Gas Prices Are High. So Is Your Value.

We close out May's "Find Your People" series with Week 4: The Room. This week in Community Notes, we're talking about gassing yourself up. Not the cringe version. The necessary one. Why self-promotion is a survival skill, why your story beats your title every time, and five steps to start showing up for yourself without feeling like you need a shower after. Plus industry news, four grants worth your attention, and a word from Nia DaCosta on not diluting it.

One more thing before we get into it, starting next month, Scene Study goes bi-weekly, deeper issues, more craft, more resources, more conversation. And with that, we are officially opening up the opportunity to become a paid supporter of this newsletter. If Scene Study has been part of your creative week, if something in here has pushed your thinking, opened a door, or just reminded you that you are not doing this alone, this is your chance to put something behind it. Paid supporters keep the lights on and help us go deeper. We are building something real here. If you believe in it, become a paid supporter and come with us into the next chapter.

Let’s get into it.

May’s series has been about the people who make the work possible. Week 1 was The First Believer. Week 2 was Collaborators. Week 3 was Mentors. This is Week 4: The Room.

The room is not a metaphor. The room is the table, the rehearsal space, the group chat, the screening, the dinner after the screening. It’s the environment your people help you build and the one you help them build in return.

1. Show up for someone this week. Not for what they can do for you. Attend the reading. Watch the short. Share the link. Write the referral. Show up without a transaction attached. That’s how rooms get built.

2. Think about the room you want to be in a year from now. Who’s already there? What does it feel like? Now ask: what do you need to do this week to take one step toward that room?

3. You’ve spent four weeks this month finding your people. Now ask the harder question: are you being the person worth finding? The most powerful networks aren’t collected, they’re cultivated. Start with one act of generosity today.

The myth is that success opens rooms for you. The truth is that the people you’ve been collecting all month are the room. It was already being built. You just had to notice.

Gas Yourself!

There is a particular kind of discomfort that lives in the body of a creative person right before they say who they are out loud. You are at an event, maybe ABFF this weekend (we’ll be there, come say hi), maybe a mixer, maybe a first meeting. Someone asks what you do. And before the words come out, a small voice inside starts editing. Soften it a little. Add some uncertainty. Don’t seem like you think too much of yourself. We have been trained, by professional culture, by polite society, by years of watching other people shrink in rooms, to treat confidence like it’s a character flaw.

It is not. It is a survival skill.

The industry you are trying to break into is crowded, and it is loud, and the algorithm does not reward the modest. The rooms you will walk into this week will be full of talented people who know exactly who they are and are not afraid to say it. The ones who leave with relationships, with meetings, with momentum, they are not necessarily the most talented people in the room. They are the ones who walked in already knowing they belonged there. Self-promotion, done right, does not require you to abandon your humanity. In fact, the most effective version of it starts there. You lead with who you are as a person, curious, warm, present, generous, and then you let the expertise follow. The work you have done and the perspective you carry are not separate from you. They are you. Introducing yourself with confidence is not a performance. It is an act of honesty.

The noise is real. But so is your work. Here are five steps to start thinking holistically about self-promotion so it never feels like a costume you are putting on:

1. Anchor in your story, not your title. Your title is one line on a profile. Your story is why you do this, what shaped you, and what you are building. Lead with the story. “I’m a producer who spent five years making things with no budget before anyone knew my name, and now I only make things I believe in” is more memorable than “I’m a producer.” People remember the feeling of a story. They forget a title by the next conversation.

2. Know your three sentences. You should be able to introduce yourself fully, confidently, without apologizing, in three sentences. One about who you are. One about what you make or do. One about where you are headed. Practice them until they feel like yours. The discomfort of self-promotion usually comes from not having the words ready. Have the words ready.

3. Online, document the process, not just the product. You do not have to wait until the project is done to talk about it. The behind-the-scenes, the decision-making, the lessons, the pivots, that is the content that builds a real audience. People follow people who are in the work. Post the rehearsal. Post the draft. Post what you are learning. Your process is someone else’s permission slip.

4. Receive the compliment. When someone says your work is good, say thank you. Not “oh it was nothing.” Not “the whole team really...”, at least not immediately. Say thank you first. Sit in it for one second. You cannot promote yourself if you are reflexively deflecting every affirmation that comes toward you. Practice receiving. It is a skill, and it gets easier.

5. Say it before you feel ready. The version of you who is confident enough to promote yourself is not waiting until you have more credits, a bigger project, or a cleaner reel. That version does not arrive on its own. You build it by saying the thing before you are sure and then noticing that the world did not end. Say you are an expert. Say you are building something. Say you have a vision. Say it before you feel like you have fully earned it. The saying is part of the earning.

Gas yourself. The work is real. The gifts are real. Now make sure the room knows it.

What’s moving in the industry this week.

Full Cannes 2026 Winners List: ‘Fjord’ Wins Palme d’Or — Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, took the Palme d’Or on May 23 — Mungiu’s second win after 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007, and Neon’s seventh consecutive Palme. The indie distributor streak is now a full-blown dynasty. Deadline, May 23, 2026.

Malcolm D. Lee’s Psychological Thriller ‘Strung,’ Starring Chloe Bailey, to Open the American Black Film Festival’s 30th Anniversary Edition — ABFF’s 30th anniversary “Homecoming” edition opens tonight (Wednesday, May 27) in Miami Beach with Lee’s Peacock thriller, which follows a violinist entangled in an enigmatic family’s world. Regina King serves as festival ambassador. The festival runs through May 31. The room is forming. Variety, May 2026.

Paramount Sets Teyana Taylor-Directed ‘Get Lite’ for 2027 Release Date — Teyana Taylor’s directorial debut has a home and a date. Paramount also tapped her this week as the newest member of Tribeca’s Through Her Lens Advisory Committee, where she’ll host a Storytellers Series talk on June 7. From Oscar-nominated performer to studio filmmaker mentoring the next wave — the pathway she walked is becoming a road. Variety, May 2026.

PBS Teams With Indie Film Producer ITVS for Independent Lens Creator Lab, Inaugural Lineup Revealed — PBS and ITVS launched a six-month Creator Lab offering emerging filmmakers up to $36,000 in production funding, editorial development, and distribution via PBS Documentaries’ YouTube channel. Inaugural cohort covers South Asian history, LA’s Asian American community, U.S. Latinos, nail art, and more. Public media is investing in the pipeline. Infrastructure matters. Variety, May 2026.

Watch the Team Behind ‘Undertone’ Explain Their $500K Indie Success Story — At Cannes’ Future of Filmmaking panel this week, the team behind Undertone broke down how they made a competitive, commercially viable independent film on a $500K budget and got it to the Croisette. The playbook is changing. IndieWire, May 2026.

Open as of May 26, 2026.

Arc’teryx x Ori Women’s Storytelling Grant — $5,000 in grant funding to honor female storytellers around the world, awarding one individual (or creative team). Story pitches must be under 500 words. Deadline: June 3, 2026.

The AFAC Cinema Grant Program – $50,000 in grants for feature films. $20,000 in grants for medium-length and short films. Supports feature and short-length fiction films in the Arab region. For feature-length films, the program welcomes submissions by Arab directors whose projects are in development, production, or post-production phases. For short films, the program supports projects in production and post-production, provided the director has not previously made a feature film. Deadline: June 19, 2026.

Doha Film Festival International Short Film Competition – $20,000 award for Best Film, $12,000 for Best Director and $7,000 for Best Performance in the International Short Film Competition. MENA Premiere Status is required. Deadline: August 1, 2026.

Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship — $30,000 unrestricted grant for six emerging and mid-career Black American filmmakers (writers, directors, and/or producers), paired with bi-weekly mentorship from Netflix executives and Film Independent board members. Applications open June 29. Non-Member Deadline: August 31, 2026.

“I am the filmmaker I am. Don’t dilute it — just really be yourself.” — Nia DaCosta

DaCosta said this in conversation with Ryan Coogler earlier this year — a reminder she gave herself as much as anyone. The first Black woman to direct a Marvel film, now adding 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and a film adaptation of Hedda to her résumé, she didn’t build that body of work by playing small. Gas yourself. Then go make the thing.

Scene & Heard is a creative platform producing live film events, readings, and community programming in Los Angeles. Founded by Michael Oloyede in collaboration with Suzen Baraka (Program Director) & Jowaan Sullivan (Creative Director). Come through. Bring your people. sceneandheard.co | Reply to this email anytime.

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