Thoughts on cinema, technology, and the invisible threads that connect them.
Fight Club's ending was rewritten for China, Disney removed a slur from The French Connection, and streaming platforms can alter films silently. Why physical media remains the only immutable record of what directors actually made.
When Warner Bros Discovery deleted Batgirl and removed Looney Tunes from HBO Max for tax write-offs, much became permanently inaccessible. Why streaming has ended accidental film preservation and what happens when platforms decide content isn't worth keeping.
How a missing copyright notice transformed Night of the Living Dead into public domain and made horror accessible to everyone whilst nearly destroying the film itself.
Netflix has thousands of films but recommendations feel limited. Why streaming algorithms concentrate attention rather than distributing it, and why Chris Anderson's long tail theory failed for streaming platforms.
Why did studios stop making mid-budget films? DVD and home video sales created a financial safety net that allowed films to recoup costs slowly. Streaming's subscription model eliminated it, changing what gets made.
Looking beyond the poster. Current discovery algorithms emphasise the big-named cast and crew. They see the Director and the Stars, but miss the Crafts. We are building a new kind of graph – one that traces the careers of the thousands of invisible artisans who shape the art form – to prove that the best way to find your next favorite film is to follow the crew, not the cast.