Have you sent submissions to your local alternative press?
Do newspaper syndicates accept proposals from film critics? If they do, that would be a good place to start. I received my first rejection from a newspaper syndicate just two weeks ago for my comic strip proposal. It’s hanging on my refrigerator now. It was a very polite rejection.
I have yet to hear from the other seven syndicates that I approached so there’s still hope…
….for some unimpressive internet pubs.
In 7 years you must have developed an approach.
What IMPRESSIVE internet pubs use your approach?
Btw, I’d be curious to know what defines an impressive internet pub.
Move on into the 21st century and publish your own work online. Definitely don’t hold your breath for a paying job writing film criticism. J. Hoberman just got fired!
Agree with Bobby, build your online audience — doesn’t WordPress help with that?…
And… criticism strikes me for the most part as a labor of love. But if you build a following, that could lead to more (though probably not a very well paying job, but to compensate for that, at least a good reputation within the community of people who appreciate criticism and use it to guide them. Which might be some compensation for a less than adequate salary…).
@Francisco
It’s the next step. But I thought it couldn’t hurt to consort with the Mubians.
@Robert
Re: impressive:
Touché.
Yes, I realize that’s precisely the recipe. I hoped (ahem, cough) somebody might’ve read me and had a thought bubble pop up saying, “Boy, he sounds just like _______.” Hence my somewhat contrite tone.
@Bobby
Nobody’s holding any breaths… I’d just like to know if I can have something more substantial to show for my efforts. But honestly, I’m not so naive that I’d actually expect to make money via print pubs… alas…
@Odilonvert
I am using Wordpress for precisely this purpose, and it has been a labor of love (meaning I have little to show besides my own site). Introverts of my more extreme ilk always have difficulty establishing their followings. Thankfully, I desire to involve myself in an inherently social medium…
In summation:
I know it’s a hopeless market, and I have some writers friends, even critics, who have confirmed this. Again, just was curious what the opinion would be in this little hamlet.
I appreciate everybody’s effort in responding :)
Miasma — I can’t access WordPress from where I am now, but I will check out your site when I get home.
I just got WordPress myself and am building a site there too (as my old service at web.me.com is going to be dead in a few months). I can put a link to your site on my links page, once I build it, to help refer people who come to my site to yours. There’s a bunch of people on Mubi that I want to do that for, and vimeo buddies too.
We need to support one another out there in internet land. :)
Plus, it’s just fun.
Well shit, Odi. You’re sweet as sugar. I admit I haven’t looked extensively into your Ergodic Project – yet – but I will note that had I still resided in LA when you had arranged that meetup, I would’ve assuredly been in attendance.
:D
As I was telling Brentos recently, I love my online artistic community. It’s such a cool one. Linking to sites by people I’ve met here and out there is my way of expressing support and just generally, being grateful to have met them and to be in touch with them.
So now to cut my sweet as sugar slap my face sentimentality above, you can go to Doug Reese’s Indecent Movie Proposal thread (as I’ve nicknamed it) and disagree with me vehemently about the movies I can’t stand. You know, do the Mubi “I’m more intellectual than thou” thing and call me a philistine and an cinema idiot.
I promise I’ll like and support you anyway. Because hey, it’s just an opinion. ;)
Which internet sites do you work for? I used to write for a couple newspapers and i wrote for my university newspaper as a “film critic.” it was some of the funnest times i’ve ever had!!
@ Miasma somebody might’ve read me
Yeah, see Bobby’s right, J. Hoberman’s resume is on top of yours…
What to do?
In marketing there is a saying: go where the competition isn’t i.e. niche
If I were starting out, I would write reviews of people no one ever heard of. Yeah, it’s gonna be challenging, but the tactic is to find those gems and bring them to the attention of the impressive internet pubs.
As they are developing their voice, you will be developing yours.
Odi’s idea of finding those communities is the right one.
Find alternative expressions and alternative communities to write about. Make associations and linkages between different mediums of expression – to develop a wide audience, bring small audiences together through your reviews.
^ Great advice, Robert!
Yeah – why not write reviews for Garage !
Insights my be appreciated by the Garagers.
If I were younger ….the thing is, I’d be there on the ground floor of something and Hoberman and Ebert can’t do that.
There is money to be made too, but lets skip that for now….
@Odi
I previously had zero interest in internet forums of any kind, but I specifically wanted to make an effort to become part of a community of cinephiles that could share my feelings… and The Auteurs provided that community (which is not to say I presume I am part of anything, but I like taking part when I can). I’m extremely appreciative of this community and honestly feel that I now have a much richer sense of the global community of film that exists… and the extent to which my own ignorance has been elucidated. People like Kenji, Apursansar, Grey Daisies, Blue K, the hothead artist formerly known as Dimitris, Robert Peabody, Polaris, Ally, Cat, Doinel and Antoine Doinel, Risselada, Daniel Kasman, Roscoe, Malik, Jirin, Robert Nishimura and his fucking excellent fake criterion covers… and of course all the moderators. And many others who are still with us or not. Pardon me.
Re: your above statements
Not sure quite how to react, but I’ll take it as a compliment that you’re presuming I’ll come off as a dismissive elitist. As for the sugar line, well, being smarmy just seems to come naturally. Yes, I know you’re a married mom.
@Brentos
I like how you put film critic in quotes :)
@Robert
I want to make films, so that’s where my primary efforts will be directed. I’d certainly like to think my voice is at least intermediately developed. Of course that’s correct, “find the gap in the market.” I’ll try.
Thanks again to all.
No no, Miasma — I’m just making jokes about our beloved Mubi community! :)
If I were younger ….the thing is, I’d be there on the ground floor of something and Hoberman and Ebert can’t do that.
Ground floor — that’s where things are bubbling. Next thing. Never to old to do that, Robert! Mix in! :)
I want to make films
The French New Wave model: the film critic becomes filmmaker?
Scratch below that surface: what they did was make links between the past and a present POV (auteurism) – then they made films that became the future of cinema.
The thing to abstract there is ‘linkage’ i.e. relationships – in their case, it was a historical linkage.
Did not know about Hoberman being fired. Damn that seriously blows! and it’s a serious blow to indie film too, since he was such a champion of them in the U.S.
Me neither. Damn, I knew the Village Voice was going to shit but this is really big.
like you said, the market is saturated. with no signs of stopping. try find a more original vocation perhaps.
Vocations are out. Like I said, that’s so 20th century (and there’s probably more competition for day jobs than for developing opportunities). Entrepreneurship is in. Make your own market. If some idiot can invent a simple webpage to share (someone else’s) pictures or (someone else’s) music and make billions, why can’t one earn an honest living doing something of their own online? I’ve been a hired gun for the past 4 years now — not by choice but by force. But it’s ok. You get used to it and sooner or later start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I may never have another full-time job again but that’s a different story altogether…
The market is always saturated with art-oriented people, so people tend to say to someone who wants to be in those fields.
Don’t pay any attention.
Ditto to Bobby — forge your own path. It’s important to do what you love in life, whether you earn a living at it or not.
The internet has potential to grow into many things in the future (provided we don’t turn into China with the proposed censorship laws)…
“I’ve been a hired gun for the past 4 years now — not by choice but by force. But it’s ok. You get used to it and sooner or later start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I may never have another full-time job again but that’s a different story altogether…”
And benefits, health care, retirement? This is a very sad development indeed. Entrepreneurship means one huge success for every million failed dreamers. 18 year olds all think they can grow up to be Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. It’s an utter myth.
^^exactly Ari, it’s just hero talk.
and Zuckerberg was hardly an idiot. An example of an idiot that did well is 50 Cent ;-)
But entrepreneurship is more about hustle than brains imo.
Writing a blog on the internet doesn’t mean you are going to become the next Zuckerberg.
Come on.
I don’t think that was the aim of this post.
The aim of this post was the hope that Mubians would read my stuff and link my voice to a pub or website that they’re already familiar with. I don’t expect others to do my homework, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.
But unsolicited advice is always a pleasure to receive.
Did I mention how much I love the Mubi community?
“I don’t think that was the aim of this post.”
No, but threads take twists and what Bobby was saying is sad but true. What is Mubi but an effort to entrepreneurize the international film community?
Entrepreneurship means one huge success for every million failed dreamers.
heh we traipsed into the web + money.
Lessons of the gold rush
Thousands of miners; very few got rich.
Very few merchants; all got rich.
Conclusion: if you want to make money, sell things to miners.
Ari – Yes and I’m ok with twists, but getting rich isn’t the aim, is it? Or is it…?
The state of the job market, wages, etc. etc. is ubiquitous (I know I’m stating the obvious). Things of course need to change for the better.
I definitely don’t advocate everyone becoming an entrepreneur. What I was saying was if you are passionate about something and you want to share that, do it. If it leads to a job, fine. If not, fine too. Because it SUCKS (in my opinion) to feel stifled because you aren’t earning a living doing what you love. Do what you love anyway, no matter what else is going on in your life. That’s possible with doing a criticism blog. It may lead to something or not.
The issue of employment is a whole other thing. Unfortunately but hey, life is tough. It’s not heroic to struggle to overcome your limits, however you can — it’s just a plain survival instinct.
And now after that high and mighty may or may not make sense that I just wrote, I’m going to go rest because I feel like crap today.
Miasma
I hope nobody minds my utilization of the forums for this, but it’s simply such a valuable resource.
I’ve been writing film reviews for 7+ years – for some unimpressive internet pubs. It has not been a run without its excitements – there have been interviews with limelit figures in impressive places in LA. But I need to find a new venue, and since every person in the world (let alone on the internet) has opinions on films, the market is, to say the least, oversaturated. This is why I’m inquiring with the expertise I’ve encountered on Mubi. I’d like to find the place where my voice fits – and I’m looking for recommendations.
Anybody who is unfamiliar with my work can view it here. I’m verbose and probably far too critical, with hints of former geekery in my past.
So thanks for enduring this self-serving post.