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Imagine a job that is tons of
fun and, if you follow the advice outlined below, is
probably one of the easier routes to becoming a household
name. It is the job of Movie Reviewer. Just think about
how wonderful it would be to get paid to munch on popcorn
and watch films.
This is one job that every
single one of us has been training for our entire lives.
Your willingness to tell anyone who will listen that a
particular movie was overrated or that a certain movie
star's last performance was Oscar-worthy already makes you
a movie critic. The only difference between you and the
pros is that they get paid for their opinions and their
names are known the world over.
Becoming a movie critic is
easily accessible to everyone. All you need is a love of
the cinema, the ability to write and share your opinions,
and the drive to parley your reviews into fame and
fortune.
Stop The Presses
The fact of the matter is
that the majority of newspapers aren't going to give you
the time of day without some previous experience. That is
where the Internet comes in. Your first step to becoming a
critic is creating a web destination. Set-up a web site
and post reviews to it on a regular basis. By doing this
you will be able to hone your skills, discipline yourself
to write regularly, and another added bonus is that you
will gain a following of loyal readers. This is a must if
you want to become a famous critic.
Spread the Word
To really get your name out
there you absolutely must syndicate your reviews. You can
get your reviews on other web sites in a number of ways,
but the two best and easiest are to:
1. Sign-up as a content
provider at freesticky.com
and sites similar in nature.
2. Join and submit reviews
to the following sites:
Ya Gotta Have a Gimmick
If you plan on writing
reviews it would be a good idea to come up with a gimmick.
A straight forward review just isn't going to garner you
much attention or be that memorable. A review with a
twist, on the other hand, will keep people coming back to
read what you have to say and it will cement your name in
the minds of the masses.
Whenever you hear "Two
Thumbs Up" who do you immediately think of? That is a
perfect example of a gimmick.
Who are the worst dressed
celebrities? Just ask Mr. Blackwell. He may not be a movie
critic, but he does us a gimmick to make himself
memorable. His variety of gimmick is known as
"throwing a brick". No, not literally, but
saying something negative about a celebrity will certainly
garner attention. Joan Rivers is another person who uses
this type of gimmick to gain attention for herself. After
all, who could forget her scathing remarks on the red
carpet?
The rating system at Rotten
Tomatoes that was created for their compendium of reviews
is another fine example of a gimmick.
You should avoid closely
copying the gimmick of another well-known critic as you
will merely be viewed as a pale imitation. Although, if
you can come up with an inventive and original twist on
one of their gimmicks, then by all means give it a shot.
Show Me The Money
In the beginning your main
goal should be to make your name well-known and synonymous
with movie reviews. Once you have achieved a modicum of
fame then you can parley that into a paycheck. There are a
of couple ways that you can turn the experience and
celebrity that you have achieve online into cash and
recognition offline.
1. Contact newspapers in
your area. Find the email address for these newspapers and
write to them asking if they would be interested in having
you write reviews for their publication. Be sure to write
to the appropriate editor. In most cases this will be the
entertainment editor.
When writing for a
newspaper it is vital that you don't sign a work-for-hire
contract. If you were to do this then the publication
would own the copyright to all of your work, which means
that you would not be able to publish your reviews on your
web site or anywhere else as the newspaper is now the
copyright holder.
2. Another offline venue
that you should explore is radio. Public radio is probably
your best bet, but you should approach mainstream radio
stations as well. You could suggest doing reviews on the
morning show of a Top 40 station or, perhaps, bite-size
reviews that could be played all through-out the day.
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About
The Author
Heather
Wallace is a writer whose work has been
published in national, regional, and
online publications. Additionally, she has
written articles as a newspaper
correspondent. Visit http://www.fetchingsites.com/MovieReviewer.html
for more information on becoming the next
Roger Ebert or Leonard Maltin. |
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