Cheers to 6 Months on Substack: Celebrating Film Flavor's Journey

A Half-Birthday Celebration + An Update on What's To Come...

May 06, 2024

Hello fellow cinephiles and epicures!

Whether you’ve just joined us or have been subscribed since November, I cannot thank you enough for being here.

Writing about food in films, the history of food and film, and all things flavorful has been a passion project for me. I had always wanted to write Film Flavor, but in November of 2023 it became clear I needed to write Film Flavor. After all, there are only so many foodie movie thoughts a gal can store in her brain with no one to share them with! And now, I have well over 100 of you to share these niche thoughts with, and for that, I count my lucky stars every single day!

In today’s newsletter, I wanted to take a look back at the posts that resonated with you all the most, some of my favorite fellow newsletters, and a few of the lessons I’ve learned after writing on Substack for six months. Let’s dig in! 🍽️

First: How did Film Flavor Get Here?

For those unaware, I am, among other things, a writer, artist, NYU-film grad, film-industry-survivor, bread baker and bread lover. I have worked on feature films, documentaries, television shows, short films, web series, podcasts, and just about every other form of storytelling media across genres.

I started Film Flavor as an Instagram account for friends and family years ago. Soon, I began posting about foods that appeared in film, and cross-posting on my Letterboxd. Finally, I started the Film Flavor newsletter here on Substack. I aim to make Film Flavor the premier online destination for surveying food in film and all things flavorful.

To me, “flavorful” encompasses the taste of foods as much as the look, feel, and aesthetics of film, television, and media. Until taste-and-smell-o-vision are invented, I believe the art of cinema is the best way we can appreciate flavor en masse.

And so, when it came to launching Film Flavor as a Substack newsletter, I knew I wanted to make at least four distinct types of posts:

🎬 Film Reviews 🎬 with a particular focus on food featured in said films
🍴 Food + Film Pairings🍴Including Recipes + Recommendations
🔎 Deep Dishes 🔎 Delving into the history of food + film
🍿Appetizers 🍿 Miscellaneous musings about the food-on-film world (Including award show predictions and coverage)

There is no doubt more variations of posts are yet to come, but for now, Film Flavor subscribers seem to be enjoying these four types of newsletter editions as much I as I do. Now on to the good stuff: What are you all reading?!

Film Flavor’s Most Popular Posts

After crunching the numbers and analyzing the data Substack provides, I’ve learned this newsletter’s top stories can be roughly sorted into a few categories…

Food-Film History Deep Dishes

If you’ve been a fan of the Food-Film History series, stay subscribed, because many more installments are scheduled for publication in the months to come!

In the meantime, history-heads might also enjoy our Some Like It Hot + Train Charcuterie deep-dive investigation as well as our review of the 1938 classic The Baker's Wife.

2000s-Era Foodie Films

I’m not sure what was happening on the sets of late-90s / early-2000s movies, but one thing is for sure: Y2K-era filmmakers were OBSESSED with food on film. It seems only fitting, then, that some of Film Flavor’s most popular posts are centered around these turn-of-the-century masterpieces.

If you enjoyed these pieces, you might also be amused by some of Film Flavor’s earlier posts, such as Serendipity + Frozen Hot Chocolate, or our Christmas flicks and New Year’s movie recommendations.

Modern Marvels

Those Film Flavorers who appreciated our posts covering modern-day releases may also enjoy our earlier reviews of films like the 2021 Princess Diana film Spencer, 2022’s Anya-Taylor Joy and Ralph Fiennes film The Menu, or 2023’s viral-sensation Saltburn.

6-Months on Substack: Reflections and Lessons

Six months is hardly enough time to master the art of the newsletter, but I have picked up a few hot tips along the way. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways:

Newsletter writing is far less lonely than other formats: As someone who has written for a variety of mediums and formats, I’m the first to admit writing can be a lonely vocation. Luckily, Film Flavor has often felt more like a conversation. Between chatting with other newsletter writers, my friends and family, and the entire Film Flavor audience, writing a newsletter has felt more like a dialogue than a solo pursuit.
Every subscriber counts: I have email alerts turned on to notify me whenever Film Flavor receives a new subscriber. Every time I see that notification pop up on my phone, no matter where I am, I do a little dance — a jig, if you will. There is no greater feeling in the world than to know someone else appreciates the weird things you appreciate, and I get a jolt of that feeling every time a new subscriber joins the Film Flavor crew.
Email Forwarding WORKS: While Film Flavor gets a surprisingly large amount of traffic from search results, social media, and direct links, emails forwarded by subscribers like YOU have been wildly helpful in growing the Film Flavor community! I can’t thank you enough for sharing this newsletters with your friends and foes. 🥂
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Recommendations: Other Newsletters to Check Out!

If you like Film Flavor, you’ll likely love at least one of these newsletters…

📼 Feature Presentation: The devil works hard, but Feature Presentation works harder. Patrick and the entire Feature Presentation team are a passionate, talented bunch. They have podcasts and daily posts about all things entertainment, what's not to love? (I occasionally write for this publication, too! Keep an eye out for a new post I’m writing for them on Friday!)
📺 What Whitney’s Watching: Whether Whitney writes a review I agree with or not, I am always giggling at her witty observations. A true entertainer!
📹 Taking Up More Room: I want to see the world through Rebecca's eyes! She is one of the funniest film writers on Substack, and I'm nothing short of obsessed!
💎 Sighs & Whispers: Laura's writing about fashion and culture is nothing short of poignant. She makes me cry tears of sheer awe almost every time I read a post.
🥤 Night Water: Adam inspired my to start Film Flavor! Night water is delivered to reader’s in the late evening, and is one of the funniest pop culture newsletter I’ve ever read. Seriously, don’t drink actual water while you’re reading unless you want a spit take to occur.
✨ Culture Vulture: If you are on Substack and not subscribed to Culture Vulture at this point, I simply do not trust you.
👄 Wicked Tongue: Eleanor runs the most thought-provoking TikTok, and is a media literacy genius whom I couldn't love more!

If you’re interested in finding more newsletters to check out, I recommend subscribing to The Sample, a service that delivers newsletter recommendations to your inbox.

Film Flavor may be six months old today, but as far as I’m concern, we’re just getting started. Expect more deep dives, appetizers, and desserts delivered to your inbox every week, and a whole lot more flavor to come!

If you’ve made it this far, please know I am eternally grateful and indebted to you. Feel free to reply to this email and say hi, introduce yourself, or call in a favor, any time!