A few words to the brilliant readers of Film Stories, as we come to the end of another year. Thank you so much for supporting us.
As has become tradition, the end of another year brings another of my missives. It’s always a pleasure, and slightly humbling, to write. To keep Film Stories going for another year, against significant pressures, has been quite something. It’s only possible thanks to the support of you all.
Whether you’ve read the site, bought something, spread the word, listened, watched, come along to something we’ve done: thank you. It’s immensely appreciated, not taken for granted, and you’re the reason that Film Stories is in its seventh year.
Thank you.
I also want to take a longer than usual segment of this letter to thank the people around me.
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In June of this year, my dad’s emergency alarm went off in the middle of the night. It’s something he’s worn ever since we lost my mum a few years ago. I live 20 minutes from him, and as soon as I walked through the door at 4 in the morning that day, I knew something was instantly wrong.
I’ve written about the signs of a stroke here. Please: if you take nothing else from this letter, do be familiar with them. I knew them from before, I knew what we were dealing with.
Just over two weeks later, he then suffered a major heart attack. These are the barest details, and sadly there are a few more I’ll spare you. The bottom line is that for the best part of four months, I had to drop out of everyday sight for the team behind the scenes here. I just about kept on top of the podcast, but the reason everything else kept going is down to Ryan, Maria, John and James. Lots of people have had brutal years this year, thank you for having my back with mine.
Thank you too to the people working around Film Stories who you don’t see. People like Aneta, Gabriel, Fin, Irene, Emma, Laura, Dan, Lauren, Jake, Adam and no doubt a few I’ve forgotten. Forgive me if I have. And please accept my thanks.
My dad continues to be (slowly) on the mend, and I’m grateful he is. He’s had a hell of a year.
Even with a big publisher, it would have been difficult to keep things on the road with such things in the background. For an independent like Film Stories? Well, hopefully it gets across just how special the team here is.
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Going forward, losing that four months means a particularly testing start for 2025, and so I apologise in advance for the umpteen things I’m going to be trying. I passionately believe in both Film Stories and Film Junior magazines, in entertainment writing that doesn’t rely on clickbait, that doesn’t use AI slop, that offers a platform for independent and local films, that doesn’t zero in on the same films, that offers opportunity for writers. I’m far from perfect – again, the team around me will tell you that – but I am going to fight for those core beliefs.
It’s likely in the new year I’ll be going back to Kickstarter, that more merchandising will follow, and I’ll be trying to attract more advertisers and supporters who also believe in Film Stories. And I’ve got a film to finish too.
But for now, I’m just filled with gratitude. There’s never been an easy year doing Film Stories, and 2024 is not an exception. Others on the team have had seismic challenges too, but theirs aren’t my story to tell.
Yet here we are. 53 issues of Film Stories magazine, 19 issues of Film Junior, episode 500 of the podcast on the horizon in 2025, several new live shows, and – against horrible algorithmic changes – continual growth on the Film Stories website.
You people. It’s down to you. Thanks for taking your time to support Film Stories. We take some finding, and we don’t have the marketing budget to address that really. We just have word of mouth, and people who have our backs.
We’re moving to a skeleton publishing schedule now until the first week of January. We need to refuel a bit. But we’re coming back with a vengeance in 2025, and hope to see you again then.
Thank you. Can’t say it enough. I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve you, but your support is immensely appreciated. I’ll leave you with the video of us all going through our movie highs of 2024.
Thanks again x
Simon
