you're not crazy. the war on Sinners is real.
what visionaries needs to know about the warfare that accompanies every great work
ok, so… earlier this week, I shared the story of how Strong Black Lead came to life at Netflix — the resistance, the doubt, the three C-level executives who tried to shut it down before it even launched. the response from you all has been so kind and lovely about what it meant to you. thank you for your words.
but there was a part of that story I left out.
maybe I blocked it out because, ultimately, it worked. but this week, as I’ve been watching what’s unfolding with the Sinners campaign, and someone on threads brought the painful moment back to my remembrance, I realize i had to tell you the rest.
the part I didn't tell you
after we had spent months pulling together the Strong Black Lead debut with 60+ talent, multiple shoots, press lined up, daily standups and all the internal resistance fought and survived. we were days away from airing our big moment at the BET Awards. and then I got a call.
my boss said: Netflix’s Chief Communications Officer had been fired for saying the N-word. on multiple occasions to staff and the news was about to hit the press.
in addition to the internal uproar, executives started calling me. maybe we should pull the campaign, they said.
what?!
here’s why: there was prominent Black talent involved in our campaign who had heard the news and they were appalled. there were concerns that people would think we’d put this campaign together to get ahead of the controversy. and there was worry that consumers wouldn’t understand production lead times and would assume this was a reactive PR move.
I was devastated. how could this happen? after everything we’d been through?
not only did we end up calling nearly every single Black talent involved personally to explain what happened and ask for their support. but now, as one of the few Black executives, I was dealing with the fallout internally, comforting Black employees and navigating the implications of what had just happened.
and ironically, the campaign that executives were skeptical about became the thing they used to show how much we cared about the Black audience and experience. we got through it and the good news is that the CEO at the time moved quickly.
but why did it have to be all of that?
what’s happening with the Sinners campaign
Sinners is a generational film and historic moment for the entertainment industry.
Ryan Coogler negotiated a deal most filmmakers could only dream of — first-dollar gross, final cut, and ownership of the film 25 years after its release. the film grossed $368 million worldwide on a $90 million budget. it received 16 Academy Award nominations — the most of any film in history. critics and audiences, for once, in complete agreement. a once in a lifetime moment.
And like Sylvia Obell wrote for us in December, in an industry designed to make Black creatives feel like there can only be one, where you’re not expected to walk through the door with anyone else, they keep showing up together — and Ryan has modeled two incredible collaborations, his wife by his side and Michael B. Jordan.
the combination of what he’s been able to accomplish has never happened, disrupts our beliefs about what’s possible and the system is big mad.
which is why it feels like at every turn, there’s an attack…
Variety ran a headline framing the film’s $61 million opening weekend — the biggest for an original film since 2019 — around the fact that “profitability remains a ways away.” Ben Stiller, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Joe Russo all publicly called it out. Franklin Leonard pointed out that Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood made less on its opening weekend and Variety celebrated it.
Rolling Stone left Sinners off its top 20 films of the year entirely. so did Variety’s critics. for a film with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score and $368 million in gross. even Simu Liu called it out publicly.
the Golden Globes. seven nominations. two wins — one for score that wasn’t even televised, handed out during a commercial break, and one for “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement,” a category that many interpreted as a consolation prize. shut out of every major category. Best Picture. Best Director. Best Actor. all of it.
this Sunday, at the BAFTAs — what should have been a night of historic celebration as Sinners set records — a man in the audience shouted the N-word while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage presenting an award. it was broadcast on the BBC’s tape delay without being edited out. Delroy Lindo told Vanity Fair afterwards that he and Jordan “did what we had to do.” gut wrenching.
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for visionary leaders, the blessing and the battle always arrive at the same time
for me, the pain of what happened during the SBL launch wasn’t the N-word incident itself. it wasn’t the executive calls. it wasn’t even the possibility that we’d have to pull a campaign we’d poured our souls into.
the deepest pain was that I didn’t see it coming.
if you are a visionary leader, a founder, a creative building something extraordinary — you have felt this. you have had the moment where the breakthrough is right there. you can see it. you can taste it. and then something devastating, confusing, enraging shows up at the last possible second, in addition to everything you’ve already endured.
and you may ask the same question I asked — why does it have to be like this? but that question is the trap. that misinterpretation will destroy you.
I’m not sure know where I was taught this, but I had a belief that blessings were supposed to come with ease. That if God called me to something, the path will clear. That if you’re in alignment, things will flow. That resistance means you’re off course. Chaos means something is wrong. Pain means you missed a turn.
this is simply not true.
you are a visionary leader. by definition, vision is the ability to see what should exist, what could exist and what must exist — and feel personally responsible for bringing it into reality. and the vision you received is not of your own when you’re doing it right.
In the same heavenly space that the vision came down to you to birth the project, there is an equal and opposing force that doesn’t want it to come to pass. it is going to fight like hell to do everything in its power to keep it from coming through and try and torture you in the process. and the resistance intensifies the closer you get to the breakthrough — not because something is going wrong, but because something is about to go very right. it’s vicious and it loves to hit where it hurts.
one of my favorite authors Steven Pressfield writes about this in The War of Art. He says: The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight. At this point, Resistance knows we're about to beat it. It hits the panic button. It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything it's got.
My favorite book says it plainly in 1 Peter 4: dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
this: do not be surprised.
Neither are saying ignore the pain of it. It hurts deeply. it’s offensive. and tbh, I wish it never had to happen. i wish life wasn’t designed this way, but it is. and as as visionary leaders, we have to stopped being surprised by the warfare that’s inevitably going to come when you bring that great work forward. i’ve learned to expect it now.
congratulations Ryan Coogler & the Sinners cast and crew
i’m not outraged by the injustices on this campaign…
instead, congratulations are in order.
Ryan Coogler, congratulations on a historic moment. for this breakthrough. for seeing the vision all the way through. i can’t imagine what you’ve had to endure to bring to this life. the late nights. the questions, the doubts, all of the problems you had to solve to get to this moment. thank you for your perseverance, grit and tenacity to show us a new way. congratulations Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Hannah Beachler and every person who made Sinners what it is. i see the as an indication that the intention of the work you visualized is disrupting exactly what it was meant to disrupt. can’t wait to watch you all make history at the Oscars 🤍
and for the rest of us visionary leaders who are called to bring forth things that move us forward, transform systems and disrupt the status quo:
expect it. prepare for it. armor up. and get to battle.
the vision outlives the resistance. it outlives the doubt. it outlives the people who tried to stop it. every single time.
sending you so much love,
m
I was thinking about this larger topic yesterday, and wondered if/how the BAFTAs might've impacted Oscar voting in any way if the voting period hadn't already closed. I love reading your insights not just as it relates to Sinners, but the business on a larger scale. I try to resist cynicism in my life, but sometimes, it's too clear to call it anything else. Thanks for sharing this.
https://substack.com/@mscheleg1
In the same heavenly space that the vision came down to you to birth the project, there is an equal and opposing force that doesn’t want it to come to pass. it is going to fight like hell to do everything in its power to keep it from coming through and try and torture you in the process. and the resistance intensifies the closer you get to the breakthrough — not because something is going wrong, but because something is about to go very right. it’s vicious and it loves to hit where it hurts.
This is truth and armor. Thank you for sharing.
At some point, as I was reading, I thought, “This is exactly what Satan did to Jesus!” And just like he did not succeed in his ambush, they did not dived against you, and they won’t succeed against Ryan Coogler and this movie.