When Gap announced it had hired a Head of Entertainment, it wasn’t about movies for movies’ sake. It was about cultural leverage. One of the world’s largest brands has decisively signalled what has become impossible to ignore: storytelling is now core infrastructure for power, legitimacy, and long-term value.
For the film industry, this reflects a decisive shift. The question is no longer whether films can create social impact – they demonstrably can. The real question now is whether the industry will treat impact with the same seriousness it gives to other non-negotiables, like casting, editing, or insurance.
Because outside the industry, that decision has already been made.
From audience expectations to funder requirements, corporate strategy to policy influence, impact is no longer optional or incidental – it is foundational. Think-Film has had a front-row seat to this shift; we feel now is the time to share what we’ve noticed, because it affects us all. Here are the five most important lessons from our ten years at the forefront of impact filmmaking, and what every director, producer, studio, distributor, talent agent, and publicist now needs to understand to stay relevant.
1. Films That Don’t Plan For Impact Risk Losing Out
Films no longer simply tell stories. They shape public policy debates, influence corporate decision-making, and lead civic behaviour. That is why household brands are building in-house entertainment divisions, why film philanthropists are tying capital to measurable outcomes, and why institutions increasingly look to films as agenda-setting tools.
In this environment, impact is not an aspirational marketing add-on, it is part of the core infrastructure films now need to be made, seen, and remembered.
Without a strategic, credible impact plan, even great films risk being fleeting. With one, films can become enduring and transformative; works that are returned to, cited, and deployed long after their initial release window closes.
The key takeaway : In a world saturated with content and opinion, films without strategic impact design risk being overlooked – no matter how strong their artistry.
2. Films That Plan For Impact Last Longer
One of the defining shifts of the last decade is the growing recognition that power flows through stories before it flows through policy or markets. Who defines a problem determines how it can be solved – which puts films increasingly at the top of an influence funnel.
In today’s world, films are not just creative works to be admired, but strategic assets – ones that can be powerfully deployed to set agendas, catalyse action, and reshape systems for whole-of-society benefit. With impact built in, films move beyond eliciting emotion (making audiences care about an issue) to establishing narrative authority (framing how an issue is understood).
This changes the game for a film’s commercial prospects: success is no longer measured solely in opening weekends or awards cycles, but in long-term influence and repeated relevance. Films designed with impact in mind become embedded in how an issue is discussed (across sectors, borders, and years), continually opening new audiences, markets and revenues well beyond initial release.
The key takeaway : Impact-by-design turns films from moments – made, released, and forgotten – into long-term assets, able to shape how issues are understood, cited, and acted on for years.
3. Policymakers Are The Audience Films Need
Institutional fluency is one of the film industry’s most important new frontiers. Some of the most consequential decisions affecting society happen behind closed doors – in regulatory bodies, corporate boardrooms, courts, and multilateral institutions. Films that fail to engage these spaces vitally miss audiences that actually hold the reins of power.
Expert socio-political impact production dynamically integrates films into these decision-making ecosystems, ensuring that creative works don’t just resonate emotionally but withstand scrutiny, and influence outcomes where it counts.
In these contexts, legitimacy matters more than virality. A film’s value lies not only in its emotional force, but in its factual robustness, narrative precision, and strategic timing. Impact expertise that informs creative development and production – not just post-release campaigning – is now a critical investment in a film’s long-term relevance and authority.
The key takeaway : The audiences with the most power are not always the loudest; films that engage institutions gain influence where society-altering decisions are actually made.
4. Film Pipelines Need Impact More Than Ever
Corporations are increasingly using storytelling to signal values, compliance, and leadership. Non-profits and institutions are adopting sophisticated audience and stakeholder strategies. Funders are asking sharper questions about leverage, systems change, and measurable contribution. As a result, films now carry reputational, regulatory, and financial implications at every stage of their lifecycle – making impact as critical as a script, set, or legal clearance.
Views, likes, and shares are no longer sufficient indicators of success. Film financiers and partners now expect theories of change, influence pathways, qualitative indicators, coalition effects, and long-term tracking. In many cases, a compelling story is no longer enough to secure a greenlight – it has to be matched with an equally robust impact strategy.
The key takeaway : As financial, reputational, and regulatory stakes rise, films increasingly need impact strategies to secure funding, partnerships, and long-term value.
5. For Effective Impact, Expertise Matters
Impact work today is complex and high-stakes. It requires cross-sector relationships, policy fluency, stakeholder management, and the ability to operate in contested environments – while delivering outcomes that can be credibly demonstrated.
The leading edge of impact is no longer one-off campaigns or short-term wins. It is legacy work: shaping narratives, legitimising issue leaders, creating shared language across sectors, and feeding into sustained movements.
Impact credibility is cumulative. As with any serious industry partnership, track record matters. Longevity across complex issue areas is one of the clearest indicators of an impact producer’s resilience, trustworthiness, and ability to deliver.
The key takeaway : Films designed for influence endure; films that rely on attention alone fade. Impact is now a prerequisite for relevance, longevity, and leadership.
Conclusion : To Stay Ahead, Put Impact First
When Think-Film began, impact was often an afterthought. Films might spark debate or inspire action, but these outcomes were accidental, uneven, and rarely sustained. That era is over.
Today, as we see everywhere, the impact campaign – not just the film – has become the norm.
Creatives and executives can no longer assume that a tight script or A-list talent alone guarantees success. Films that are not designed for influence risk being fleeting – noticed, praised, and absorbed back into the noise. But films that are strategically positioned will shape conversations, become origin points, drive audiences and revenue, and endure in all the ways that now matter most.
** Header Image : Tilda Swinton stands hand-in-hand with leading youth climate activist Luisa Neubauer on the Berlinale Red Carpet February 2025, calling out big oil accountability for climate deception to promote Mubi’s German and international release of “The End”
