Wanted you guys to be the first to know. CLOWD is a real AI film festival. First annual one. October 7-8, at The Alex Theatre in Glendale. Real venue, real industry judges — Hollywood people, tech people. Not a Zoom webinar wearing a festival costume. Submissions are closed already. But stick with me, this still matters for you. Here's the thing about festivals in general: they're one of the few places left where your work gets seen by people who actually make hiring and funding decisions. Not algorithm luck. Not a good week on social. Actual humans, judging actual work, in an actual room. If you're serious about this as a career, getting into festivals should be on your radar. Always. Now, what this sponsorship actually does for you: Everywhere CLOWD promotes itself between now and the event — their homepage, sponsor page, poster, on-screen at screenings, trailers, newsletter, socials — AIF Directory's name is sitting right there next to it. Their audience becomes our audience. Which means it becomes yours too, since you're in the Directory. And the live event itself matters here too. Glendale, for anyone who doesn't know, is basically LA. So this is pulling in an LA crowd — studios, brands, businesses actually looking to hire AI filmmakers. The kind of people who don't know the Directory exists yet. They show up, they see how easy it is to find and hire creators through AIFD, and now they're browsing your profile instead of posting a job listing into the void. And for the filmmakers who did submit and place: Winners get a full year of AIFD Pro. Free. Finalists get 50% off a year of Pro. If that's you, sit tight. We'll reach out once winners are announced. Everyone else — go watch. October 7-8, The Alex Theatre. See who wins, see what a real festival looks like, and start thinking about which one you're submitting to next. Because this won't be the last one. We're hoping CLOWD is the first of several festival partnerships, not the only one. More creators, more stages, more real recognition. That's the plan.

I asked one question on LinkedIn. Didn't nominate anyone myself, didn't set up categories, just asked who deserves the credit. 8,000+ impressions later, total strangers were tagging people I'd never heard of. Some of the replies genuinely got to me. In this one I walk through what actually happened, the moment that made me stop and think, and what I'm doing next because of it. Not a script. Just me talking through it. Plus a couple of other important things.

If you want that latest about how we are promoting you, watch this video. Things are moving fast.

Hey everyone, Quick update — I've been posting more blogs on the AIFD site, plus a short LinkedIn teaser for each one pointing people back to read the full thing. Just put up two: one on real estate AI video (featuring Steve Tapia's work) and one on the microdrama boom. Both are already getting real traction. Here's why this matters to you. If I use your work as the example in a piece like I did with Steve, that's free exposure for you in your niche. That's the whole point of the directory — members getting seen for what they actually do well. But I need a favor to keep this snowballing. When one of these posts goes up on LinkedIn, take 30 seconds and like it, comment on it, share it, whatever. The algorithm rewards early engagement, and early engagement is exactly what I don't have enough of yet. More engagement means more reach, more reach means more eyes on AIFD, and more eyes on AIFD means more people finding out about you. It's a small ask that pays off for all of us — you get seen, I grow the platform, and the directory gets more traffic and more credibility as a place worth being listed on. I'll drop the links below. Would genuinely appreciate it if you gave 'em some love. Thanks in advance — this stuff actually works when we all show up for each other. — Alex P.S. Someone well-positioned at Sony Pictures asked to connect with me today. Not a coincidence.

On AIFD, I just moved the blog section to the middle of the home page — prime real estate. And I want it filled with your stuff, not mine. Here's the idea: you write it, I feature it. Latest project, a win, a lesson, whatever — the kind of thing every other directory ignores but actually matters most. IMDB has a latest news carousel feed for a reason — it's what turns a static listing into something people keep coming back to. Two things to know before you write one: 1. Blogs are a Pro profile feature — if you're on Free, this one's a reason to upgrade. 2. You can't embed a video player in the blog post itself yet. Workaround: link to your AIFD profile in the post, and put the actual video under "Links" on your profile. Sends people exactly where you want them anyway. Why bother: - Front-page visibility on AIFD, not buried in your profile - AI agents crawling the site for talent see it too — this is exactly the kind of content that gets you surfaced when someone (human or AI) searches for what you do - Builds a track record over time, like an IMDB news page for your own career — five posts in, you look like someone actively working, not just a profile that's been sitting there since signup - Other members see it and remember you when a collab or referral comes up What to write about (pick one, don't overthink it): - A recent project breakdown — what you made, what tools, what actually took the time (pre-production, not just "I typed a prompt") - A win — new client, festival selection, a gig you landed - A lesson — something that didn't work and what you'd do differently - A hot take — where you think this medium is actually headed - A workflow reveal — your actual pipeline, start to finish Drop a draft in here if you want eyes on it before it goes up. Again, great real estate available.