Disney+ is opening Series Mania with a Handmaid’s Tale sequel. CJ ENM is using the same festival to premiere a Korean military drama. A first-time director from Assam is competing for attention at the Berlinale alongside Johnny Flynn and John C. Reilly.
Twenty years ago, these would have been separate circuits with separate economics. Now they’re fighting for the same oxygen, because festivals have become where distribution leverage gets negotiated in public.
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The pattern extends beyond film and television. In publishing, individual journalists are testing whether they can bypass legacy institutions entirely, while those institutions raise subscription prices to mask retention struggles.
The split is structural. Some players need platforms to reach audiences. Others are building direct relationships that let them set their own terms.
The Festival Floor Is a Dealmaking Floor
Series Mania announced that “The Testaments” will open this year’s festival. The Disney+ sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale” brings Ann Dowd and showrunner Bruce Miller to Lille for what amounts to a prestige distribution play dressed as a cultural event.
Opening-night slots at major festivals used to signal awards potential. Now they signal platform strategy. Disney is using Series Mania the way networks used to use upfronts: establishing positioning before the competitive window opens.
The festival isn’t only showcasing Hollywood streamers. CJ ENM is premiering “The Legend of Kitchen Soldier” at Series Mania, the only Korean content at the event.
The Studio Dragon-produced military drama, launching on TVING, reflects how Korean studios use European festivals to build international distribution leverage ahead of domestic releases. CJ ENM is placing IP in front of buyers who can turn a Korean SVOD original into a regional licensing package. Market expansion, plain and simple.
The Berlinale shows how deep the pipeline runs. Rima Das is premiering “Not a Hero” in the Generation section, an India-Singapore co-production shot in Assamese, Hindi, and English.
Das is a filmmaker from Assam whose previous work played regional circuits. Now she’s at one of the three major European festivals with Paris-based sales representation from MMM Film Sales, competing for distributor attention against projects that used to occupy entirely different commercial tiers.
First-time directors are adapting with marquee casting. “A Prayer for the Dying,” starring Johnny Flynn and John C. Reilly, premieres in Berlinale’s Perspectives section, designed explicitly for feature debuts.
The director cast recognizable names to generate pre-sale interest that used to require studio backing. New Europe Films launched the trailer ahead of the premiere, sales strategy running in parallel with the festival strategy. A debut director operating like a mid-budget producer from 2015.
Two Models, Same Pressure
Lachlan Cartwright left legacy media to launch Breaker, his own newsletter operation. One year in, he’s matching his previous salary.
More than 40,000 paid and unpaid subscribers, no institutional backing. The math matters because it establishes a comparison point: a journalist with a name and a beat can replicate legacy economics in twelve months if the conversion rate and pricing hold.
That doesn’t mean the model scales easily or works for most people. It means the leverage question in publishing mirrors the one at festivals. Some creators can negotiate directly with audiences. Some still need platform infrastructure.
Cartwright had the reporting reputation and subscriber capture strategy to make direct economics work. Most journalists don’t, which is why legacy publishers still control most of the talent even as individual operators prove the solo path is viable for a specific kind of reporter.
Legacy publishers, meanwhile, are tightening pricing. Online news subscription costs rose 3% overall, with The Telegraph and Mail+ Editions leading on promotional discounts to drive acquisition.
The price increases reveal retention struggles. Publishers raise prices when they can’t grow subscriber volume fast enough to hit revenue targets. The discount strategies from Telegraph and Mail+ confirm that the acquisition environment is harder than the renewal environment. They’re optimizing for their existing customers rather than expanding the base.
When Politicians Drive the Health News Cycle
Florida first lady Casey DeSantis said bread contains weed killer. Poynter fact-checked the claim and found that while trace amounts of glyphosate can appear in some bread products, the levels are far below safety thresholds and the claim oversimplifies the science.
The fact-check matters less for what it debunks than for what it reveals about the verification cycle: political figures can generate health scares faster than newsrooms can debunk them, and the debunking itself often amplifies the original claim. Verification still struggles for traction at platform speed. That’s an editorial problem and an economic one.
What This Means
The leverage question runs through every part of the media business. Festivals are marketplaces where distribution power gets negotiated before deals close. Publishing is split between those who can build direct audience relationships and those who need institutional infrastructure to operate.
If you’re tracking your own career economics, the Cartwright story is the one to stress-test. Matching legacy salary in year one is the benchmark, but it assumes you bring subscriber capture ability and a beat with pricing power.
If you’re hiring, the festival stories show where the global production pipeline is heading: more players competing for the same distribution slots, more talent available, more noise to filter.
The fact-check story is a reminder that verification still matters, even when platforms make it nearly impossible to do at speed. That won’t change until the economics of verification improve.
Looking to build your team or make your next move? Post a job on Mediabistro or browse opportunities from companies hiring media professionals who understand how leverage works.
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