Lucid Letter
September 2022: We’re starting a newsletter, baby!
Hey You! Friends, Hollywood, Tech leaders, M&A professionals, Educators, Activists, Doctors, and Students, welcome to the inaugural Lucid Letter.
Another newsletter? Hold on. Lucid Letter is different. This letter is your sneak peek into the opaque, exclusive world of Hollywood, tech, business, and culture from diverse POVs.
The Big Idea:
Focused on equity, in front of and behind the camera, Young + Lucid Media is a female-driven team boot-strapped out of hoarder’s basements, NYC 6th floor walk-ups & coffee shops across the country while we’re not at our day jobs. Our goal: spotlight marginalized voices and bold, untold stories.
In just one year, we’ve developed award-winning projects and teamed up with two national non-profits in the process.
We’re thrilled to announce our latest film has been awarded sponsorship with Film Independent, a 501(c)(3) non-profit independent media arts organization. Their mission, like ours, is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling and support a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation, and uniqueness of vision.
What you can expect (the unexpected!) interviews with Hollywood tastemakers, insight into up-and-coming filmmakers, behind-the-scenes on our upcoming films, exclusive access & insights from seasoned Hollywood professionals, and zeitgeisty entertainment. If cool were a product, then that's what we’re serving, a steaming cup of cool.
Show me the sauce you could think of making a film like launching a mini-company. Producing requires a ton of caffeine, positive energy and kicking down metaphorical doors for teammates. Every single time, you’re building a new team and new infrastructure (and growing copious gray hair — Jessica here). If a story is powerful enough, people will rally behind it. All the creative development that came before gives way to budgets, fundraising, permits, insurance, copyrights, pitch decks, hiring crew, locking down locations etc. We all watch tv shows & films, but we don’t all know how they get made. What do you want to hear about next? Drop us a line!
Nuggets of news
📉WeCrashed, part 2? Adam Neumann is back with a $350M pre-seed investment from Andressen Horowtiz (aka A16Z) in his new startup called Flow (think WeLive/real estate startup, urban communes -- all in one living). This is THE BIGGEST check A16Z has ever written, and they're getting heat for backing Neumann as women & Black, and Hispanic founders struggle to get funding. Recent data has shown that as little as 2% of venture capital funds have gone to underrepresented founders. Classssicccc.
☕Streaming services are raising prices & introducing advertising now that their subscriber growth has stalled. It may have been inevitable that the disruptor (streaming) copied ideas from the disrupted (cable). For all of the innovation that Netflix brought to Hollywood, it was still making TV shows and movies in the same general manner as everyone else. And nothing — not even a monopoly — grows forever. Bloomberg
❤️🩹Mental Health Crisis: Puberty + the Internet. A yearlong series of articles by The Times has explored how the significant risks to adolescents have shifted sharply in recent decades, from drinking, drugs, and teen pregnancy to anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide. The decline in adolescent mental health was underway before the pandemic; now, it is a full-blown crisis, affecting young people across economic, racial, and gender lines.
🐶Barkitecture: pet furniture searches are popping. A piece of news that will make you smile or maybe cringe. Parents are shelling out on two bed, one bath, and an open floor plan…for their pets See trends
Check out our website to see our latest projects and more about our mission.
Talk to you soon!
Jessica Carlson + Lizzie Frankenthal
Founders and EPs of Young + Lucid Media
