Portrait is joining Theorem Media
And after 178 newsletters, we're just getting started.
Happy Thursday, friends.
Big, exciting news from all of us at Portrait today.
Yesterday, we announced that Portrait Creative Network is being acquired by Theorem Media, a nonprofit built to support the indie film community.
You can read more about the news here.
When I started Portrait, I wanted to make an industry that can feel closed and transactional a little more generous, connected, and human. Over time, Portrait became much bigger than anything I could have built alone.
Over almost four years, I’ve sat down to write to you almost every week: 178 newsletters to date, averaging 50 newsletters per year. I learned so much from the way you’ve responded: from your notes of encouragement, your astonishingly high open rates, and your feedback along the way.
Thank you. Thank you for reading, for sharing your thoughts, and for your encouragement.
As I thought about Portrait’s future, the most important thing was finding a home where the community could continue and where there would be more support for the work coming out of it.
I believe Theorem is that home.
Many of you already know Jenny. She was Portrait’s first employee and helped build the community from its earliest days. As VP and GM of Theorem Media, Jenny is joined by another familiar face Sarah Gann, and with the full force of Theorem’s entire team behind them, they will bring their intimate knowledge of the community to ensure Portrait thrives in this next chapter.
I’m joining Theorem’s Advisory Board and will remain involved in Portrait’s community, programming, and exciting new trajectory.
Here’s what this means for you.
The Rough Cuts weekly newsletter will still arrive in your inbox each week.
Portrait will continue as a distinct brand and community within Theorem Media. Our events at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, and beyond will continue and grow. The trusted network, and the generosity and collaboration behind it, will remain at the center of Portrait.
The biggest addition is the support available to you once you have a project. Theorem has built a proprietary Networked Release Engine, to find and activate indie film audiences. It connects films with the communities already primed to want them, then routes that demand into theatrical, virtual, on-demand, and community releases — the same engine currently driving Ivy Meeropol’s Ask E. Jean, John Coles’s The Choice, Donick Cary’s Hail to the Breadsticks and Moby’s narrative feature tecie. Theorem also partners closely with Abramorama, the global theatrical distributor, whose CEO Karol Martesko-Fenster has been on Theorem’s Advisory Board since 2021, which I will now join.
In practice: if you have a project in post, heading into festivals, or already playing festivals, bring it to Theorem for an audience strategy conversation. There’s no guarantee every project gets proper distribution, but you’ll get real consideration from industry veterans that’s genuinely hard to obtain otherwise, plus preferred rates on services as a Portrait member. There is no application or obligation. You can reach Jenny directly at jm@theoremmedia.org.
Portrait is continuing, with the same community at its center and more support for the projects being made within it.
Thank you for building this with us. We’re proud of what Portrait has become and excited to keep going.
With gratitude,
Jean Ellen Cowgill
Founder, Portrait Creative Network
Advisory Board, Theorem Media
Jenny McQuaile
VP & GM, Theorem Media
jm@theoremmedia.org
Until next week, friends. To the next chapter.