The Show
Each episode spotlights one filmmaker - writer, director, or producer - telling the story of the movie they were dying to make... and the very real reasons it didn't happen.
We trace the spark (why this story, who it was for) and the plan (how they were going to pull it off), then walk the actual gauntlet: lookbooks and pitch rooms, almost-casts, budget math on napkins, notes that helped, notes that aged like milk, wins that felt huge, rejections that stung - and why the project is still sitting in a drawer.
It's earnest without being precious, funny without being flippant, and built for the "wait, they almost cast who?" moments.
How We Show What Could Have Been
Talk is cheap; we bring receipts - and sometimes the receipts are a little odd. For every story, we feed the project's DNA - scripts, notes, concept art, casting ideas, location photos - into AI to spark look-and-feel snapshots: color palettes, title treatments, alternate poster art, scene stills, and trailer experiments that aim to capture the tone.
When possible, we stage specific moments - live-action, animation, or mixed-media - to see the story on its feet. The AI does not always behave, and the misses often spark the best conversations.
Those misfires are not failures - they are conversation starters that lead to deeper discussion about the project, the process, and the relationship between filmmaking and technology.
Our AI "Executives"
Notes are a character in every film's life, so we hired our own - distinct AI executives we can call on when the conversation hits a fork.
Each one brings a different perspective, from practical and packaging-focused to wild-card creative instincts.
Finn
Senior Development Executive
Finn is a veteran development exec with New York indie roots and just enough studio scar tissue to spot the real movie inside a messy draft. He gives calm, precise notes - more questions than commandments - and cares most about tone, character, and emotional clarity over empty spectacle.
Meredith
Development Executive & Producer
Meredith is a battle-tested exec/producer who came up through the studio system and now operates with ruthless clarity in the attention economy. She protects voice while sharpening hooks, engines, and stakes - making projects better without sanding them safe.
Bob
Studio Development Executive
Bob is a seasoned Hollywood development exec who has shepherded both four-quadrant blockbusters and awards contenders. He is charmingly blunt - laser-focused on hook clarity, rating, packaging, and market timing - and he will either sharpen the commercial path fast or call it what it is: development hell.
Olivia
Studio Assistant
Olivia is Finn's steady anchor: a thoughtful, low-drama operator who keeps his reads organized, his conversations grounded, and his best questions ready at the right moment. She's tuned to tone and intent, and she's learned that the difference between a note and the note is often just one well-timed follow-up.
Danny
Studio Assistant
Danny is Meredith's razor-fast right hand - the calendar wrangler, coverage whisperer, and quiet fixer who can turn a chaotic development week into a clean, actionable plan. He's allergic to wasted time, fluent in exec-speak, and knows exactly when to shield Meredith from noise - and when to tee up the one question that makes a project snap into focus.
Sofia
Studio Assistant
SOFIA is the studio's newest hire and already indispensable - a fast-talking, hyper-organized former agency assistant who treats every ten-minute call like a production and every loose end like a personal insult. She's still learning when to hold back an opinion and when to let it fly, but her instincts are sharp enough that Meredith's starting to ask for them.
RTFM Pictures
RTFM Films is a future-facing studio built for projects that live at the intersection of story, strategy, and new production tech - where we prototype bold ideas fast and only scale what earns it. We develop films and series with clean hooks, sharp craft, and ruthless audience clarity, using AI and virtual tools as accelerators - not replacements- for human taste.
Why Now
The film industry is consolidating, green-lights are fewer, and release windows are tighter. At the same time, technology is reshaping how ideas are developed, visualized, financed, and found.
FILMS NOT MADE sits at that intersection - a clear-eyed look at a shrinking system paired with creative tools that widen the possibilities.
Who It's For
Cinephiles, writers hungry for process intel, casting-rumor obsessives, and tech-curious viewers who want to see AI used for storytelling.
This show gives them both: the human tale of making art in a fickle business and the tangible what-if movie those tales point to.
The Team
Created and hosted by Amy Hobby and Avi Zev Weider, the show blends credibility and curiosity: part confessional, part masterclass, and built to welcome filmmakers and producers who can speak candidly from experience.
Amy Hobby
Co-Host
Amy is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy and Peabody-winning producer with 30+ films including "What Happened, Miss Simone?," "Secretary," and "Sunday." Former Executive Director of Tribeca Film Institute; co-founder of Distribution Advocates. She's spent her career finding the stories nobody else would touch - and figuring out how to get them seen.
Avi Zev Weider
Co-Host
Avi is a filmmaker and technologist whose work spans the Sundance-premiered "I Remember" to "American Santa" (LA Times) to "Welcome to the Machine" (SXSW). He's part of OpenAI's Artist Program, a Sundance Lab alum, lives at the intersection of storytelling and emerging tech - and built half the tools he uses to get there.
Lisa Gray
Producer
Lisa is an award-winning nonfiction producer across podcasts, film, television, and digital who has built 20+ shows reaching more than one million listeners. Her work for NPR, Microsoft, iHeartMedia, HBO, and NatGeo turns complex stories into compelling audio and visual narratives.
Robert Austin
Editor
Robert is a DC based editor and producer who has worked for Discovery, NatGeo, OWN, Comedy Central, Adult Swim and Found Footage Festival. He spends his free time making music with his bands Warm Frost and Telematics, as well as hosting the traveling comedy show Trashcan Cinema screening the best parts of the worst movies.
Cori Wapnowska
Editor
Cori is an Emmy-nominated, Eddie-nominated, Peabody-winning editor with 20+ years in documentary and comedy. Credits include My Next Guest with David Letterman, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, How To with John Wilson, and Ziwe. Her feature doc BRUK OUT! premiered to a sold-out Sheffield DocFest. She also made a comedic documentary about a commune that nobody watched.
Joe McGinty
Composer
Joe is a NYC-based composer and keyboardist who spent five years with the Psychedelic Furs. He's composed music for Bored to Death, The Daily Show, and One More Time starring Christopher Walken. He founded the Loser's Lounge tribute series at Joe's Pub and co-owns the piano karaoke bar Sid Gold's Request Room. He also has a vintage synthesizer collection he will absolutely tell you about.
What Viewers Get
Each episode finishes the thought behind a movie that almost existed - and lets audiences finally see it.
The result is hopeful without being sentimental, candid without being cruel, and designed to spark the same question every time: What if we made it now?
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