Personal Update: Looking Towards 2026
A Personal And Newsletter-Focused Update, Going Into 2026
2025 has come and gone, and it felt like the right time to sit down, just me and the readers, to talk honestly about the state of the newsletter and where it’s headed going into 2026.
My desire to write about film really began back in 2020. I experimented with podcasting film reviews in 2021, and I officially launched this newsletter in 2022. That means we’re coming up on three years of this project existing in some form, which is pretty wild to think about when I look back at where I started.
What’s even wilder is seeing how much growth happened this year. 2025 marked the largest increase in eyeballs the site has ever had, reaching a monthly average of around 4,000 Substack views. My Wicked: For Good review also became the most-read article I’ve ever published on here, which is something I’m genuinely grateful for. It’s incredibly affirming to know that people are not only finding the work, but sticking around to read it.
That said, there’s still plenty of room to grow. My subscriber count, while steadily increasing, remains lower than I’d ultimately like it to be. And even after rebooting the podcast to better focus on the topics people seem most interested in, the show I do with my brother (The Reel Lounge) continues to pull weaker numbers compared to most other podcasts in the space (our YouTube numbers are atrocious too). None of that is discouraging so much as it is motivating, but it does factor into how I need to think about the future.
Looking ahead to 2026, my hope is that the growth continues. At the same time, this upcoming year is going to bring some major life changes that I can’t ignore. Those of you who follow me on social media already know that I recently lost my day job of five years. The severance I received is no longer enough to cover the bills, which means my job search is about to become far more intense and time-consuming over the next month-plus.
On top of that, I’m also becoming a first-time dad in late February, assuming our daughter arrives on schedule. That alone is going to reshape my daily life and, naturally, my writing schedule. And that’s not even accounting for other personal matters that I’ve admittedly put on the back burner for much of the past year and now need to finally address.
So, in short, I’m trying to grow this newsletter while also needing to give more time and energy to “real life.” That means some adjustments are inevitable. My schedule will be tinkered with, but my goal is still to deliver at least one or two new pieces a week whenever possible.
I’ll continue watching and reviewing films, but I won’t be consuming them at the same volume I have over the last few years. Since 2020, I’ve averaged close to, or even over, three hundred films a year, and that pace simply isn’t sustainable anymore. Expect far fewer smaller and straight-to-streaming titles, with full written reviews reserved mostly for major releases. Other noteworthy films will still be covered, but more often through monthly impression roundups rather than full-length standalone reviews.
The podcast will also shift. Starting in late March or early April, it will move to a once-a-month stream between my brother and me. This is a temporary change while I figure out how to better balance personal life with film criticism. Along similar lines, my Oscar coverage will scale back slightly, with fewer frequent projection updates, at least for the 2026 awards season.
All of this is to say that 2026 will bring some minor changes to how I cover film here, but not a retreat. I’ll still be writing reviews, tracking the awards race, and hopefully diving into more “Best Of” lists for pre-2020s years in film. I just can’t promise the same level of aggressive output you’ve seen from me over the past few months.
In the immediate future, I’ve got my “Best Of 2025” list dropping this upcoming Tuesday, my final Oscar nomination projections coming in about two and a half weeks, and a few early year podcast episodes lined up with my brother. I’m also aiming to hit the ground running with 2026 film reviews by mid-January and beyond.
Anyway; here’s hoping 2026 can finally bring an end to what’s been a pretty brutal run of years for the world at large. I genuinely hope everyone reading this is able to achieve most (if not all) of their goals in the next twelve months. And as always, thank you for sticking around and supporting the work.