They're coming for Letterboxd
Little do they know, we're coming to save it.
In case you haven’t heard, I’m sorry to break the news, but Letterboxd is up for sale—and surprise, surprise—some of the potential bidders include Netflix, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Versant, and major private equity firms.
If you care as much as I do about the value of Letterboxd, the rapidly declining state of the film industry, and the future of media in the midst of this rapidly growing tech oligarchy, then I’m sure you understand how upsetting this news feels.
Unsurprisingly, these are some of the reactions so far:
The line "There it is again, that funny feeling" from Phoebe Bridgers’ cover of Bo Burnham’s song keeps echoing in my head while I write this—which honestly could easily be the soundtrack to this dystopian landscape if it was a movie, except it’s not.
We’ve repeatedly watched media conglomerates and mega-corporations see spaces of authentic human connection as under-monetized assets. I refuse to go through this again because if we don’t stop it now, then there won’t be much left to be saved.
In other words:
I didn’t think there was anything that could be done though—I mean, they are sitting on endless piles of money—but turns out, cash is one of the weakest sources of power. The real power lies in the hands of the people who actually use and care about the very platforms and industries they’re attempting to exploit.
I relay this sentiment to you from one of the conversations I had with Elizabeth Joyce, co-founder of Intrinsic Entertainment Collaborative. This is a public benefit company that has been working for years toward developing alternative, ethical, and sustainable business models for independent filmmakers.
Their community-led campaign—Film Lovers Should Own Letterboxd—aims to buy a majority stake in Letterboxd. They want to buy it back for the people. Now, all they need to make this happen is for us to come together and pledge whatever we can, even if just a dollar.
+get 30 days of Instead of Doomscrolling paid tier access—priced at €7/month—for donating, even if just a dollar (hopefully a little bit more if you’re able to!!!).
The second I found out about this initiative, I knew I wanted to be involved. Not only have I already pledged the most generous amount of money that I could, but now I want to make sure the goal is reached by sharing this incentive, but most importantly, I want to let everyone that cares to listen know that there is still so much hope, and that the power lies in numbers, not in the 1%.
On a more personal note, Letterboxd has been a refuge, a sanctuary, and a space for connection and my media obsession for many, many years. I’m invisibly tethered to it in so many areas of my life that even just within the last month, I’ve had really special experiences through it—here are a few of them:
I went on a date for the first time in a while a couple of weeks ago, and at one point, they asked me if I was into films. In my head, I was like oh, you have no idea who you’re speaking to, and proceeded to confirm that yes, I am indeed VERY into films. I then went ahead and asked them for their Letterboxd top 4 (because duh if you’re into films, having an account is pretty much a given) and this unraveled into us stalking each other’s accounts, judging the ratings we disagreed on, and exchanging movie recs from our lists. It was a good date.
Ever since I can remember, my dad has been cultivating my love for cinema; it has always been our shared passion. Over the years, every time we’re buying tickets for a movie, I check what I referred to as my “movie app” to see if it’s good or not. Now that I’m back home and he’s going through chemo and radiation, there's not much going to the movie theater these days, so last week, I made him his very own Letterboxd account. We probably went through at least 200 movies and promptly rated them—we also added a bunch more to his watchlist for us to enjoy together through his recovery.
On one of the recent recommendation threads of our IOD Substack chat, I asked everyone to share some of their favorite films, and many people came through. I compiled all of them into a Letterboxd list so we could all enjoy and discover new films through our collective selection.
Moments like these ones are exactly what’s at stake here: human connection, authenticity, freedom of expression, and one of the few spaces where we can build a real community. My mission in life, especially now that I have a platform, is to be part of a shift from the attention economy to the connection economy. It won’t happen overnight and it won’t be easy, but together, we can make it happen. It’s initiatives like this one that can take us there.
If you want to be part of this shift too, consider pledging what you can. There are still 8 days before the campaign comes to a close, so let’s make sure we hit the goal. We need to save Letterboxd.
They’re coming for Letterboxd.
Little do they know, we’re coming to save it.
donate whatever you can and your 30 days of paid-tier IOD lands in your inbox :)
my cat just told me to tell you to pledge soooo… i’m not one to say no to her. seriously though, i am NOT letting them take away my beloved Letterboxd. if you can’t pledge, make sure to share it with as many people as you can <3
thank you for your attention,
 | A guest post by
|
pledged!! if anyone can do it it’s the indie film community
I pledged! I’m not sold on letterboxd’s culture necessary but I *completely* agree with your ethos that we need independently owned social media sites and if I can be a part of making that happen even in one small corner of the internet, I’m going to. Galvinizing tbh