Because I want to continue to make films—big, powerful, important, meaningful, funny films—I am forced to create a worldwide advertising campaign to tell every living, breathing, beautiful person in the universe—and there are more than 8 billion of them—what a wonderful, talented, creative person I am.

I was under the illusion, apparently mistaken illusion, that my wonderfulness was common knowledge. Apparently not.

 

In order to get my next film out to the audience it deserves, I have been forced to create a Substack. Yes, I have a new feature film coming, MIDNIGHT MOVIE IN MANHATTAN. It’s a comedy. It’s drama. It’s both as it is a film-within-a-film.

 

Midnight Movie in Manhattan
Good title, right?
Midnight Movie in Manhattan
Sexy, alluring, mysterious. All in Manhattan.

 

To get the film to you, I have to grow my audience. It may surprise some, but for the powers that be, I am not yet a big enough name to get immediate funding for my film. This must be because they don’t know who I am. How the hell can THEY not know about me and not want to support my film instantly?

 

I, who has written, directed, and produced two Emmy-nominated feature documentaries. I, whose third document is being distributed nationally via PBS. I, whose last short doc has more than a million views. I who wrote, directed, produced, edited, and delivered entire television seasons for seven years. I who have written, directed, and produced short fiction and nonfiction films, commercials, PSAs, and other media projects. 

 

My work has been shown at film festivals, on television, and through Amazon Prime, iTunes, YouTube, Vimeo, Vudu, Tubi, Plex, Cineverse, The Movie Studio, Filmocracy, and other international streaming platforms. 120 countries, according to Vimeo. I even wrote a novel, A Tincture of Madness, and have had theatre plays produced in New York. 

 

I was under the illusion that for someone not born into wealth or privilege or with the connections of a nepo baby, this might count for something. Apparently not. Just another one of my many illusions. I am filled with them.

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I don’t want a Substack. I don’t want to promote myself. I don’t want to write this. But write it I must.

 

In my Substack ​I will talk about why there are so few films being made for thinking adults. I have asked myself and I ask you, why are so many shitty and stupid films being made? How can we reinvigorate the film industry so that there is a larger and wider audience for films that address the emotional complexity of the world we all live in?

 

I teach film at a college, but I also want to teach and talk about films with those who may not have the time or money or desire to go to film school but who want to make films or talk about films. Will we lose film the way we have lost literature, and jazz, and honest, fact-based journalism? Yes, they are all gone. They are still there, of course, but they no longer hold any sway.

 

There used to be big books that could influence society and the world. There were immensely dedicated men and women who wrote those books. But books no longer influence society the way they once did. Sure, they still give out prizes and hold award ceremonies. This is just to show how antiquated and toothless they are. Relicts of a long-lost past. Literature is a noble warrior that is still breathing, but rarely kicking, confined to a corner rocking chair in a cobweb-filled house no one visits.

 

Film will go the same way, if we let it. Devalued. Degraded. And finally discarded. That's what THEY want. Yes, there is a THEY. And I will talk about THEM in future posts. Yes, I will continue to talk. Never Silent is my motto, and it is the title of my Substack. Never Silent. I shall never be silent. 

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--Terence Donnellan

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Click icon below to go to my Substack to receive new posts and support my work.

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