Summer Fridays Forever & Ever, Amen

Issue #268 | August 29, 2024

You feel it? If you’re in New England like I am this pre-Labor Day week, the leaves are just starting to get that tinge of red, the air has that newfound crisp in the evening, and the days, tragically, are starting to feel constrained by the receding hours of daylight. Summer is coming to an end, and so too are Summer Fridays. (I am talking about the time-honored business tradition of not working past noon on Fridays in the summer, not FOSTERTALK’s legendary Summer 2024 newsletter, Summer Fridays, which I anxiously await the final edition of tomorrow.)

Alas, it’s time to get back to it.

“But James, we’ve been at it all summer,” you mumble. I know. Creators don’t generally get to have nice things like Summer Fridays or out of office messages that span weeks while your calendar becomes an endless array of excursions and dinner reservations. Maybe some of you are reading this email in your Burning Man yurt courtesy of the camp Starlink, but even that can feel like an immense amount of creative work being expended in the interest of “having fun.”

Wherever you are this Friday, consider this: The media companies that used to employ creatives…the record labels, the publishing houses, the magazines, the papers, the networks, the studios…those folks all take Summer Fridays. Even the agents, the managers, and the accountants; they take ‘em too. They take these partial days off for two reasons: 1) They can afford to, and 2) They can afford to because someone somewhere (probably you!) is still working while they’re pulling up on the back nine at their country club.

I don’t say this to discourage you, I say it to empower you. Being able to keep pumping out content means carving up little ceremonial breaks for yourself. A thing to look forward to in an otherwise endless stream of edits and engagement. A lot of the folks on the Passionfruit team only work 4 days a week to begin with, not because there isn’t more work to do, but because keeping the people who make things sane and happy is the only way to keep sustainably making things. If you work for yourself, that’s on you to create those momentary opportunities to not care for a few hours a week, a few weeks a year. The bosses are doing it, and if you’re your own boss, you should be too.

We’ll be off on Monday with some sparse scheduled stuff, I suggest you honor your own creative labor this Labor Day weekend and do the same.

And as always, if you’d like to support the work we’re mostly doing on Fridays all year long, we’d love to have you on our Patreon.

Then we request that you promptly go outside for the last licks of summer.

– James Del, Publisher

NOTED BY LON HARRIS

Slashing the Rules: How ‘Milk & Serial’ is Redefining the Film Industry

‘Milk and Serial’ is an impressive feat both narratively and on a technical basis.

By Lon Harris, Passionfruit Contributor

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IN THE BIZ

YouTube announced that creators can now share their channels via QR codes available in the YouTube app.
California lawmakers passed a controversial AI safety bill requiring safety testing and a kill switch for advanced AI models, but it still needs the governor’s signature and faces opposition from tech companies.
You can now transfer your Apple Music playlists to YouTube Music.
A Pennsylvania appeals court ruled that TikTok must face a lawsuit over the “blackout challenge,” stating that its algorithmic recommendations are the platform’s own speech and not protected.

TIPS & TRICKS

How to Avoid Copyright Claims On YouTube, From Strikes to Claims

Learn the ropes, from strikes to claims.

By merritt k, Passionfruit Contributor

READ THE FULL STORY →

PERSONALITIES

TikTok’s Most Popular Food Reviewer Treads Carefully

Lee’s positive videos have the power to turn a struggling business into a hit overnight. But his negative takes can have the opposite effect.

By Steven Asarch, Passionfruit Contributor

READ THE FULL STORY →

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

This creator reacts to some questionable information on Hello Kitty.
This creator wonders if you ever actually listened to the lyrics of Hanson’s “MMMBop”?
Here’s a creator’s musical theater take on Taylor Swift’s “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”
Actress Jennifer Garner takes us on a tour of where her character was living in “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

SUBSTACK MADE ME DO IT

This ranked list of the 100 most popular Substacks by subscriber count caught our eye.

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