Substack on Film originated from a very analog experience: watching my friend Nateโs work, filming 16mm advertisements for local businesses and screening them at local independent movie theaters. I approached him with an idea: What if we made these sorts of films, but for Substackers?
We only planned to make one seasonโjust five episodes, each featuring a different creator going about their daily life in and around San Francisco. Then we read the comments. Viewers called the episodes โmagnetic,โ โthought-provoking,โ and โfull of wonderful reminders that the world isnโt as grim as they would have us believe.โ Our subscribers care about the creative life, and Substack on Film enables us to showcase the many ways it can look. So we decided to keep going.
The idea to do the next season in London actually came from our co-founder Hamish. Heโd just returned from the city, still buzzing from the energy of the writers and creators heโd met there. London is, of course, a historic city of letters, and home to our second-biggest share of bestsellers on the platform. And weโre an international bunchโjust look at our co-founders. Hamish is a Kiwi from New Zealand, Jairaj is Indian and grew up in Japan, and Chris is Canadian. Weโre headquartered in the USA, but Substack is global, baby.
For the first episode of our London season, we met up with Laura Jackson, the Glassette co-founder, broadcaster, and mother of three. Thanks to a Tube strike, our local cinematographer, Daj, our sound recordist, Nick, and I took an incredibly long Uber ride from West London to Hackney Depot, where we found Laura hard at work under the expansive skylight of a converted bus station.
Laura has had a fascinating career, finding her way through event management, broadcasting, and, ultimately, starting her own e-commerce business. Sheโs also charming. A native of Northern England who dropped into East London nearly 20 years ago, you can still hear the north in her accent. We watched Laura assemble a moodboard and then take a coffee break, strolling Broadway Market, shaking hands, kissing babies and dogs, and waving to friends real and imaginary.
I hope you enjoy our first installment of Substack on Film: London. Thereโll be more episodes in the coming weeks. And let us know: Where should we film next?
