Film Critic

[downtherabbithole]

I'm just wondering if anyone here is a freelance film critic. How did you land your job and what ways do you shop around to get it? Just curious.

[mommyjo2]

I did film crits for a little while (no pay, just free press passes and tickets to movies before they came out).

I was working with publicity companies, not the studios or newspapers.

[Polly]

Okay, I am not a film critic, nor do i play one on the internet, so take this with a pinch of salt :D

A regional magazine I've done some work for has a critic who lectures in film studies. I'm assuming his day job was beneficial. He mainly blogs on the website but he had a great page in the last issue.

So... You don't say what experience you have, but it might be worth querying local/regional mags and papers to see if they want anybody, even if they hadn't realised they wanted film reviews yet! The pay may not be great (hey, it may even be non-existent) but it could be a foot in the door.

If you don't have any clips with which to query, maybe you could start a film blog? It would only cost a little time and there'd be samples of your reviews to link to.

[Cynthiab]

I'm mostly a TV critic now but I also do DVDs and have done movies.. I got started writing for free for a few sites, then used that experience to move up to paying jobs. Way back, my local cable company was running a new website and they hired me to do movie reviews for them -- I think they knew me from some short articles I'd written.

Starting your own film blog is a great way to begin - that way you can show a prospective client your style. Everyone has an opinion, so you have to prove that yours is unique and different.

[beezle]

maestrowork is a film critic, among other things.

[downtherabbithole]

Thanks all! I do film and television reviews for my suite101.com website. I have an MA in theatre and I'm totally interested in doing film and theatre reviews.