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AMAUTEUR · Dec 30, 2025

Birth Of The Newslabel

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Adam Kritzer · AMAUTEUR

Hanging with cool peeps at the second IRL Filmstack NYC meet-up, hosted by AMAUTEUR

I published my first essay on Substack exactly nine months ago. I have posted twenty pieces since then. This is number twenty-one. Two releases a month was my goal. I set a schedule and more or less stuck to it. Cool!

I have written essays and case studies about movies, music, distribution and marketing. I have explored at length the trials and tribulations of releasing my own feature films. I have participated in community challenges, premiered music and music videos, and even published an interview (and podcast!) with one of my favorite artists. Some of my pieces have been picked up and reshared by cool outlets like Reunion, Indiewire, Culture House and Dear Producer.

Jealous of the meet-ups Jon Stahl was organizing in LA, I helped get the ball rolling with IRL Filmstack NYC (#4 is coming up in January, hosted by Swabreen Bakr). I think I also maybe coined the term “IRL Filmstack”?

Meanwhile, I have built meaningful friendships and collaborative relationships with several incredible Filmstackers, some of whom are now helping out with Lost Cause and many of whom I will work with in the future.

I consider the past nine months a pregnancy of sorts, a gestation period, a process of development and discovery. Exciting things are in store for 2026.

AMAUTEUR is ready to be born now.

I call AMAUTEUR a newslabel. I made up this word a few months ago to describe and manifest what I’m trying to accomplish with this effort. The newsletter side of things is essays primarily about filmmaking, music, distribution and marketing (like a magazine). And the label side actually produces and releases original movies and music.

These two efforts are interrelated and symbiotic. The newsletter supports the label and vica versa. Both are driven by the desire to educate and build direct relationships with audiences. It’s all about getting folks to learn, engage and support, both digitally and IRL.

  1. Five-Point Studio Plan: What my film studio would look like (03/30/2025)

  2. New Song + Video: “I’m Not Afraid (When My Woman Is by My Side)” is out now (04/30/2025)

  3. What Filmmakers Can Learn From Musicians: Lessons from Liz Pelly’s righteous investigative critique of Spotify (05/08/2025)

  4. Authenticity of Spirit: The new documentary “Grand Theft Hamlet” captures and laughs with the spirit of Shakespeare in a playful and distinctly contemporary way (05/22/2025)

  5. Making “Lost Cause” || Prologue: In which I introduce myself, my new movie and the writing project inspired by it (06/05/2025)

  6. Drum Roll Please: I can finally announce where my new movie will have its world premiere (06/22/2025)

  7. Brospeak, Vol. 1: Wall-to-wall banger remixes to soundtrack your weekend (07/03/2025)

  8. How (Not) To Monetize A Movie: The twelve-year journey to make, release and rerelease my debut feature illustrates the untenable current state of indie filmmaking and distribution (08/14/2025)

  9. Making “Lost Cause” || Chapter 2: In which I discuss budgeting, fundraising, pitch decks and the stressful but sometimes necessary burden of personal debt (08/28/2025)

  10. “Weapons” Is A Marketing Masterclass: “Weapons” shaped its marketing strategy around the story’s inciting incident and anticipation of a payoff while withholding the payoff itself. What can NonDē filmmakers learn from this approach? (09/11/2025)

  11. Famous Letter Writer || “Let It Go”: An AMAUTEUR exclusive music video premiere (09/19/2025)

  12. FilmStack Inspiration Challenge // Day 35: Four things inspiring me right now + two short film recommendations + an AMAUTEUR exclusive remix just for you (09/21/2025)

  13. Brought To You By FilmStack: A Collaborative Release Experiment: My proposal for how FilmStack itself could be the decentralized distribution and marketing collective we need right now (09/25/2025)

  14. Matters of Heart 🪩 Coming Out 10.17.25: Surprise! I’m dropping a new EP next Friday. Pre-order it now on Bandcamp (10/09/2025))

  15. Matters of Heart EP | Out Now: Listen to and buy my new EP exclusively on Bandcamp. Share it with lovers and friends. Download and remix the stems for free. It is all yours now. Do with it what you will (10/17/2025)

  16. LOST CAUSE /////////// East Coast Premiere: The film will be playing on November 13 at PhilaMOCA, with an encore screening at the Weitzman on November 21. Philly, here we come! (10/23/2025)

  17. “I’m the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love”: A conversation (and podcast) with M. I. Devine of Famous Letter Writer (10/30/2025)

  18. What Filmmakers Need From a Digital Distribution Platform, and What Filmmakers Should Promise in Return: We need an equitable, open-to-all VOD storefront accessible across Smart TVs and streaming players. Once this happens, we should move our films to this new platform and limit their exposure elsewhere (11/20/2025)

  19. First Footage From “Racquet Club”: Challenge 8? Challenge 9? Its own thing? All of the above? You decide. (12/17/2025)

  20. These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things: Ten new films I liked a lot, the Substack writers and efforts that inspired me most, and one episode of television that blew my mind (12/24/2025)

And just to make the list complete:

  1. Birth Of The Newslabel: Reflecting on AMAUTEUR’s first nine months, a taste of what’s to come in 2026 and officially introducing our paid subscription model (12/30/2025)

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I understand better now this newslabel I am building and I’m ready to run with it. 2025 was the year of figuring stuff out. 2026 is the year of executing the vision.

Here is a taste of what’s to come:

  • Lost Cause will continue its festival run and enter the next window(s) of its release. The plan is to do one screening of the film every 4-8 weeks over the next 3+ years. I will continue to write about every step of the release in my “Making Lost Cause” series. Coming up in the next few months are chapters about casting, production, editing, festivals, and developing a creative windowing strategy.

  • AMAUTEUR will release the Lost Cause Motion Picture Soundtrack.

  • Generally, I will write a lot about audience-building for nonDe films and music. I will share how I have been marketing my own work and discuss what has worked and what has not in ways that hopefully can be adapted to other projects. For example, I have been running clipping experiments. I was able to generate half a million views on Instagram for less than $25. However, I’m not sure the engagement was meaningful or useful in any way. I will write about this process at length in the coming months.

  • I will continue to be involved with IRL Filmstack meet-ups, and will expand IRL offerings to include readings, workshops, performances and screenings.

  • I will check in on the rerelease of Good Funk, and publish a follow-up to “How (Not) To Monetize A Movie”. Since getting back the rights to my first film, I have worked with FilmHub to redistribute the work to select platforms. I will share what I have learned — what has worked and what has not — through this process.

  • 2026 marks ten years since Good Funk world premiered, and I wanna do something special to commemorate the occasion. Perhaps we’ll rerelease the movie in select theaters for one night only? Or do an eventized digital screening? Maybe we’ll do some limited-edition physical item? Stay tuned.

  • I made an experimental short which premiered at the Tallahassee Film Festival, and I’m currently exploring fun ways to release that.

  • I also have a new animated serialized comedy in development. We will be doing a free reading of the pilot episode on January 14th at Salmagundi.

  • I have been quietly building a slate of 2026 film and music releases (not made by me) that will be executive produced by AMAUTEUR. The family is growing! The first of these projects will be officially announced in January — though it already premiered — and is coming soon to a theater near you. I will continue to focus on feature-length work but will also explore how this stuff applies to short films.

I recently introduced paid subscriber tiers with sweet perks including film rentals, EPs from the vault, limited-run posters and more. I won’t ever paywall my essays. I publish what I publish first and foremost for educational purposes. The goal is to demystify the process for everyone. I want my work to be consumed by as many people as possible.

But this stuff takes time, and is all human-made. No AI has ever been or will ever be used in any essay published on AMAUTEUR. That’s a promise.

Have you gotten value this year from anything I have released? Did you learn about FilmHub — or maybe even get the rights back to your film — because of my essay about Good Funk? Did my inspiration post inspire you, or my challenges challenge you? Did you hear about a new band from me, or discover a new film? Did I help you think about your production in a new way? Did I give you ideas for marketing your film? Did you watch one of my movies in theaters or on Tubi? Did you attend an event hosted by AMAUTEUR? If you think I contribute a unique perspective to the Substack ecosystem, and are in the position to support financially, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

It has been an honor to build a relationship with you over these past nine months. Thank you reading, for your comments, for your engagement and support. Please continue to put your trust in me and I will continue to deliver cool, useful stuff.

AMAUTEUR is just getting started. We have tons of exciting things in store: short and feature-length films, EPs, music videos, webisodes, essays, interviews, eventized experiences, community-driven collaborative experiments and more.

Thank you to every person who rented or streamed Good Funk, and to every person who came out to a screening of Lost Cause or an IRL Filmstack meet-up.

Thank you to the critics who cared about my work enough to write about it.

Thanks to everybody who bought my EP when they could’ve streamed it for free on Spotify.

Thanks to the couple who bought a limited edition Lost Cause poster and then sent me a photo the next day of the poster framed on their living room wall.

And thank you, my fellow Filmstackers — too numerous to name but you know who you are — for your support and encouragement and for reinvigorating my belief in the possibility of an American indie/nonDe ecosystem that supports the cinema I make and love.

The American new wavelength is here! Long live non-dependent filmmaking!

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