For better or worse, I'm starting to take it for granted now that my day will get more interesting the instant I check in on #mastodon

It's automatic that I'll meet someone fascinating or catch a great insight. For sure I'll see great photography and cool pics of funghi or otters or some part of the planet I wish I was visiting right there and then.

The world needs an information crossroads. It cannot be held in private hands (a la #birdshite). It cannot be run by algorithms. Each and every person in the #fediverse must be their own #algorithm.

If the news media and content creators want us to make ourselves available to them, they must demonstrate their value to us - rather than shove themselves down our throats (take it or leave it). Is the Fediverse a harder place to sell things? Yeah. Because you have to sell yourself one person at a time.

It really does level the playing field in significant ways.

And the best part remains - to this day, since joining Mastodon - I have never experienced the agita and anger with which I approached #twitter.

That place made me crazy. This place makes me smile. I'll take that every single day of every single week.

The latest episode of my How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast just dropped.

in this one - "Castle of Horror" - we talk to Terry Castle, daughter of horror movie icon WILLIAM CASTLE. Castle wasn't just a film-maker, he was an impresario! He was miles ahead of the curve where film promotion was concerned. And - says his daughter Terry - he was a great dad and a very nice man on top of it all.

From Bela Lugosi to Orson Welles to Rosemary's Baby (Castle produced it). This episode covers a lot of interesting territory. Cos William Castle did.

#film #movies #cinema #podcast #horror #horrormovies #writing #screenwriting #cinemastodon #hollywood #behindthescenes

https://how-not-to-make-a-movie.com/podcast/william-castle/

One of the best things about the #fediverse & #Mastodon is that they turn social media into sociable media.

That's what being your own algorithm means. No one is bombarding you with content you don't want in order to motivate you to emotions you didn't want to feel. If anyone's selling you shit, it's because you invited them in your door. They're a friend. And here in the fediverse, we boost our friends.

We're sociable. When we're respectful toward others, they're likely to be respectful toward us. It's like a giant ad for "Doing unto others" without all the religious mumbo jumbo.

#Elon can have #twitter. We The People are way happier creating and consuming content free of the algorithm.

In the horror world, Chelsea Rebecca is Queen of the Dead. Her Dead Meat podcast and Kill Count TV series on YouTube have 6 million subscribers!

In this episode of our How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast, Chelsea & Dad From The Crypt Jason Stein perform a post mortem that starts on our recent live table read for charity of Dead Easy and then heads off into a fascinating dive into #horror, #horromovies and life in general.

#film #filmastodon #writing #podcasts

https://how-not-to-make-a-movie.com/podcast/post-mortem/

Another thing I've come to really love about the #fediverse & #mastodon - people can't really hide behind "other persona" here. If it's organically you? Yeah - you can be that person here. If it's an act for something else - everyone's personal algorithm will sniff you out.

The lack of an algorithm levels the playing field like nothing else. It forces everyone to be more open about who and what they really are. No algorithms to hide behind or use to bamboozle the rest of us.

Long live the #fediverse - social media has become sociable media - what it should have been from the start.

Please join us Saturday, December 17 at Noon Pacific Time when we do a "Virtual Script Reading For Charity"!

The script: "Dead Easy" - the 2nd Tales From The Crypt feature that never happened (we were forced to make Bordello Of Blood instead). Long rumored - finally found!

The charity - The Motion Picture Home! They're a fantastic org that takes good care of film folk in need. Your donation receipt will be your ticket to the virtual table read.

#film #filmmaking #cinema #podcasts #movies #horror #horrormovies

https://how-not-to-make-a-movie.com/2022/11/26/the-dead-easy-table-read-for-charity/

Now that we're past Thanksgiving, we can finally ask the MOST important question of the holiday season: IS "Die Hard" a Christmas movie or isn't it?"

We have the definitive answer - with charts & graphs - and Die Hard's writer, the extraordinary Steve deSouza making the case: "Die Hard" is very much a Christmas movie.

Steve's a storyteller's storyteller - and he will prove unequivocally that "Die Hard" is more of a Christmas movie than "White Christmas".

#DieHard #Christmas #Christmasmovies #movies #screenwriting #movies #filmmaking

https://how-not-to-make-a-movie.com/2022/11/21/s2e5-steve-desouza-has-even-more-of-a-story/