A Letter from 40,000 Feet (Patreon)

TL;DR - David Chen is heading to Hawaii for the Hawaii International Film Festival for a work trip and much needed break; he’s grateful for your support these past few months; Twitter shutting down is stressing him out; but he’s still excited for what’s ahead.

Patrons,

I’m writing this to you on an iPad from Delta flight 440 to Honolulu. I’ve been asked to be a mentor at the Hawai'i International Film Festival this year — to help some up and coming filmmakers/film critics understand what it takes to succeed in the industry. A few esteemed colleagues have also been invited (among them: Tony Zhou and Patrick Willems), and I’m interested to hear their thoughts too as I’m not sure I fully know. I suspect all of us feel to some extent that we are just building this plane as we fly it.

As I write this, I am filled with some amount of calm and relief. The past few months have taken me to my limit in terms of creative and managerial capacity. Using the money that you have contributed as a Patron, I have spent virtually all of my time and resources building Decoding TV (specifically: The Decoding TV podcast, A Cast of Kings podcast, and the paid website at DecodingTV.com that houses them both). As of this writing, I have paid out more than $15K to co-hosts and video editors and social media managers to try to create and distribute some of the best TV analysis out there.

Even if you haven’t consumed any of this content, I hope you are glad it exists. I certainly am, and I am enormously grateful to y’all for helping me to make it happen.

Back to that sense of calm and relief: I’ve banked a bunch of podcast episodes that will automatically publish over the course of the next 10 days and am hoping to finally take some time to relax. I have the feeling of someone who has run a marathon and sees the finish line come into view, only to understand that doing this (i.e. working full-time in the media business) is not one marathon. It’s a series of successive marathons, if you’re lucky enough to keep winning a spot to be part of the race.

Once this break is over, I know that I will need to make my work more sustainable. This will probably require additional support, in the form of producers, editors, etc. But please don’t mistake this as a request for more money — you’ve all done more than I could’ve asked.

And while I’m sharing about my current state, I’m going to be honest: Elon Musk taking over Twitter has me stressed. Someone recently said Twitter has real “last day of summer camp energy” right now and I wholeheartedly agree. The place has gotten funereal, largely because the change has been so fast and many of your favorite creators don’t know whether the platform will be usable in the near future. This has led many folks to try siphoning followers off the platform, sending them to sites like Mastodon, Substack, Instagram, and others.

This is a huge shame because there’s nothing like Twitter. Nothing has ever been like it before, and nothing will ever be like it in the future. Yes, something will replace it, but it won’t be the same. Reddit replaced Digg. Facebook replaced MySpace, which itself replaced Friendster. Something was lost each time. You may argue that something was also gained, but this loss will be tough for me personally.

Twitter gave me my online career. It’s what allowed me to connect with people like Peter Sciretta, who then invited me to make a podcast for him called The Slashfilmcast. I first met Joanna Robinson on Twitter. Every time I mention on Twitter that I’m traveling somewhere, I end up meeting folks in real life and many of these over time have become amazing colleagues and friends.

Much as I love(d) Twitter, I plan to stop using it regularly by the end of the month. It’s just not a platform I think I can dedicate my time to anymore.

[I plan to write more about why in my new free newsletter, Decoding Everything. This newsletter is one of the few ways I can maintain a direct connection with followers (especially those who wish to subscribe for free, which is not something that Patreon allows). But I do plan at present to still create exclusive content for Patreon, like the post you’re reading right now.]

If you’re wondering why there is so much chaos and rending of garments around Twitter specifically, it’s because many people in journalism and media not only are addicted to it but also rely upon it for professional reasons. For me personally, and I think for many of my colleagues, it’s one of the places I get the most engagement.

Some of us have spent 10+ years building up our Twitter accounts — refining our material, cultivating an audience, finding a niche. In a time when it’s so hard to get and hold attention, our work will be less visible. Many of us are freelancers or independent, and for a good number, their livelihood depends on that visibility.

Being an online creator is difficult enough; people shouldn’t have to worry about a billionaire taking over their favorite social media platform and steering it into a ditch. I’m seeing many of my fellow creators despair about the recent developments and it is heartbreaking.

So, with this trip, I’m really hoping to take a mental break from all that. Those problems (and many more!) will still exist when I return. And the reason I keep doing what I’m doing is… it still excites me. I love a lot of the TV and film I’m watching. I love discovering new voices and elevating them or lending them my platform. I love trying to figure out what makes for shareable piece of fun content and how to get it seen. And, again, I’m grateful to all of you for helping me to make it happen. No matter how this all evolves.

I’m also trying to see if I can write more long-form pieces. This letter is one example. The hope is that by sitting back, reflecting, and trying not to pay attention to the noise quite as much, I can finally have some time to think my thoughts and become a more full version of a human being. I hope to dedicates less time for online spats and more time for reading and reflection. Less time for dunking and more time for fully articulated, fully formed ideas.

Maybe things won’t be all bad after all.

With gratitude,
David