ABOUT SCREEN THOUGHTS
Christine Merser, AKA Hollister
Founder, Screen Thoughts
About Screen Thoughts
Founded in 2014, Screen Thoughts began as a conversation between two women who loved film enough to challenge an industry where more than 90% of film critics and entertainment voices were men. What started as a podcast between corporate strategist, Christine Merser and filmmaker, Heidi Sullivan quickly grew into one of the early female-led voices covering film, television, and eventually streaming at a moment when the entertainment landscape itself was beginning to transform.
Using the pseudonyms Hollister and O’Toole, Christine and Heidi built a loyal audience through sharp conversation, industry insight, and a willingness to approach storytelling from a perspective often missing in film criticism at the time. Their work blended criticism with cultural analysis, business understanding, and a deep respect for the people who make films possible.
During the rise of streaming, Screen Thoughts became an important voice discussing not simply what audiences were watching, but what the changing industry meant for filmmakers, women creators, independent cinema, and the future of storytelling itself.
After Heidi Sullivan passed away a few years ago, Christine continued the work and expanded Screen Thoughts into a broader platform for film commentary, criticism, education, and advocacy for filmmakers.
Through her writing on Screen Thoughts Substack, which covers the film and television industry, and her ongoing public conversations and lectures about the entertainment industry, Christine has continued to champion both emerging and established creators while examining where film and television are heading next.
“Film and television are not simply entertainment to me, they are one of the last places where we still try to understand who we are, who we have been, and who we might become.” - Christine Merser
Over the years, Christine has moderated film openings, taught film appreciation and analysis series at independent theaters including the Lincoln Theater and Cape Cinema, and spoken at film festivals on filmmaking, audience engagement, and the changing business of entertainment. She has also led marketing workshops and educational sessions for organizations including Women in Film and Women Make Movies, helping women filmmakers better position their work inside a rapidly evolving industry.
Christine is also a novelist and memoirist whose work often explores women, power, identity, survival, and the stories hidden beneath privilege and appearance. Her novel Flight of the Starling is the first in a trilogy following three interconnected women. The first book centers on a wealthy divorcee moving between the Hamptons and Palm Beach who is drawn into a black ops mission by a billionaire friend searching for the daughter he believes was trafficked decades earlier into Saudi Arabia and may finally have been found. The second book follows the daughter herself, while the third turns to the woman responsible for trafficking her, exploring the complexity of guilt, survival, and redemption.
Her memoir, The Letter, explores the lifelong relationship between a mother and daughter who never seem able to fully understand one another until the end, when they discover there is always more to a person than the version we believe we know.
Today, Screen Thoughts continues to sit at the intersection of criticism, strategy, storytelling, and advocacy. Christine remains committed to elevating filmmakers, questioning industry trends, and protecting the importance of thoughtful cinema in an increasingly fragmented media world.
I would love to hear from anyone about something I’ve written or discussed, a filmmaker or performance you believe deserves more attention, or a conversation you think the industry should be having but isn’t.
- CM