If you want to support independent journalism then support public media! It’s great to support a journalist’s individual substacks but the only reason they can do those substacks is because they had training at a traditional news outlet that employs hundreds and hundreds of journalists who strive to tell the truth despite corporate pressures and news burnout. Public media is one of those places that has stood firm despite loss of federal funding and they have great content and provide emergency weather alerts in most areas, I highly recommend supporting them.
Small correction: TikTok is NOT the "biggest social media platform in the country."
Facebook holds the top spot with over 178 million monthly active US users in 2025, 2nd is Instagram with around 143 million monthly active US users, then TikTok in 3rd with 112 million users in the US.
It’s wild, A24 can’t/wont take on budgets under a certain amount now because of their overhead. So 20 mil might be the floor they can make a movie at. Not quite Disney but on the way to corporate for sure 😞
We've seen an all-out assault on laws and regulations that kept monopolies from forming in the News/Entertainment industry. I remember when we had a great diversity of opinions/viewpoints in entertainment, and the news was (mostly) trustworthy. Now, corporations have captured news outlets/local stations and are forcing them to promote the right-wing authoritarian agenda. As Jeff pointed out, our major entertainment companies are going to be controlled by the ultra-wealthy few. It looks like Orwell was right about Groupthink and Newspeak. .
They've expanded so much that their overhead is too large to live off the smaller budget independent films they used to fund and/or distribute. They can buy and distribute smaller stuff still but the return may not be enough now and anything they make in house can't be done for the 1-10 million range anymore. Everything they put in on has to be larger than 20ish million now, and when small indie studios double up budgets like that, it only trends up to more expensive in turn taking less risk and picking things to make that aren't as creative/risky, i.e. more corporate. They're also involved in the Elden Ring film, even if they can't fully fund it and are a co-production on it, that adaptation itself is going to be more expensive than anything they've been a part of. All of that leaning them towards being more corporate. But it happens to most, it's hard not to look at the success internally and stay pat and not grow the headcount.
If you want to support independent journalism then support public media! It’s great to support a journalist’s individual substacks but the only reason they can do those substacks is because they had training at a traditional news outlet that employs hundreds and hundreds of journalists who strive to tell the truth despite corporate pressures and news burnout. Public media is one of those places that has stood firm despite loss of federal funding and they have great content and provide emergency weather alerts in most areas, I highly recommend supporting them.
Small correction: TikTok is NOT the "biggest social media platform in the country."
Facebook holds the top spot with over 178 million monthly active US users in 2025, 2nd is Instagram with around 143 million monthly active US users, then TikTok in 3rd with 112 million users in the US.
It’s wild, A24 can’t/wont take on budgets under a certain amount now because of their overhead. So 20 mil might be the floor they can make a movie at. Not quite Disney but on the way to corporate for sure 😞
It's not on life support. It's dead.
We've seen an all-out assault on laws and regulations that kept monopolies from forming in the News/Entertainment industry. I remember when we had a great diversity of opinions/viewpoints in entertainment, and the news was (mostly) trustworthy. Now, corporations have captured news outlets/local stations and are forcing them to promote the right-wing authoritarian agenda. As Jeff pointed out, our major entertainment companies are going to be controlled by the ultra-wealthy few. It looks like Orwell was right about Groupthink and Newspeak. .
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In what ways is A24 leaning corporate? I lack knowledge in this area, so I'm just genuinely curious.
They've expanded so much that their overhead is too large to live off the smaller budget independent films they used to fund and/or distribute. They can buy and distribute smaller stuff still but the return may not be enough now and anything they make in house can't be done for the 1-10 million range anymore. Everything they put in on has to be larger than 20ish million now, and when small indie studios double up budgets like that, it only trends up to more expensive in turn taking less risk and picking things to make that aren't as creative/risky, i.e. more corporate. They're also involved in the Elden Ring film, even if they can't fully fund it and are a co-production on it, that adaptation itself is going to be more expensive than anything they've been a part of. All of that leaning them towards being more corporate. But it happens to most, it's hard not to look at the success internally and stay pat and not grow the headcount.
Thank you for the informative, insightful response. Much appreciated, Damon!
No problem 🙏
I had a similar question to Daniel’s and you covered it here. Great insight.