Cannes is just around the corner…and this year feels different. In the best possible way.

The festival was built as a counterweight to mainstream cinema, a home for the visionaries and provocateurs that Hollywood didn't know what to do with. But somewhere along the way, the counterweight became the main event. Cannes is no longer counter-programming against the American behemoths. It is the destination: for the industry, for the culture, and increasingly, for anyone who cares about where storytelling is actually headed next.

Founded in 1946 as a direct response to the increasingly commercial and politically compromised Venice Film Festival, Cannes was designed from the beginning to be a home for visionary filmmakers who were too uncomfortable, too provocative, or too strange for American studios to champion. Bergman, Godard, Fellini, Cassavetes, and even Tarantino, more recently: these filmmakers were too ‘dangerous’ for Hollywood.

Which is exactly why the conversation about Cannes embracing the creator economy: content creators, influencers, AI-generated films, VR experiences, and serialized television shouldn't be as shocking as it sounds to the purists.

Cannes has been here before. Every time the industry shifted, Cannes shifted with it. When television became prestige storytelling, Cannes started screening pilots. When streaming rewired distribution, Cannes adapted its market. When the world started watching short-form content on phones, Cannes started paying attention to who was making it and why.

This year is no different. Like SXSW, Sundance, Tribeca, and TIFF before it — all of which have leaned heavily into new formats, new mediums, and new audiences to survive a turbulent independent market — Cannes is expanding its definition of cinema to include AR, VR, AI content, and yes, creators who built their audiences on platforms that didn't exist fifteen years ago.

Purists are worried it will tarnish the brand. Unlikely.

Content is content is content. The idea that a filmmaker with a $200 million production budget is inherently more worthy of the Palme d'Or conversation than a creator who built an audience of 40 million from a bedroom studio is exactly the kind of cultural snobbery Cannes was founded to dismantle. The festival has always been about what a story does to an audience, not where it came from or how it was distributed.

The creators showing up on the Croisette in 2026 are the same disruptive, left-of-center voices Cannes has always celebrated…they just built their audiences on YouTube and TikTok instead of 16mm film.

Cannes is still the destination. Still the glamour. Still, the place where the right conversation in the right room can greenlight something that changes the culture.

The festival just finally admitted it was always bigger than film.

This Week in the Writers' Room

UPCOMING EXECUTIVE HOUR WEBCAST: MAY 6th @ 4 PM PT with Sierra London McDonald

The Exec Hour welcomes Sierra London McDonald — a development executive and producer with over a decade of experience across VH1, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, and WE tv/ALLBLK. Sierra has developed scripted and unscripted concepts, helped secure paid development deals for content creators with major television networks, and worked on the development of A LA CARTE, sold to streaming platform ALLBLK. She brings both creative and strategic insight to every project she touches — and a deep commitment to content that highlights Black voices and stories across Drama, Family, Mystery, Thriller, Romance, and Reality.

If you would like to join the Writers’ Room, access weekly events, submit to dozens of open writing assignments, and attend exclusive pitch tanks with industry executives- click HERE to accept my offer for a free month!

This Week’s Exciting Announcements!

For the last 12 years, Stage 32 has been an official education partner of the Cannes Marché du Film. And those who have attended Cannes over the last decade know that the Stage 32 Cannes Meetup has become one of the most anticipated and talked-about gatherings of the entire festival. It’s where real connections are made, collaborations begin, and the global creative community comes together in a meaningful way.

This year, we’re excited to bring that experience to a new home.

For 2026, the Stage 32 Cannes Meetup will be held as part of our Stage 32 Pop-Up Bar Event: RB & Gary’s Brown Sugar, where we’ll be taking over the iconic Brown Sugar Gastro Pub for the full weekend. Located in the heart of Cannes on the Carré d’Or, Brown Sugar is one of the festival’s most well-known and beloved gathering spots, making it the perfect setting to combine the magic of Cannes with the magic of Stage 32.

Click here to RSVP and see our full list of events!

As a CEO of Wavelets Entertainment Inc. since 2018, Caroline has supervised a capital raise from Alibaba Group and Media Asia Group, developed global film and series slates, and implemented long-term strategies to align creative content with market trends. She has hired staff, managed budgets, and oversaw the selection and development of eight series, including three with over 20 episodes. Previously, she founded and for seven years managed a digital marketing company. For the four years before that, she worked as a writing assistant to Tobin Bell of the SAW franchise.

Click here to connect with Caroline and say "Congrats!"

This Week In The Stage 32 Community!

One of the things I love most about this community is how often conversations start from a simple idea and quickly turn into something practical, actionable, and immediately useful.

This week, I want to highlight a great post from Stage 32 Executive and Thought Leader, Development Producer Sean Hussey, who sparked a conversation that I know will resonate with a lot of you:

“You Don’t Need to Be a Budgeting Genius to Write a Cost-Effective Screenplay.”

Sean cuts through a misconception that trips up a lot of writers, especially those trying to get their first projects made. You don’t need to think like a line producer when you sit down to write. You don’t need to obsess over budgets or start stripping your story down before it even has a chance to breathe.

What you do need is logistical awareness. There’s a big difference.

Sean talks about the power of intentional choices. Writing with fewer locations, a tighter cast, and leaning into character-driven storytelling. Not because it’s “smaller,” but because it’s smarter and often more impactful.

And he raises a simple question that I think is worth sitting with: If you only had two weeks to shoot your movie, what would you change?

That question tends to reveal what actually matters in your story and what might just be excess.

This ties directly into what we’re seeing across the market right now. Buyers are looking for scripts that are not only compelling, but producible. Stories that understand their own scope. Projects that can realistically get off the ground. That doesn’t mean you need to shrink your ambition, it means you need to focus it.

If you haven’t read Sean’s post yet, I highly recommend jumping into the conversation in the Screenwriting Lounge. Share your thoughts, your approach, or even your own challenges when it comes to balancing creative vision with practical execution. Because these are the kinds of discussions that don’t just make you a better writer. They make you a more strategic one.

Click here to join the discussion!

Need help navigating the industry? Contact success@stage32.com

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