikTok, post-COVID age.

Now in 2026, we’re taking everything we learned and scaling it up. We want to help as many people as possible find their own voice and push back against the AI doom-and-gloom narrative. We’re here to show that human creativity still matters, now more than ever.

Thanks for sticking around, and here’s to a year of knocking down all those dominoes we set up.

See you in the new year!

Warmly,
Thomas Percy Kim

P.S. This newsletter has a new name: Tidbits from Thomas. I’m making a promise to send you a short, personal note every two weeks. Sometimes it’ll be a bit of value, sometimes a fun story, maybe a freebie – just a little reminder that you’re not alone in this pursuit to become a self-sustaining artist.

And if you ever have questions or just want to say hi, feel free to hit reply below – I’ll answer between my cold, NYC subway commutes. :)