The Hobby – Director Morgan Jon Fox

A McDonald’s Happy Meal shortage. A security guard escort. Guns pulled in a Target parking lot. All of these are caused by a common factor: trading cards. In 2020, a new BOOM began. For the first time, large hedge funds, celebrities like Logan Paul and Steve Aoki, nostalgic millennials, entrepreneurs like Josh Luber, and billionaires scrambled to add sports, Pokémon, and other hot item cards to their collections and portfolios. Over the next two years, the hobby exploded — even causing card grading services to shut down due to overwhelming customer service. This documentary is a character-driven feel good deep dive into the high-stakes, eccentric world of card collecting, following buyers, sellers, card shop owners, graders, online streamers, auctioneers, and more, who all participate in the hobby in their own unique ways. Directed by Morgan Jon Fox, viewers are brought directly into the highs, lows, big gains, and sometimes devastating  losses of a century-old hobby that anyone can break into, and some can hit the jackpot with. The trading card industry saw a massive boom in 2020, as people began clearing out garages, storage units, closets, and more to find old trading cards – ranging from sports cards to Pokemon, to garbage-pail kids and everything in between. The hobby has now grown into a multi-million dollar industry, with its very own trading index launching to assess the value of the market. Director Morgan Jon Fox stops by to talk about the pure joy of opening a Topps pack with a Pete Rose Rookie card or finding a Pokemon Charizard Base Set, as well as the thrill of meeting people who share your passion for collectibles and memories.

 

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Available on TVOD beginning February 16

About the filmmaker – Named one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film” by Filmmaker Magazine, Morgan Jon Fox is a Southern director/producer/1st AD from Memphis, TN, based in Chicago, IL. Known for getting strong, authentic performances, and telling gritty regional southern stories, his early micro-budget feature films Blue Citrus Hearts, and OMG/HaHaHa were film festival hits and gained international distribution. His documentary This Is What Love In Action Looks Like gained praise and national attention from CNN, Good Morning America, The New York Times and The Advocate for capturing the true story of a Memphis teen who was forced into a religious based “straight camp” intended to change his sexuality. The doc screened around the world and won the Derek Oyston CHE Film Award at the London LGBT Film Festival. His TV project, FERAL is an 8 Episode show about a close knit group of 20-something LGBT artists living in Memphis, TN. Described as “‘Weekend’ meets ‘Girls’(Huffington Post), His latest project, The One You Never Forget is a multi-award winning short film about teenagers going on their first dance. After screening at over 100 film festivals around the world, it has amassed more than 500K views on Vimeo & Youtube. Morgan has over 15 years of experience as a Producer and Assistant Director, with companies such as A24, HBO, NIKE, VICE, The Lonely Island, MTV, ESPN, FedEx, the Memphis Grizzlies, and Marquee Sports. 

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