Max a friend and Juilliard graduate
Dear Carlo,
You may not know this, but I've been publishing a weekly essay on art, commerce and the process of making since February. I never officially announced it because I really didn't want to be that guy who asked people to subscribe to his Substack only to quit two weeks in. But with more than half-a-year of writing under my belt, I'm pretty confident I'm not quitting anytime soon.
"Prime Matter: Art, Commerce & the Process of Making" goes out every Tuesday morning and is drawn from my experience as a Juilliard-trained performer turned independent producer and from the issues and adventures that arise as I produce my second feature film — a ghost story called PRIME MATTER that's in the editing room right now.
Some weeks I get into the weeds of indie filmmaking: what agents want, what locations cost, how you cast a lead when over four thousand people submit. Others, it's a recurring series "Things My Teachers Told Me… Some of Which I Listened To," about the lessons from Juilliard that keep coming up, in life and art. Underneath it all, it's about swimming in the brackish waters where art and commerce intermix -- and what to make of that whether you're a professional creative or someone who has always just wanted to MAKE... something.
RIght now, everything's free, and the whole archive is here: https://primematter.substack.com
Obviously check out whatever speaks to you, but I expect you may be able to appreciate “Producing is… Cleaning” about how after all the beautiful talk about story and vision and audiences, a lot of what an independent producer actually does is scrub tape residue off the floor.
I know we're all over-subscribed and underfree-timed, but I'd be honored to have you along for the ride.
Best,
Max
P.S. If you're like "nah, I'm good," but someone else came to mind, please forward it along. That's the only way anything reliably grows these days.
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Max Woertendyke
(347) 489-4631
max.woertendyke@gmail.com
