The Sideletters

Studio Massah
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The Sideletters is the weekly B2B podcast on film, tech & future business in Europe. For professionals & decision makers in the creative industries. Hosted from Berlin/Hamburg, Paris, and Warsaw, we analyze the markets, cinema & streaming trends, business strategies, and technology shaping the future of European entertainment. Essential listening for producers, distributors, investors, and creative executives. New episodes out every Wednesday. Join the community on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-sideletters

  1. 4d ago

    One Woman, One Lion, One Loud Debate: Venice's Gender Math. Plus: How a Coyote Beat Warners | #032

    Only 1 of ~20 Venice competition films was directed by a woman. And she won the Golden Lion. Joanna Szymanska, Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine and Fabian Massah break down the numbers and the backlash. Woman Unknown, directed by Denmark's May el-Toukhy, just won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the only woman-directed film in a competition of roughly 20 titles. Under jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal, the win reignited a familiar controversial question: did she win because being the only woman in the room? The Sideletters unpack what the Golden Lion controversy actually reveals about festival curation, pulling real numbers from Cannes, Berlinale and Venice's last few competition years to ask: is this a talent gap, a submissions gap, or a gatekeeping problem? Also on the table: the improbable box-office comeback of Coyote vs. Acme, the finished Warner Bros. film that was shelved for a $30M tax write-off in 2023, rescued by indie distributor Ketchup Entertainment, and partly funded by Legion M, a community-equity fund whose investor shares reportedly sold out in 48 hours. Is this the start of a new "protest ticket" economy, where audiences vote with their wallets? And can it be replicated? Links: 🔗 Coyote vs. Acme (IndieWire) 🔗 Coyote vs. Acme (Letterboxd) 🔗 Venice Awards (Variety) 👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on LinkedIn. The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday.Hosted by Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw) and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg).

  2. Sep 9

    Malika Rabahallah on FilmFest Hamburg, US Production Incentive & Germany's Election Shock | #031

    This week Joanna and Fabian discuss: An extremist party just won big in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt region, and public broadcasters are already bracing for what comes next. The US is fast-tracking a national film tax incentive that could stack up to 60% with state rebates. And France and Korea used the Lumière Summit in the south of France to put audiovisual culture on the geopolitical agenda. Then Jennifer sits down with Malika Rabahallah, Director of Filmfest Hamburg (opening September 24), who has worked all three sides of the industry: producer, public funding commissioner, and now festival chief. She talks about: Programming a festival with no checklist and no theme. Why Filmfest Hamburg built a free-admission day for the whole city. What she's actually looking for on the market circuit (and why films are too long).Her case for more hope on screen: "Pessimism is a privilege".This year's line-up, including Helen Mirren receiving the festival's Douglas Sirk Award, a Barbie production-design masterclass, and a growing industry program built around the Explorer Konferenz that also hosts French filmmaking masters Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache Links: 🔗 Lumière Summit (Variety) 🔗 Tax Incentives (PDF of Deloitte Report, German language) 👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on LinkedIn. The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday.Hosted by Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw) and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg).

  3. Sep 2

    What Makes Film Interesting for Equity Investors? Plus: Meta's $18B Child Safety Settlement | #030

    This week on The Sideletters, hosts Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine, Fabian Massah and Joanna Szymanska tackle the question every producer wants answered: what actually makes film and TV attractive to private capital? Sparked by Screen Scotland's new "Lights Camera Capital" initiative, pairing local producers with angel investors, the team digs into why equity money is suddenly flowing into an industry that's leaned on subsidies and pre-sales for decades. They unpack why vertical drama has become the hottest ticket for investors, how data access is de-risking the business for capital, and why producers may finally be learning to speak the investors' language, including a first look at how vertical drama's budget splits (development, production, marketing) are rewriting the producer's role. Plus: Meta's record $18 billion settlement with 48 US states over child-addictive platform design. The hosts break down the new safety measures (screen-time limits, night mode, no notifications during school hours), ask whether this is the US finally catching up with Europe's Digital Services Act, and what it could mean for marketing family entertainment. Links: Meta settlement: Wall Street Journal Screen Scotland: Screen Daily 👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on LinkedIn. The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday.Hosted by Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw) and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg).

  4. Aug 26

    Open Air Cinema Founder Everbright Everready on Innovation & VJ Culture, Sarajevo Recap, Explorer Konferenz Outlook | #029

    Joanna Szymanska and Fabian Massah recap the standout moments from Sarajevo CineLink, including Celine Sciamma's Sister Sister Initiative, preview Oct. 1st Explorer Konferenz at the FilmFest Hamburg Industry Days, and sit down with Everbright Everready, founder of Tanzanian startup Bright and Ready Labs and winner of this year's EFM Startup Award. Everbright walks us through Open Air Fest, her open-air cinema venture in Dar es Salaam that legalizes and monetizes East Africa's amazing VJ (video jockey) culture. We dig into her business model: mobile-money ticketing, revenue-sharing with filmmakers and VJs, brand sponsorships, and how she's building a loyal community from scratch with almost no starting capital. Links: 🔗 Sister Sister (Cineuropa) 🔗 Bright & Ready Labs (Instagram) 🔗 Explorer Konferenz 👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on LinkedIn. The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday.Hosted by Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw) and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg).

  5. Aug 19

    Maša Marković, Head of Industry in Sarajevo: How CineLink Builds Tomorrow's Film Talent | #028

    Joanna Szymanska sits down live at CineLink Industry Days with Maša Marković, Head of Industry at the Sarajevo Film Festival. They dig into how CineLink builds a 20-year talent pipeline from film school to Cannes and back, why the industry needs better success metrics than box office numbers, the rise of microdramas as a format for public broadcasters, and why Southeast Europe's film industry might be "under-distributed" rather than oversaturated.But before that:Germany's biggest film funding schemes just ran dry, months earlier than expected. Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine and Fabian Massah unpack why the DFFF and GMPF incentives have already hit their cap, what it means for producers, crews and suppliers across the German film industry, and how France's "automatic funding" model offers a more predictable alternative. And a discussion inspired by the Locarno Film Festival’s panel which asked whether classic film critics can still compete for attention against influencers and user-generated reviews - and why independent criticism still matters for how audiences discover films. Links: 🔗 Acquired podcast Disney 🔗 Cinelink Magazine 🔗 Locarno’s Panel “A World WIthout Film Critics” 🔗 Germany’s Production Incentive at its limit (The Spot / German language) 👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on LinkedIn. The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday.Hosted by Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw) and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg).

  6. Aug 12

    Is Cinema Really Back? Box Office Truths, the Warner-Paramount Saga & the EU AI Act | #027

    Everyone's saying "cinema is back". But is it? In this episode of The Sideletters, Joanna Szymanska and Fabian Massah dig behind the headlines to find out what's really happening at the box office. We open with a wrap-up on the Wim Wenders–Nastassja Kinski controversy, now resolved with a joint statement and an apology, before turning to the never-ending Warner Bros.–Paramount merger drama, complete with daily penalty fees running into the hundreds of millions and a trial now pushed to 2027.  We also unpack the EU AI Act's new transparency rules, which came into force this August, and what they actually mean for filmmakers, podcasters, and anyone generating content with AI. Then it's the big topic: Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey have pushed box office numbers to record highs, but ticket sales are still far below 2019 levels. We break down what's driving the "recovery": premium formats, a re-release boom, and a growing gap for mid-budget films. And we ask what this means for producers, marketing budgets, and the future of European cinema. Links: 🔗 The Governance of Competitiveness in the European Film Industry (publication)  https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-14889-6_1 👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on LinkedIn. The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday. Hosted by Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw) and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg).

  7. Aug 5

    CLASSIC | "You Are the Industry" w/ EAVE's Tina Trapp

    It's summer. This week we want to give you a one of our earlier episodes which is already a classic. We'll be back next week with a new recording. Enjoy! In Episode #005 of The Sideletters, Joanna and Jennifer have a conversation with Kristina Trapp, CEO of EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs), on 35 years of training international producers and why success isn't just about money. How EAVE's Impact Think Tank imagines a better industry through equity, inclusion, and social responsibility. Plus: an exclusive outlook on upcoming workshops, Creative Europe MEDIA's critical role, and why producers in war-torn countries without funding inspire her most. Trapp's message: "You are not only working in this industry, you are the industry. You are agents of change." Also in this episode: Fabian's deep dive on the Great Consolidation (Paramount-Warner Bros, Showmax shutdown, Banijay-All3Media merger) and what previous consolidation eras teach independent producers about positioning for what comes after. Hosted by Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw) and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg) → EAVE 👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on ⁠LinkedIn⁠. The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday.

  8. Jul 29

    Film Business in Africa w/ Osoo Omondi | #026

    Fabian Massah sits down with Nairobi-based producer and entrepreneur Osoo Omondi. Ahead of the release of his groundbreaking book, "Film Business in Africa", Osoo challenges the outdated perceptions of the African market and explains why African stories are the ultimate unexploited, renewable resource in the global industry. We explore the urgent need to build an architecture for local IP ownership and unpack the diverse regional markets across the continent, from the entrepreneurial engine of Nollywood to the technical infrastructure of East Africa to the regulatory frameworks in South Africa. Osoo also breaks down the "poverty porn trap" of NGO-funded cinema, reframes piracy as distorted market intelligence, and discusses how AI intersects with data ownership and cultural preservation. Links: 🔗  Osoo Omondi (LinkedIn) 👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on LinkedIn. The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday. Hosted by Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw) and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg).

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About

The Sideletters is the weekly B2B podcast on film, tech & future business in Europe. For professionals & decision makers in the creative industries. Hosted from Berlin/Hamburg, Paris, and Warsaw, we analyze the markets, cinema & streaming trends, business strategies, and technology shaping the future of European entertainment. Essential listening for producers, distributors, investors, and creative executives. New episodes out every Wednesday. Join the community on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-sideletters

Information

  • Creator
    Studio Massah
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Studio Massah
  • Show Website
    The Sideletters

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