Substacks recommended by Jen Topping

Recommended by Jen Topping

With a rich background in TV production, commissioning and development I deliver insider industry insights, expert analysis, and strategic guidance on how to win in all aspects of the content game.

Open Gardens

Open Gardens delves into the intersection of Hollywood and the creator economy, offering insights from a seasoned producer on how storytelling, fandom, and community-driven content are transforming the future of media for insiders and disruptors alike.

A great substack in a similar territory; exploring the crashing together of traditional media with social, tech and talent.

- Jen Topping

Brands To Fans

By Will Harrison

A franchise management newsletter for the entertainment industry

If you want to understand brands and managing franchises, then this is a must read from someone with an acre of direct experience with IP like Harry Potter.

- Jen Topping

How Not to be a TV Writer

By Jon Stahl

Jon is a TV Writer who worked in the writers’ rooms of Veep (HBO) and HouseBroken (FOX). HNTBATVW is a guide to navigating a creative career in entertainment, warts and all.

Podcast Strategy Weekly

By Chris Stone

Helping you increase your influence, grow an audience and create revenue through podcasting.

Manori Ravindran

London Correspondent at The Ankler

Often I end up vaguely pondering some issue, and then lo and behold Manori drops an insightfully written piece on the subject - usually with great interviews from the leading players in the TV market. A must read.

- Jen Topping

The Industry

Daily Film & TV News Direct to You.

Posting Nexus

By Julia Alexander

A semi-regular series dedicated to the nexus of incentive structures that unite the pillars of our online ecosystems: attention, identity, and platforms.

I feel I've been reading Julia for decades. She's one of the best and most insightful writers on how the internet has fundamentally changed the media as well as user behaviours.

- Jen Topping

Tepper Talks

By tepper

If you're not a nepo baby or from generational wealth but want to work in the film/tv industry- welcome! I'll be sharing my screenwriting journey and industry musings along with best practices I've learned in assistant life + as a film marketer.

Charting Gen AI

By Graham Lovelace

Key developments in generative AI and the impacts these are having on human-made media, as well as the ethics and behaviour of the AIs and calls for regulatory intervention to protect the rights of artists, performers, and creators.

The Outside Scoop

By Scott Mendelson

Daily entertainment news punditry and box office analysis from one of the foremost experts in the theatrical distribution arena. Pop in, subscribe and learn about macro-sized Hollywood trends years before they become accepted conventional wisdom.

Further&Better

By Steven Hindes

Your daily digest for TV, film, and media industry news. Dive into expert analyses, behind-the-scenes insights, and the latest trends shaping the entertainment world.

You only need one aggregator of the latest news in the world's TV, film and content markets - and this one is it.

- Jen Topping

The Kids StreamerSphere

By Emily Horgan

Welcome to The Kids StreamerSphere, a regular newsletter if you're interested in the business of kids tv and film. Each edition looks at the latest news, deals and performance data for kids content within the context of global streaming.

If you want to understand the kids TV and streaming market then this is the most essential publication in the world.

- Jen Topping

The Media Mix

By Claire Atkinson

I report on what's happening in communications. I'm also the author of a new upcoming biography on Rupert Murdoch. You can find me on one side of the Atlantic or the other.

Dealmakers with Alex Segal

Alex Segal, Managing Director of major UK talent agency InterTalent, offers insight into the job of a talent agent. He also shares advice and lessons to keep you ahead of the game.

Series Business (fka Strikegeist)

By Richard Rushfield

A newsletter about the TV industry

Always Be Watching

By Dan Barrett @ ABW

TV industry commentator and critic Dan Barrett curates the must-read stories direct to your inbox every morning, with a bit of analysis nobody asked for.

Stat Significant

By Daniel Parris

Data-centric essays about movies, music, TV, and more.

Hope For Film

By Ted Hope

We need a vibrant alternative to mainstream culture, especially a non-dependent cinema ecosystem. Let's build it together & examine what got us here in the first place -- including how we can each build our own sustainable & generative creative practices.

Streaming Made Easy

By Marion Ranchet

Your 5-min read to get a European take on the Global Streaming Video Business

The Streaming Lab

By Yann

Making sense of streaming media in Middle East and North Africa

Streamlined by Liz Shackleton

By Liz Shackleton

The global film & streaming content revolution

Dan’s Media & AI Sandwich

By Dan Taylor-Watt

Exploring the evolution of AI and its impacts on media and society

Media War & Peace

By Evan Shapiro

Reports from the War for Our Attention from Media Cartographer Evan Shapiro.

The Mediator

By Doug Shapiro

The Mediator explores the structural changes reshaping the media industry and what they mean for the media business, culture, and society. I write it to get closer to the frontier.

FRIDAY'S ESPRESSO

By Axel M. Fiacco

Weekly newsletter about formats, markets and trends all around the world

The News Angle

By Nigel Dacre

Thoughts about the business of TV News, broadcast journalism, and digital media.

Unmade: media and marketing analysis

By Tim Burrowes

Media and marketing news with all the in-depth analysis, insight and context you need.

Odds and Ends of History

By James O'Malley

Why that thing you retweeted is probably wrong.

The Ruffian

By Ian Leslie

Ian Leslie picks out the most important, interesting and beautiful signals from the noise.

Big Technology

By Alex Kantrowitz

A newsletter about big tech and society by independent journalist Alex Kantrowitz.

The Entertainment Strategy Guy

The best writing on entertainment strategy including a weekly "Streaming Ratings Report", unpacking what shows and films are winning the streaming wars.

If I could have only one paid subscription, it would be Entertainment Strategy Guy. Worth its weight in gold.

- Jen Topping