Dec 24, 2024

Director's Club (Wrapped) (2024)

A year-end wrap-up including the most downloaded episodes, a preview of what's to come in 2025 including a format change (going back to the old one) and more!

You can listen to this delightful holiday podcast above while reading this entry :)

(see below for full photos)

For those who haven’t tuned in to either the last bonus interview episode or the newly released Christmas Eve Jackie Chan extravaganza, I thought I’d give you all a heads up with the new changes afoot. First and foremost, the podcast in 2025 will be going back to the original format of focusing on two films per episode (with a brief summation of other titles near the end). This is how the show began so I decided to bring it full circle for a number of reasons. I’ve got many projects and a lot on my plate to where watching even 6-8 movies per episode has become a challenge. Guests are always welcome to talk about more of course, but realistically, I can only focus on two films with a couple other titles to bring up briefly during the wind-down.

Also, I don’t want to experience burnout both with the full-time job and my creative endeavors particularly this show as its entering its 14th year. Patrick and I were able to originate a high-quality podcast and general director conversation by focusing on two films in the past and I’d like to go back to that for the time being. There will still be a couple of outliers from that format - especially the year-end episodes and retrospectives. But even the upcoming Zemeckis sequel episode recording this summer will likely cover most if not all the titles post-Cast Away just for kicks.

I want to be able to maintain writing essays which is what this Substack also intends to be and in order to do that, I need to free up movie-viewing time and balance it out to ensure you get more consistent writing here as well. With all that in mind, I hope folks are okay with this decision and choice. It might make for a more focused (and sometimes shorter) episode and could lead to more content as well. Recording three-hour plus conversations about a half a dozen films just might not work for my brain these days so I hope everyone is understanding and supportive about the format change.

With all that being said, there’s a lot to look forward to as I try to finalize and plan the 2025 schedule with upcoming guests. I also thought it would be fun to share some of these “unwrapped” stats sent to me via Spotify so folks can see what was the most listened-to episode this year. Things are already looking up in a lot of ways for me especially as I’ve taken steps to get healthier and manage my time better. My heart belongs to the arts but I also have a passion for librarianship in addition to film criticism and keeping up with older movies at random too.

Once again, I can’t thank you all enough for being subscribers (whether paid or not). The fact that you’re reading these words or listening to the podcast after all these years truly means the world to me. It’s an outlet I will continue to maintain and never take for granted even when life gets hectic or busier for a variety of circumstances. Stay tuned for the Favorite Films of 2024 episode soon as well as a conversation with my partner/fiancee Sharon about the short yet substantial work of the one and only Elaine May!

With all that said, here below are some cool info-graphics and stats for the curious! Have a very happy holiday season and see you all in the new year.