The Best Video Editing and Colour Grading Newsletters

Where can you sign up to the best video editing, colour grading and Post Production related newsletters available today to learn more about the art, craft and business of our great industry?

Right here.

I’ve compiled a list of what I consider are the best newsletters and brand email blasts worth signing up for and allowing into your inbox on a regular basis.

Also check out the second list of post production related brands and services that regularly send out freebies to their subscribers, including free downloads of royalty free production music tracks, After Effects motion graphics templates, free sound effects and discount codes for training and post-production services.

Start Your Own Newsletter!

There’s never been a better time to start your own newsletter or share your wisdom direct to people’s inboxes. Having researched all the options I chose Ghost Pro to build Cut/daily with and I’m very glad I did, for these reasons:

Free and open source if you’re tech savvy with Ghost.org
Ghost Pro is a low monthly subscription rather than 10% cut like Substack or Gumroad
Easy to use, set up and build a site from a free theme in an hour or so
Great team behind the open source platform with new features added all the time
Ghost Pro includes hosting, newsletters, analytics, payments etc. for just $9/month

The Best Newsletters Film Editors and Colorists Should Subscribe To…

These newsletters differentiate themselves from the rest of the ‘blog digest’ and ‘brand email blasts’ in this list by being actual stand-alone newsletters.

The newsletter is the thing, not an ancillary to something else.

If you know of another industry newsletter that I’ve missed – let me know in the comments below!

Tao of Color – Free Colour Grading Newsletter

Update – Tao of Color is now the official Mixing Light Newsletter.

The Tao of Color is a decade+ into it’s stride as a newsletter and one of the few, free post-production newsletters I know of that really delivers on what a newsletter should be;

Curated links to the best high quality, relevant and recent content from around the web, on all aspects of colour grading life. Delivered every Sunday, it’s also a ‘proper’ newsletter in that it has sponsors and everything.

This is the first industry newsletter that I actually rush to my email on Sunday to check for.

I have so much junk mail that never informs me of anything, but the Tao has seriously ignited my already burning craving to be a colorist.
Shawn P, Tao of Color reader

Created and maintained by Editor-in-Chief, Patrick Inhofer, co-founder of the equally excellent Mixing Light.com, a subscription training and community site for colorist working around the world.

There are sections on:

The Craft
The Tools – Software and Techniques
Pushing Photons – The best of recent Mixing Light Insights
Gear Heads – Hardware News and Reviews
Sunday Fun(nies) – Clickable fun things

You can preview last week’s newsletter on the Tao site before you sign up and access the entire back catalogue stretching all the way back to 2010!

You’d be foolish not to subscribe!

Cut/daily – A Free and subscription email for Post Production Pros

Cut/daily is a free weekly email for anyone curious about learning more about post-production on a regular basis.

Each email is short, focused and actionable.

So far, people seem to like it.

I have followed your blog in a cursory sort of way, for a couple of years, and found it useful but leaning toward the mainstream (commercial) track a bit too much for my taste.

But I am pleasantly surprised because I was not expecting the breadth, depth, and quality of the daily cuts.

Please take this as a compliment. I really like them, and in just five days I am already looking forward to the next one.
Cut/daily reader

Sign up for free to get one Cut/daily email every Friday to see what it’s all about, and read through the entire archive of previous free issues.

Why is Cut/daily no longer a subscription email?

Cut/daily started life as a subscription email, back when I was delivering them on a daily basis, and I’m incredibly grateful to all of the early adopters and sponsors who supported me from the very beginning.

But, after 300 issues, Cut/daily pivoted to a free weekly email, which is a much more sustainable cadence for yours truly.

I’m excited about the potential in Cut/daily because it’s the polar opposite of the exhaustively detailed articles I create right here on jonnyelwyn.co.uk.

Every day I find new and interesting things I know other Post-Production professionals would enjoy but it takes me weeks, or even months to include them in a post on this blog.

I currently have well over 1400 unread emails in my inbox, each one containing a link to yet another piece of Post-Production related interestingness, not to mention the 185 page document of article ideas and links I have compiled over the past 9 years.

Some of these eventually get rolled into extensive round-ups on the blog, but I want to share these interesting discoveries much, much faster.

Cut/daily allows me to do that and bring a little spark of post-production joy to your inbox too.

Noam Kroll – Weekly Filmmaking Newsletter

Noam Kroll – L.A. based filmmaker Noam Kroll has a superb weekly newsletter that covers some really interesting topics on the art, craft, business and personal experience of filmmaking.

On Noam’s site there is also a growing archive of hundreds of these ‘exclusive newsletter’ articles, which you can access once you subscribe, as well as blog posts, gear reviews and podcast episodes to enjoy as well.

Having written, produced, shot, edited and directed his own feature films, Noam’s blog handily covers:

Cinematography
Directing and Producing
Editing & Colour
Gear Reviews
News
Writing

What I appreciate most about Noam’s newsletters stems from his ‘make it happen’ approach to filmmaking, his openness about his creative process and his ability to embrace an independent mindset that is open to testing new technologies and platforms instead of waiting for success to be handed to him on a silver platter.

It’s inspiring stuff! Sign up here.

The Best Post Production Blog Newsletters Worth Signing Up For

These sites offer a free digest of their latest blog posts and on-site content, which you might not want to miss.

You might not want to sign up to them all, unless, of course, you want to do a lot of reading!

In no particular order:

Frame.io – Sign up to get their latest blog posts delivered to your inbox alongside updates to Frame.io and it’s growing eco-system. Subscribe at the top of the page.

Film Supply – This high-end stock footage site has a surprisingly good blog and newsletter with interviews and articles with some extremely talented filmmakers. Subscribe at the top of the page.

Bonus – Save 20% on Film Supply content with the discount code: “jonnyelwyn”

Creative Cow – One of the longest running ‘creative communities’ in our industry, when you register for Creative Cow – getting access to lively forums, articles and tutorials, you can also sign up for an email digest of the best of the site.

Post Perspective – A solid industry news, reviews and interviews site that also sends out a newsletter of their latest posts. Subscribe here. Peruse all of the archives here.

Jonny Elwyn.co.uk – Little ol’ me. Yes you too can sign up on any page on this site (top right of the sidebar) to never miss a post!

You’ll get an email each Thursday morning of any week that a new post or two hit’s the blog.

Filmmaker U – The best reason to sign up to the Filmmaker U blog’s newsletter is to be kept in the loop for their weekly conversations with a diverse range of filmmaking talent. Catch up with previous episodes on their YouTube channel.

Bonus – Use these discount codes to save 10% on Filmmaker U courses:

Colorist Eric Whipp = JONNY
Sound Designer Eugene Gearty = 3UG3NE4J0NNY (the o is a zero)
Editor Brian Kates = BR14N4J0NNY (the o is a zero).

Larry Jordan.com – A living legend in the world of online post-production training, when I was learning my way around Final Cut Studio Larry always had the answers!

His newsletter has been running (monthly since 2004) weekly since 2012. You can pick your way through the extensive archive here, or sign up for free to receive his weekly newsletter here, which is a mix of news, tutorials and reviews from the main site.

Red Shark News – A tech-focused filmmaking site that covers all of the latest industry trends and updates for production and post. Subscribe in the top right corner.

Pro Video Coalition – A popular industry blog with a wide range of respected contributors, writing on a broad spectrum of production and post production topics. There’s plenty of news and in-depth reviews too. Scroll to the bottom of any page to subscribe in the bottom right of the footer.

VFX NEWSLETTERS

Alan McKay – VFX Supervisor Alan McKay has a great free newsletter focused on how to succeed working in the VFX industry. There’s tons of business insight as well as nuts and bolts VFX training courses too.

Befores and Afters – Ian Failes’ highly enjoyable VFX insiders print magazine, podcast and website has a great free newsletter to sign up for, keeping you in the loop with all his latest content. You can peruse the Newsletter Archive here.

Subscribe for Free Downloads & Discount Codes

Rocketstock – Gives away on free After Effects template or motion design asset every month, download previous freebies here.

CineColor.io – Filmmaker Noam Kroll’s aesthetically pleasing LUT collection site also has some really useful free LUTS, if you’re signed up to CineColor’s newsletter you can also be alerted to other freebies and discounts.

Bonus – Download 100s of other free LUTs here.

Ripple Training – I think you’ll get a 10% off code just if you subscribe, plus you’ll be alerted to frequent discounts, sales and freebies from the team at Ripple Training.

Boom Library SFX – Free sound effects each month from their extensive library of sound effect and foley collections, plus updates on new collections and sales etc.

Premiumbeat – Discover their latest blog posts and get download links to regular freebies including LUTS, SFX, visual design assets and more.

Motion Array – Join for free to also subscribe to the newsletter for frequent free assets. Plus download a huge range of free assets here. This includes DaVinci Resolve macros, stock footage, sound effects, motion graphics templates, plugins and more!

Pond 5 – Join for free and then adjust your email preferences under your Account > Preferences. There is a free stock clip every week (available for that week only) which you’ll be alerted to. Plus you can download a massive number of free stock assets here.

Bonus – Save 20% off your first purchase at Pond5 with discount code: jonnyelwyn20

Shutterstock – Owns both Rocketstock and Premiumbeat and they tend to recycle content and freebies between all 3 sites. So if you’re subscribed to one you should get the best of everything. Shutterstock also has a wealth of free assets here.

Have I missed something good?! Let me know in the comments below.