We're Pausing the Show

For those who have stuck around for the newsletter, know what my team and I over here at The Vandalist have been working towards over the past year — writing playbooks, sharing stories here on the newsletter, and hosting free educational videos on YouTube and Instagram.

Why?

Because Hollywood (or any significant industry, for that matter) sells the belief that you need them to do what you do… that they retain the keys to the resources that you need to make your work. You need their agents, their money, their executives, and their distribution system. Without them, you are an artist without a paint brush and canvas.

But that is exactly what it is: a belief.

The lines on a highway are simply lines of paint; the concept of money is everyone believing that a dollar is worth a dollar; Hollywood maintains their power by you believing in their narrative.

Yes, it's true that there was once a time when they did actually have the means of financing and distribution. Yes, there are a few players out there who still do have access to both that we wouldn’t have otherwise.

However, it is also true that much of what I’ve seen behind the scenes shows a darker picture — Hollywood has largely lost it’s pool of resources and is refusing to admit it. It’s like the latest season of The Boys, where no one dares challenge that Homelander isn’t god…

Everything that we build here at The Vandalist is aimed at helping artists realize their potential, their strength, and their value by equipping them with the right tools and mindset to become self-sufficient in their own work.

From our short film and feature film financing playbooks to navigating the world of self-distribution, we hope to continue breaking barriers, one post at a time.

However, we’re also aware of the realities of the game that we’re playing. Social media isn’t so “social” anymore; they are now data-driven algorithms that aim to drip-feeds content that stimulates your brain.

And the only way to win this game… is to play the game. From the inside out.

After experimenting on YouTube and Instagram for the past year, we've learned so so much. And as a small team of 4 filmmakers, our resources are so limited… between the 3 features we’re financing and distributing, 1 crazy documentary, commercials, and running the Vandalist full time.

Doing one thing — becoming a great filmmaker — is hard enough, and we'd be doing everyone a disservice to half-ass our efforts here and only focus on the bottom line number to sustain ourselves.

The word "focus" simply means saying no to all the other opportunities that seem tantalizing in the short term — taking that sponsorship opportunity that you know isn't a good fit, doom scrolling on social media, or eating that 10th brownie…

It means spending as much time as possible figuring out which mountain to climb, not just climbing as hard as you can.

Because the guy who works down my street at the bodega shop works just as hard as I do (if not harder), but his future will be very different from mine or anyone else's.

All that’s to say, we're pausing the weekly YouTube live show for the time being to focus on the thing that we assume will bring us to where we want to take this company.

We don't want to just optimize the show for the lowest effort and highest growth; we don't want to be two gurus that are teaching because they can’t do the work. We want to do both, but right now we have to focus on one… and the one that will help us chip away at the film industry is something slightly different from what we have been doing.

What makes every artist worth following is their own weird, unique, particular thing that only you can create. You must always play to your strengths, not just fill your weaknesses.

Nonetheless, the newsletter stays as it was before — bi-weekly stories about what we’re building, similar to what you’re reading now.

Our playbooks and products are still available on our site, but going forward, we’ll be putting all of our eggs into a new basket that we’re excited to share with everyone in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned @the.vandalist to see all the mess as it unfolds.

Thank you for showing up on Thursdays, for dropping kind comments, and for being the room where we got to connect with y’all. More soon, just bigger, better, and — hopefully, eventually — in person.

See you in two weeks,

Thomas, Callaway, and the Vandalist team