"Warners is shutting down FilmStruck and I am absolutely heartbroken."

"Why don't you start a petition? Seriously. Sometimes they work."

That conversation happened last Friday morning, when I was devastated to wake up and find out that FilmStruck, the greatest streaming service the internet had ever seen and one of the few bright spots people could turn to in this godforsaken hellscape of a year, was shutting down. I immediately texted my girlfriend because we had shared many nights watching movies on FilmStruck together, and her suggestion was simple enough, start a petition.

Now, I've never created a petition or anything of the like before - the skeptic in me always wonders if The People Upstairs would actually pay attention to a relative small fry like me (despite the fact that I'm 6'3"). But there has been so much horrible stuff going on the world lately, some of it on a global scale, that the cancellation of FilmStruck ended up being the straw that broke the camel's back. I was tired of feeling helpless, like there was nothing I could do because there was always going to be somebody more powerful than me who would shoot me down the second I got up. FilmStruck was where I went to escape that feeling of helplessness in the world, and I was going to be damned if I just sat back and did absolutely nothing to show my love and support for it.

I didn't know what was going to happen with this petition. I wanted to put it out there just to show that there was a market for FilmStruck, and if AT&T/WarnerMedia weren't going to listen, then maybe somebody else could pick up the baton from here. I expected likely a few hundred, maybe a couple thousand if we were lucky. But we'd be a tight-knit group who all loved the same movies.

As I write this, we have 10,600 signatures. By the time you read this, it might have 11,000.

My heart still skips a beat when I think about it. We've gotten support of so many people I've looked up to all my life: Filmmakers like Joe Dante, Rian Johnson, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Whit Stillman, Greg Mottola; stars like Elijah Wood, Justine Bateman, Dana Delany, Jeanne Tripplehorn; and writers like Larry Karaszewski and Phyllis Nagy. Not to mention the incredibly long list of film critics and journalists that I've looked up to ever since I was a kid reading the Friday newspaper. I cannot express my gratitude enough to each and every one of you for this support. I only hope I can thank you in person one day, but I guarantee you I'll be more than a little starstruck.

But I could not have done this without each and every one of you who have taken the time out of your day to sign the petition. The amount of signatures so far is truly mind-boggling, and I have no clue where it could possibly stop. We've gotten 10,000 signatures in 5 days. Who knows what could happen in a week? In a month? Keep sharing everywhere you go, and who knows what will happen...

Now, there are plenty of skeptical people I've talked to or seen comments from out there, wondering if AT&T/WarnerMedia will truly listen to a group of loyal film-lovers like us in the grand scheme of things. After all, we are just a drop in the corporate bucket. But even if we can't convince them to save FilmStruck, then at least we've shown them just how passionate, how determined, and how supportive we can be when it comes to cinema. At least we realize we are part of a larger community that shares an incredible love for all the same things we do.

At least we weren't helpless.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for all this support, and I can't wait to see where we take things from here. Share it with friends, family, even people you don't like! If they don't listen today, who's to say they won't listen tomorrow?

Join the conversation here as well. I have plans to contact some of the higher-ups at WarnerMedia soon and present them with the long list of signatures and a letter detailing why we need to preserve FilmStruck, but if you have other ideas for letter-writing campaigns, peaceful protests, or anything of the such, let us know in the discussion section here and we can show our love beyond just the 0s and 1s of the internet.

Keep pushing, and I can't wait to see what we can do.

#SaveFilmStruck