I NEED A SECOND
Relaxing until July, a pork floss Sundae, Lin-Manuel's song on Lil Wayne's album, post-Materialists fatigue, and much more.
Sometimes I get into staring matches with NiƱo when he looks at me like this. I feel judged.
We just wrapped an incredibly busy five-month stint at Crooked Letter. Between five commercial projects, Good Night, and Good Luck closing on June 8th, a feature film weāre very excited for you to know about, more development and slate updates than I can even track, infrastructural shifts and improvements, and the inspiring-yet-draining effects of nonstop ānew meetingsāāitās been a rollercoaster since February. Michelle and I only got into one tiff, which is honestly astounding considering how much I was making her shoulder on a daily basis.
The NYC humidity is back, and after a few flirty dances with burnout, Iām finally taking a second to get my head on straight. I need to recalibrate in order to look ahead. Much like I did in 2023, right before Jeremy got involved with the company and we blasted off into unscripted and narrative development (effectively ārebrandingā), I now need to figure out what we really want to be doing this Fall/Winter, 2027, and beyond.
One upside of an onslaught of contract work is that it forces significant changes in workflow and sustainability. Sure, we could increase our profit margins if Michelle and I both took on X, Y, and Z rolesā¦but weād be utterly deceased by the time a third project came knocking. The only way we can juggle the big picture well is if we have core teams that we trust to delegate on a granular level. Iām proud to say weāve sourced and trained a few new personnel additions that allow us to truly take on as many projects as comes our way, a feeling I donāt think Iāve simply ever had since starting Crooked Letter. Thatās a massive win for me at 34 years old.
Michelle and I went to Bonnieās on Tuesdayāpartly a post-mortem for the last five months, but more so to hone in on our professional hopes, desires, wishes, lost connections, potential collaborators, exciting directions, and everything in between. What havenāt we tackled in entertainment that still intrigues us? How do we follow up Good Night, and Good Luck? Will the A-lister bubble in theater burst, and how should we be positioned if it does? Do we unfortunately need to start learning AI prompts? How many features can we realistically produce each year? Is TV development a worthy investment of our energy?
We didnāt land on clear answers to any of these questions, but it was refreshing to sit and wonderāto ponderāinstead of powering through a never-ending checklist of to-dos. After an outstanding ice cream sundae topped with pork floss, we hugged and basically said: āAnd now we restā¦see you in July.ā
So thatās what Iām going to do for a second: rest. I need to catch up on sleep and exercise. I need to keep my house clean. Delaney and I have a wedding in September to plan, for godās sake.
But then Iām pivoting to āsponge modeā for the month of July. I want to soak up as much art as possible. I want to have abstract brainstorm phone calls with friends in the industry (lines are open starting July 1ā¦you know who you are). Iām going to see multiple films a week. Iām going to stroll into museums like they do in novels. Iām going to finish a couple books and dive into self-prescribed retrospectives of filmmakersā work without looking at my phone while watching. Iām going to an entire weekend of Williamstown Theatre Festival (Jeremy O. Harris told me the second weekend will be the most fun, but I think I can only make the first). Iām going to go on long walks and think hard about what feels good, what weāre good at, and what the world might actually need.
The older I get, the more comfortable I am recognizing my limitations. I used to think I could be wildly busy and have vision. Thatās not true anymore (not sure it ever was). For the first time ever, I understand that my creativity is nonexistent without stillness; space to think and time to feel.
Hit me up in 10 days if you want to try cracking some codes together. <3
WHAT I CONSUMED
Rank Zohran #1 and enjoy his take on Drake-Kendrick via Pitchfork.
Bowl EP at the Vineyard Theatre was one of the strangest, coolest experiments Iāve seen in a while. Itās the kind of project that makes me excited to be alive and witness things like that existing. Itās still running for another few days if you have interest in catching it.
I somehow came across Stephen Baldwin performing what can only be described asā¦well, just press play:
Lin-Manuel Miranda produced a song on Lil Wayneās charmingly-atrocious new album The Carter VI. Itās everything youād expect a Lin-Manuel Miranda song on a Lil Wayne album to sound like (āok now cue the animal foley!ā).
I saw Materialists. I have more feelings about it than I can really sum up here but, ultimately, I rolled my eyes a lot, cried my eyes out to one scene, was deeply confused, thought it was brilliant, absolutely hated it, and kind of havenāt stopped thinking about it since.
J really did that:
WHAT I LEARNED
McDonalds is bringing the coveted Snackwrap back on July 10th. My 2008 was defined by eating these in the Washington Square Park McDonalds before going to Uncensored rehearsal at MCC.
Hours after they announced a non-union, site-specific production of A Chorus Line, they canceled it. This, in conjunction with an NFL player making his Broadway debut, really has me understanding just how unhinged this industry really is.
This robot presented by Nvidia at the VivaTech conference really tripped me out:
Marc Maron is ending his podcast WTF. While I often find him insufferable, Iāve listened to countless episodes and heās indeed the GOAT. I also love that he loves acting in strange little movies.
Hilaria Baldwinās āworkout routinesā on TikTok are really sending me through the roof.
The Frenchette team is opening a new restaurant in the lobby of the A24ās Cherry Lane Theater. In a certain light, itās multifaceted and trendyāas is anything A24. But in another, itās a way to subsidize the project. āDiversify your inbounds and outputs!ā someone recently told me.
I donāt know why but 50 Cent is very interested in the Gilgo Beach murders lmao:
SOMETHING ELSE TO READ
Shitās Gonna Get So Weird and Terrible - itās so trite to discuss the atrocities of AI but I think proper analysis is important and you know Iām a sucker for an absolute behemoth of a breakdown found on Substack.
Is Dropout.TV the Great Improv Disrupter? - Iām only including this because I recently learned that Dropout.TV somehow sold out MSG for a streaming event. Much to all of our chagrin, can improv simply never die?
The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far) - Indiewireās compiled list is actually really exciting to go through. They kind of nailed the top 10, in my opinion.