As the year winds down, I want to share something with you and all Forum members that’s been sitting with me.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been hearing the same question—from working sessions, private conversations, and across Forum:
“Joel, you work across the industry… what are you seeing right now?”
Rather than answer that ad hoc, my team and I stepped back and recorded a year-ender episode of The Fabulist we’re calling State of Studios 2025.
These aren’t predictions.
And they’re not pulled from headlines.
They’re pattern recognition—distilled from hundreds of real roundtables and conversations into what I’m calling Seven Laws of Thriving Studios.
One of the clearest themes that emerged is what Council member Ryan Summers and I have been calling "The Great Bifurcation."
Studios above the line stayed busy, often with smaller teams and higher leverage.
Studios below the line felt the race to the bottom... accelerate.
Same industry.
Very different realities.
Here are 22 seconds from the episode that frames it up:
Watch the full 17-minute episode here 👉 State of Studios 2025
As we head into a new year, my focus remains steady: clearer thinking, better conversations, and practical support for the real decisions that studio founders are facing.
That’s the same spirit behind everything we’re building... quietly and deliberately... including tools like Sales Scout, designed to help us studios be better informed and better timed, not just louder or busier.
For now, though, this isn’t about doing more.
I hope you’re taking a moment to reflect on where you are…
and deciding what actually deserves your energy next.
Thank you for being part of this conversation, and this community.
Rest well.
We’ll pick things up again soon.