The Reading Garden: 6/6/25
What We’re Reading, and Why It Matters to Legacy Media
Welcome back to the Reading Garden, where every Friday we spotlight three pieces we're paying attention to and explore what they mean for legacy media.
Let’s get into it…
We love producer Alex Lemay’s approach. He doesn’t actually say stop, but he definitely says start pitching smarter. In a moment of industry chaos, he offers something better than panic: a plan.
His core message? You can’t pitch like it’s 2012. A three-minute proof of concept shot in your bedroom and dropped on YouTube can spark an entire franchise. It’s already happening…
Lemay lays out a five-step playbook, but here’s the heart of it: think like a creator, not just a pitcher. Your idea isn’t just a “movie” or a “show”—it’s IP. And it needs to prove itself on a platform before it earns attention in a boardroom. That means testing it on YouTube, TikTok, or as a podcast moment, then tracking real engagement: retention, shares, comments, community.
For creatives: are you still waiting for the greenlight, or are you building proof that audiences actually care?
And for studios: if you’re not looking where the traction already is, where are you looking?
It’s not only pitching that has fundamentally changed…
Vulture’s latest dives into the chaos (and opportunity) of modern publicity, and the takeaway is clear: there’s no more one-size-fits-all strategy.
A few years ago, getting your lead on Fallon and a magazine cover might’ve done the trick to get butts in seats. Now? Cultural saturation is the goal, and it’s platform-agnostic. Think Severance at Grand Central or Chalamet bouncing from Theo Von to College GameDay.
But here’s the catch: What worked last time won’t cut it again. Teams have to build the next moment from scratch, and every campaign is a custom job.
In this new world, legacy media can’t just follow the circuit. You’ve got to invent it.
If you’ve been seeing viral AI videos flying across your feed and aren’t quite sure what to make of them, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
In this short doc, tech columnist Joanna Stern walks through how she and her team made an entire short film using AI tools. It’s well worth the watch, and if you’re a WSJ subscriber, there’s a companion article that dives deeper into the process.
Whatever your stance on AI in storytelling, the enmeshment between the technology and Hollywood is already happening (just this week, another partnership was announced between Runway x AMC Networks).
At the very least, it’s worth knowing how these tools actually work.
See you next week…