March Madness, Film Economics & Why HBO's DTF St. Louis Wasn't Shot in the Lou
Published 3 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader,
We blinked and it’s March.
Baseball is back. March Madness is almost here. And while I’m hoping for strong tournament runs from SLU and Mizzou, most of my attention lately has been elsewhere — finishing the film I’m directing and continuing to lay bricks behind the scenes on STORYSMART® Studios.
There’s a quiet shift happening in media right now. Incentives are moving projects across state lines. Consolidation is reshaping control. Theatrical economics are evolving. Ownership structures are being tested.
This month’s edition connects those threads.
From the geography lesson behind DTF St. Louis, to what consolidation means for independent filmmakers, to why theaters still matter more than many think — it all points back to the same principle:
Structure determines outcome.
And those who understand the structure early are positioned differently when momentum builds.
Before we dive in, feel free to let me know who you think wins if the Billikens and Tigers play each other or if you care at all about NCAA basketball.
1. Feature Article
DTF St. Louis:A Lesson in Geography?
St. Louis, MO March 1, 2026 - When DTF St. Louis premieres later today on HBO Max, the first question many people in St. Louis are asking isn't about the plot. It's about geography.
Why didn't they shoot it here?
It's a fair question. The title carries the city's name. The setting signals Midwest specificity. For a region working to rebuild its production economy, it feels like a missed opportunity. But that reaction, while understandable, conflates three very different decisions that modern producers make.
Story may be local. Production is not. DTF St. Louis is a clean case study in how contemporary projects move through the storytelling system.
The underlying inspiration began in New York, a true-crime narrative centered on a dentist's murder trial. The intellectual property was developed for television, reshaped, retitled, and ultimately relocated narratively to St. Louis. Then, when it came time to execute the production at scale, the series was shot in Georgia.
New York. St. Louis. Georgia. Three geographies. Three separate strategic decisions....
For nearly a century, Hollywood wasn't built on movies. It was built on exclusive distribution pathways and time windows.
A film opened exclusively in theaters. Weeks or even month later, it moved to pay-per-view. Then VHS and DVD. Then to cable. Then to broadcast. Each step of distribution unlocked a new revenue layer. Each layer extended the life of the IP asset.
Each distribution window created another opportunity for investors, studios, and creators to participate in the upside. This wasn't nostalgia. It was the economic structure of an industry that grew over time because of how the United States government regulated it.
In early Hollywood, studios owned everything. The sound stages, the actors, the story, the marketing vehicles, and even the movie theaters. Then the government came along and said it was a monopoly.
They broke it up. Theaters were separate. TV networks were separate businesses. The economic model for profitable filmmaking was based on making the most of each distribution window.
Theatrical wasn't just about popcorn and premieres. It was the ignition point of an economic flywheel. A strong run with cinemas created urgency. Urgency drove transactional sales. Sales strengthened licensing leverage. The model compounded over time.
Streaming didn't simply disrupt distribution. It collapsed the window stack into a single pane of glass. Now with proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. drawing scrutiny from exhibitors and lawmakers, the debate has shifted from convenience to consolidation and what that means to our industry.
We approach storytelling and filmmaking as a long-term, rights-first business rather than a project-by-project creative exercise. Our focus is on understanding how stories create value over time through ownership, disciplined development, and thoughtful risk management.
The ideas shared here are intended to contribute to a broader conversation about sustainable, independent media, not to promote specific projects or investment opportunities.
