Welcome to Year 2 of Plumb News!

When we sent our first issue last October, this was just a passion project. A place to talk about movies, faith, and the strange business of getting independent films out into the world.

Fifty-two issues later, we’ve learned a lot. We’ve talked to filmmakers doing things differently, dug into films that found audiences long after opening weekend, and kept coming back to the same question: How do good films actually find their people?

Lately, I’ve been studying the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Both are stories of rebuilding, and both reminded me that before you can build much of anything, you need a foundation. Looking back, that’s what Year 1 feels like now.

This week, I led a workshop at the ICVM Storytellers Conference about relaunching an indie film. I’ve also started Indie Film ROI, where I’m collecting case studies, research, and lessons that have grown out of this newsletter.

In a lot of ways, both came out of what we’ve been doing here all year. The foundation is solid. Now it’s time to see what we can build on it.

As I think about where Plumb News goes next, one thing feels especially clear: if we keep laying bricks, eventually we will see a strong structure.

That’s true for a film that deserves another shot at an audience, and it can be true for the people making them, too. Sometimes the next act starts by rediscovering what you have to offer and finding your voice again.

So, here’s to Year 2.

— Ian Max Eyre, Editor-In-Chief

Elle Woods heads to Harvard trying to win back the guy who dumped her. Instead, she discovers she’s capable of a lot more than proving somebody wrong. Legally Blonde is a story about being underestimated, finding your voice, and realizing the qualities people dismiss might be the very things that set you apart. And fittingly, the story itself wasn’t done yet. The movie got its own second act, becoming a hit Broadway musical that ran for nearly 600 performances. Sometimes a story just needs another stage.

WHERE TO WATCH →

Jack Malik is about ready to give up on music when a freak blackout leaves him in a world where nobody remembers The Beatles. Suddenly, their songs are his ticket to the career he’s always wanted. But Yesterday gets more interesting once that dream actually comes true. What happens when you finally get your shot and realize success still can’t tell you who you are? It’s a second-chance story with a pretty good reminder: finding an audience and finding your voice aren’t always the same thing.

WHERE TO WATCH →

In movies, the second act is usually when the plan starts to fall apart.

The goal gets harder. The character gets tested. What worked in the opening scenes suddenly isn’t enough anymore. That’s often where the story really starts to move, because the protagonist has to find a new way forward.

Plinny Phoenix knows something about that.

Her path has included singing, teaching, career changes, setbacks, and eventually returning to music in a different way. Today, through Better Voice Now™ and her Looking Forward to Monday™ movement, she helps people reconnect with parts of themselves that can get lost after life takes an unexpected turn.

For Plinny, singing is part of that process, but it isn’t really the end goal. The point is to help people feel more alive, more confident, and more willing to step back into their own lives.

That’s why her Looking Forward to Monday™ idea stuck with us. Monday is less about the calendar than what it represents: another chance to get moving again.

That feels especially fitting for an issue about Year 2. A second act isn’t always a comeback in the big, cinematic sense. Sometimes it starts with something much smaller: picking something back up, trying a different direction, or realizing the story still has somewhere to go.

Plinny also created a free 3-Step Guide to Find Your Spark Again After a Major Setback Using Your Voice, designed to help people reconnect with their creativity, confidence, and sense of possibility.

_{*This week’s “Spotlight Series” is part of a collaborative exchange between “Plumb News” and “Plinny Phoenix.” No compensation was exchanged. We just thought her perspective was worth sharing with the Plumb community.}

The results are in! 50% of you voted for “Trying it again” in last week’s poll: When something doesn’t work the first time, what’s your instinct?

A finished film can still have another life.

That’s the idea behind The 3-Step Guide to Relaunch Your Indie Film Profitably, the framework I shared at ICVM this week for giving a released film another chance to find its audience.

At the heart of it is one idea: release day doesn’t have to be the finish line.

Sometimes the opportunity isn’t making something new. It’s taking another look at what you already made and asking what might happen if you positioned it differently, found a fresh hook, or put it in front of the right people this time.

That shift in perspective is really what the guide is built around.

The takeaway is simple: the first release doesn’t have to define the film’s future. Sometimes it just takes the right reason to bring it back.

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.” – Psalm 40:3 (ESV)

Psalm 40 starts with David waiting on God and crying out for help. Then God lifts him out of the pit, puts his feet on solid ground, and gives him a new song. The song doesn’t ignore what came before it. It comes after David has seen God meet him there.

That feels fitting as we start Year 2. A second act doesn’t have to erase the first one. It can carry forward what you learned, what changed you, and what God showed you along the way.

The goal isn’t to rewrite the old song. It’s to recognize when God has given you a new one worth singing.

Until next time,

THE PLUMB NEWS TEAM