NonDē Uprising

Brooke Berman is an award-winning playwright, filmmaker, and author of three books, including a memoir, No Place Like Home. Her plays have been produced all over the world and include Hunting and Gathering, Smashing (which she adapted for Natalie Portman), Out of the Water, Sam & Lucy, and more. Her most recent work is Ramona at Midlife, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Fandango.

In Episode #027 of NonDē Uprising, Brooke looks back at her journey as a playwright and offers playful yet practical advice like understanding how a dumpster fire gives a person room to grow, making a movie with friends is better than chasing movie stars, and why saying “I don’t know” can be the most convincing statement you utter.

Diana Cherry is a writer, producer, and activist who writes the Substack I’m Thinking of Mending Things. She is the managing editor and producer for the upcoming The Who We Are Project, a documentary travel series that will uncover hidden histories of oppression, resistance, and resilience in the United States, focusing on the history of anti-Black racism.

In Episode #026 of NonDē Uprising, Diana talks about why truth can be stranger and more impactful than fiction. She dissects O Brother, Where Art Thou and argues it is a Black movie, a little-known Eric Larsson nonfiction book whose big reveal feels so crazy (yet is true), and breaks down why adaptations like Little Women pull in the author’s personal experience to drive the narrative.

Count on Ari Gold to always take the non-traditional path or make what seems straightforward a bit more interesting. Ari’s most recent film, Brother Verses Brother, was executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola and premiered to rave reviews at SXSW. It’s a one-shot musical odyssey and a companion to Ari’s first book of poetry, Father Verses Sons. Ari’s work has screened at hundreds of other festivals and has won best film at SXSW twice. He’s now in post-production for his fourth feature film, Helicopter.

In Episode #025 of NonDē Uprising, Ari talks about the surreal honor it is to have your hero be your mentor, the power of shooting a movie without permits or paperwork, and why shooting entirely in one shot was more than a gimmick.

Sandra Lehner is considered the TV Futurist on Substack for her uncanny ability to understand where Gen Z gathers for their cultural diet. A former marketer for films, she now works with the people who create content to understand how Gen Z consumes content and strategically think about the media landscape.

In Episode #024 of NonDē Uprising, Sandra untangles why she thought she left film for marketing and what she realized in her new career. She explains why mainstream culture doesn’t exist any more, demographics don’t hold as much value as they once did, and how a European soccer YouTube show altered her thoughts on what makes content successful.

Thomas Verdi is a film director currently in pre-production on his feature debut, The Community. His work has been featured by Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, Film Independent, No Film School, AT&T Shape, and more. He also founded and runs Wellsboro Film Festival, Discontent Media Group, and The Film Fund, which has awarded over $150,000 in funding to winning filmmakers.

In Episode #023 of NonDē Uprising, Thomas explains how his pursuit of becoming a filmmaker led him down an unavoidable path of starting a string of businesses. He talks about how he merged his interests in filmmaking and entrepreneurship, reflects on the entrepreneurial tactics of his filmmaker heroes, and ponders how younger generations might react to a new wave of low-budget films.

TimG (Tim Gleason) worked as an engineer at Google for fourteen years. He led a wide variety of teams and eventually founded an internal startup that developed AppSheet Databases. His final role involved helping to launch NotebookLM. The day after he retired, The Big Break started production, and Tim suddenly began his career as an actor.

In Episode #022 of NonDē Uprising, now-actor Tim Gleason offers us cinephiles an outsider’s perspective on the independent film business. He asks some of the hardest questions we have to confront here: How can a person discover or stumble upon good indie movies if streaming platforms are catering towards big Hollywood productions? Will the rocky movie theater business ever show indie movies again like the 90s heyday? And can Tim bring his insight from developing successful apps to the film ecosystem?

Sasha Santiago is a fixture in the NonDē community, and in many ways, was enacting NonDē elements in his work long before NonDē was coined. He’s a filmmaker with 20 years of work under his belt, much of which he’s written and shot within one month on tight budgets, with a series of short films he shot during the pandemic being made for what he has called #ZeroBudgetShoots.

In Episode #021 of NonDē Uprising, Sasha Santiago fires on all cylinders trying to solve the broken cinema ecosystem. He contemplates how advancements in tech might benefit NonDē filmmakers, champions community-building efforts, and explains how guerrilla filmmakers have the upper hand.

Shagun Singh is an artist, first and foremost. Through Urban Matter, she creates large-scale interactive sculptures that bring together architecture, technology, and human-centered design. Her installations include a pop-up mobile confession booth with an AI “priest,” a grid of illuminated pixels over an empty Brooklyn storefront allowing strangers to play ping pong using their phones, and an air quality sensor encouraging passersby to unlock tips to counter air pollution. Her Substack, Science of Art, focuses on the practical and sustainable considerations of making art your career.

In Episode #020 of NonDē Uprising, Shagun illuminates why she believes making art and making a living aren’t contradictory goals. She explains how artists can utilize grants and find additional sources of income, suggests equity structures that can support entire communities of artists, and gives tips on how artists can juggle their career goals with the realistic necessity of paying bills.

It’s one thing to make a movie; it’s another to sell it. Alex LeMay’s Substack, Pitch Craft, helps creators pitch projects for funding. In addition to offering his own expertise on pitching to Hollywood studios, Alex is currently funding his own project openly sharing statistics and information to help fellow filmmakers see his process (how NonDe!).

In Episode #019 of NonDē Uprising, Alex reimagines what the film industry will look like by the end of this year. He predicts how the tech takeover of Hollywood will launch what he calls “Hollywood 2.0,” why studio executives’ reliance on gatekeeping will fall apart as creators gain control of moviemaking, and why he thinks the best days of Hollywood are still ahead of us.

Stephen Follows mixes data and filmmaking in his fascinating Substack asking the questions you might have always wondered but never knew how to answer. If your brain hobbles down towards questions like “What makes people never want to rewatch a great film?” or “Which colors dominate movie posters and why?”, you’re in for a treat. And if being able to back that all up with charts and numbers gets you tickled, you’ll be swooning.

In Episode #018 of NonDē Uprising, Stephen breaks down why audiences pick feelings, not films, when they sit down to watch a movie. He explains why “trash” movies make for the best comfort watches, the “creative cowardice” of production companies, and why emotional safety is crucial for NonDe movies to succeed.

Note: This episode is audio only.