The Pivot

A Look Back on 2025 and where The Label goes from here.

Letter from the Editor:

My name is Taylor Lewis and since last June I’ve had the privilege of writing The Label’s newsletter for you each week. First I’d like to start by saying this is absolutely not a goodbye - it’s a pivot.

When Ellis J. Sutton and I met at the beginning of last year, one of the first things he said to me was, “how’d you do it? How did you make the leap from just passively thinking about doing things to actually doing them?” And my first thought was, “I didn’t know I had.” But after thinking on it for a moment, I told him, “I guess I just got tired of the work not getting done.” And as you know, dear reader, there is so much work to do.

One of the greatest benefits in getting to discuss how to start a business with someone is the problem-solving in real time that happens organically in conversation. For months Ellis and I discussed all the areas in which cinema’s ecosystem can be improved upon and as you would guess - there are a lot of them. In fact the whole industry just about needs to be reimagined from scratch - which it currently is - and in fact a good chunk of that reimagining is happening on this platform. But these major shortcomings are exactly why I think the future of cinema belongs not only to those filmmakers who expand upon the art of cinema, but those who also help fill in its current gaps.

And I’m realizing more and more that an entrepreneur is just someone who sees “the gaps” of what is missing in any given industry and has the drive and wherewithal to try and fill them - or like me (and I bet like you) is simply fed up enough to do something about it. I don’t necessarily mean you have to “start a business” in the traditional sense. I mean perhaps simply filling a “job” or “role” that may not even exist yet because you saw a need for it and possessed the skillset in which to fill the need. Elena Verna has a great post on “solopreneurship” that I think applies to all “modern filmmakers:”

In this new world, employment may starts to look a lot like a subscription: companies bring you in when they need your skills, and cancel when they don’t.

What does that mean for you?

It means you need to know your superpower and build a system that helps the right companies find it. Whether or not you ever end up going solo is up to you. But everyone should be building the same thing: a system that gives you leverage, protects your independence, and keeps your skills relevant, no matter how fast the world changes.

Of course this is all easier said than done, and as Carolina Groppa pointed out in her latest piece, like filmmakers, entrepreneurs operate on a great deal of delusion.

You have to be somewhat “delulu” to pursue this industry. To believe your story needs to be written and told. To believe your film will be financed when the odds are stacked against you. To believe you’ll find collaborators willing to push immense boulders uphill with you. To believe your film will resonate with audiences, provided those audiences even find it, and that once they do, they’ll spread the word, tag their friends, and maybe even make TikToks about it! - Carolina Groppa, Are You Delusional?

But I have seen so many filmmakers in the past year rise to fill the “need” to champion not only their own “ambitiously-authored work” but an ecosystem that puts art and the artist (and audience) at the center. So really making the pivot to become an entrepreneur isn’t as a big of a leap as you would think. (For some practical examples Lucy Lumen lays out all the ways she made money as a creative last year.)

Now for The Label and its future in 2026 and beyond.

In writing these newsletters last year, I realized what was needed in trying to fill the “gaps” was not only a postive, practical spin on the current state of things, but also tools and examples in which you could apply to your own life.

Again education, to me, is the basis of how we build this new era for cinema and in keeping with that belief I’ve been asking myself what “gap” does The Label now fill that there are so many educational resources being made available each day?

If you aren’t already subscribed to both FilmStack Daily Digest and FilmStack Deep Dive I recommend you do so now as they offer a wealth of knowledge and resources.

The Label started out as a way to help “push cinematic culture forward” and offer a voice to the new NonDē - both a movement and an ecosystem. And in many ways it fulfilled its role in doing that - or at least according to AI -

Hope first proposed the NonDē concept in a Substack essay titled *“Why We Must Change the Goals of So‑Called ‘Indie’ Film”*, criticizing what he calls “SCIF” (so‑called independent film) for replicating studio hierarchies under a different name. In summer 2025, the concept gained momentum when emerging filmmakers Taylor Lewis and Ellis Jamal Sutton launched The Label, billed as the first NonDē film incubator. - excerpt from Perplexity’s defintion of NonDē.

and according to Abigail Horton (in The data helps me feel sane!)

And then there was the huge victory of being not only read, but recognized by culture giant, Ted Gioia in Indie Culture Is Great—But What’s Coming Next is Better.

Okay, I’m done bragging. (Ultimately, these things just let me know that what Ellis and I had been discussing these past few months is truly on the pulse of what is needed right now.)

But I have to admit when I first read the Perplexity definition Ted Hope sent Ellis and I, I was confused by its assertion that The Label was an “incubator.” But as last year ends and a new year begins, I realize that it truly has been that for both Ellis and I. The Label’s first year became an acceleration course for both of us to not only take up the much-needed mindset of artist and entrepreneur, but to put it into practice.

Ellis not only started a “studio” for the FilmStack community:

Coming Soon: FilmStack Studios

He also has just begun running a “coffeehouse cinema” which officially launches January 22nd. You can find tickets here.

I’ve just begun the journey with jake S. weisman, Avi Setton, Daniel Harper, Alex Bhat, James McLoughlin, and a growing list of others in building a global network and community of micro and third space cinemas in an effort to create an alternative distribution model for NonDē filmmakers and their audiences. The official announcement for the project is Friday Jan. 16th which you can register for here.

I also recently joined the team at Deep Dive to help bring you a more comprehensive look at relevant topics in today’s ever-changing cinematic landscape. You can check out the most recent post on Sundance here.

And I’ll be participating in this year’s NonDē50 Film Project which you can follow along at FilmStack Daily Digest for updates.

Now as for The Label, where I’m seeing the current “gaps” of what might be needed in Filmstack’s “knowledge database” are two things:

1. Conversations around the artist as entrepreneur (or at the very least artist-minded entrepreneurs)

2. Conversations around marketing.

So for 2026, The Label will be expanding beyond Ellis and I as it seeks to meet the current needs of this community and beyond. I’m working on a list of entrepreneurs and marketers to feature (if you’re reading this and you are one - feel free to reach out.) Ellis will still be a guest author from time to time as he was last year (you know, when he’s not running his current entrepreneurial endeavors) and as the conversation on here grows to the desire for in-person events such as educational labs and workshops - Ellis will be there too.

In further regards to marketing, I’ve had many conversations around the topic of discovery and Courtney Romano, leader of the NonDē50 Film Project, had a wonderful idea for a column entitled, What Made You Click Play?

So in the coming weeks, I will reaching out to people to submit their stories on the last movie they loved and how they found it. If you’d like to be one of the first featured, again reach out! Until then, Citrus has a great post called, How Films Are Chosen in Under Two Seconds, and Why Your Film’s Key Art Matters More Than You Think.

To end this little letter from me to you, I’d like to send out a massive thank you to all who not only read this newsletter the past few months, but engaged in the conversation with us. And to reiterate what I said at the beginning - this isn’t a goodbye - like all good entrepreneurs and artists - we just know when to pivot.

We need something stronger than indie. And it’s starting to come to life.

Some people call it NonDē. Or you might describe it as indie on steroids.

I like to think that it’s the next big thing. - Ted Gioia