Introducing 5AM STORYTALK 2.0
Everything evolves or dies and, as it turns out, this arts newsletter ain't any different
Some changes are coming to 5AM StoryTalk today, and I want to explain to you why this is happening.
Over the past three-and-a-half months, I’ve published sixty-eight articles on Substack. What this means is that on average I have shared more than four articles per week, many of which represent hours and hours of work. These include long-form artist-on-artist interviews, in-depth feature articles on the WGA strike and other film/TV issues, and comprehensive arts essays. In addition, I’ve shared arts resources and engaged in many lengthy conversations in comments sections and on chat. Obviously, this takes a lot of time and effort.
I began 5AM StoryTalk as a passion project and it still very much is, but it’s become clear I cannot maintain this pace or anything close to it if I only accept donations in the form of “coffees” readers can purchase for me. Because of this, I have no choice but to enable payments for subscriptions and begin to place some of my new articles behind this paywall starting today.
But don’t fear, friends, I am determined to keep this as egalitarian as possible. I have been a professional artist for almost twenty years. I’ve struggled through many lean years in those two decades. Before them, I struggled through a lot more. In other words, I know it’s not easy for all dreamers to pay for subscriptions or the resources I aim to share with you to help with your creative journeys. No one will be left behind.
And so here are the changes coming to 5AM StoryTalk…
PAID SUBSCRIBER BENEFITS
For $6.00 USD per month or $60 per year, you will receive:
Three articles per week, one of which will be exclusive to paid subscribers. I’m a former Village Voice Media arts journalist. So, I’m going to continue to bring that standard to my work here, whether this means one of my artist-on-artist interviews, an epic piece of arts criticism, or an essay on my experiences as a filmmaker, novelist, and graphic novelist.
Occasional bonus articles and artist resources, such as screenplay compilations for you to download for personal study. (These will also eventually be available to free subscribers).
One weekly question thread exclusive to paid subscribers to discuss and debate an art topic nominated by myself or a special guest artist.
Exclusive access to my arts chats.
Exclusive access to a weekly chat Q&A I will schedule to give you the ability to ask me questions if you have any. These are still a couple of weeks out, so be patient with me in this regard.
The 5AM Reading List, shared the first and third Wednesday of every month. (These will also eventually be available to free subscribers).
Group subscriptions/discounts are also available:
FREE SUBSCRIBER BENEFITS
Two to articles per week.
Occasional bonus articles and artist resources, such as screenplay compilations for you to download for personal study.
The 5AM Reading List, shared the first and third Wednesday of every month.
The opportunity to earn one month to a year’s worth of subscription comps by referring 5AM StoryTalk to others. In fact, you can start now:
WHAT’S TO COME
The reason for enabling paid subscriptions is more nuanced than “I need to justify my time.” This is still a passion project as I said, and I’m torn between my urge to devote more time to it and the reasonable decision to spend less time on it. With the additional resources subscriptions provide, I will hopefully be able to do the former and give even more of myself to this vigorous arts conversation we’re having here at 5AM StoryTalk.
In the weeks and months to come, you can look forward to:
More artist-on-artist conversations. Coming up, I’ll be chatting with Oscar, Emmy, BAFTA, and Eisner winners and nominees, showrunners, and celebrated authors like Lena Waithe, Shawn Ryan, John Romita Jr., Chris Weitz, Sequoia Nagamatsu, Gennifer Hutchison, Frank Spotnitz, Ed Brubaker, Amy Berg, Matt Fraction, Zoanne Clack, Christian Ward, Clay Kaytis, and Miranda Kwok.
More of my Screenwriting Tales and script and film analyses such as “The Horror of 'DRACULA': The Unbelievable True Story of the 2013 TV Series”, “How to Create a Great Action Sequence”, and “The F@cked-Up Amount of Free Work It Takes to (Not) Sell Something in Hollywood Today”.
More investigative journalism and thought pieces about the WGA strike, the film/TV industry, and the arts in general such as “Why AI Is the Most Important Issue in the Writers' Strike”, “What If the Only Way to Protect Films and TV Series from Streaming Platforms...Is to Break the Law?”, and “A Matter of Survival: How the WGA Is Trying to Save Feature Screenwriters”.
More epic pieces of arts criticism such as “THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Is One of the Greatest Blockbusters of the 21st Century”, “When Norman Rockwell Got Woke: The Story Behind 'The Problem We All Live With'", and “Artemisia Gentileschi on How to Properly Decapitate a Man”.
MY PROMISE
If you pay to subscribe to this newsletter, I will make sure I earn that money. And if you can’t afford to pay for a subscription, I won’t leave you behind.
I look forward to continuing this 5AM arts conversation with you!
This is great!