Life is busy. Atrocities abound! Shit is deep! People are arguing about the best 21st-century movies! It can be tough to stay up-to-date on film industry news, profiles, analysis, and advice. That’s why we’ve curated some essential reads you may have missed over the past month. So take some time to catch up with this month’s good reads!
This Month’s Good Reads (June 2025)
A Massive List of Summer 2025 Grants, Labs, Fellowships, and Contests (via Laura Moss for No Film School)
How to make money to make movies.
How Accurately Are Asian Americans Cast in Hollywood? (via Dorothy Lu and Anna Li for The Pudding)
Authentic Asian casting stats – with drawings and charts!
Everyone’s Gone to the Movies (via Ross Scarano for SSENSE)
Behind the scenes at Screen Slate, the movie website of our time.
Hollywood Therapists Meet the Moment: “If You’re Not Dispirited Right Now, You’re Dissociative” (via Joy Press for Vanity Fair)
A shrinking industry needs shrinks.
What Are the Indie Film Success Stories at the North American Box Office This Year? (via John Hazelton for Screen Daily)
It’s not all bad news!
‘The Job I Signed Up for Doesn’t Exist Anymore’ (via Nate Jones for Vulture)
Is the casting industry as we know it on its way out?
Gavin Newsom Confronts His Hollywood Problem (via Melanie Mason for Politico)
Can the governor curb California’s industry exodus?
BFI and CoSTAR Launch Report on Generative AI for the Screen Industries (via BFI)
Recommended steps for AI use in the UK film industry.
How I Learned to Become an Intimacy Coordinator (via Jennifer Wilson for The New Yorker)
The history and training process of (simulated) sex choreography.
The Private Equity Takeover of Indie Film (via Sam Widdoes for Widdoespeak)
Big-money stakes in a small-budget world.
It’s a Bar?… It’s a Theater?… It’s Shorts Movie Theater! (via Sasha Linden Cohen for Nothing Bogus)
We come to this place for magic… and short films!
The Real Reason Bob Iger Declared War on A.I. (via Eriq Gardner for Puck News)
Inside Disney/NBCUniversal vs. Midjourney, the industry’s biggest A.I. lawsuit to date.
The Quiet Art of LA Rebellion Pioneer Billy Woodberry (via Nicholas Russell for The Criterion Collection)
Giving an unsung indie maverick his due.
Hollywood’s Job Crisis Spills Over to Post-Production (via Jeremy Fuster for The Wrap)
Are editing jobs fading out?
‘Afraid’: ICE Raids Shake Hollywood’s Immigrant Workforce (via Elaine Low for The Ankler)
Production crewmembers and support staff are feeling the stress of immigration policies.
No Netflix Deal. No Trust Fund. How the F*ck Do I Fund a YouTube Show? (via Ben Odell for Open Gardens)
How to make that “Like and Subscribe!” money.
In case you were ignoring us (aka blatant self-promotion)
SAG-AFTRA Launches Producer Portal
Learn how to streamline the signatory process with this new platform!
Cast Interview: writer/director/actor Eva Victor and actors Naomi Ackie and Lucas Hedges of Sorry, Baby
We talked to the team behind the new Sundance Award-winning A24 drama.
Videos worth watching
Ryan Coogler’s Film Class (via Kodak)
How ’bout you? Read anything good this month?
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If you’re an independent filmmaker or know of an independent film-related topic we should write about, email blogadmin@sagindie.org for consideration.
