When I first got the ball rolling for this site in 2009 I saw it as a small attempt to share info on films at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. After the attention to my commentary on the power politics of Avatar however, I have dedicated myself to reviewing films and presenting quality content on this site. And not only have I focused on items in terms of content, but late last year I chose a different visual format that would also allow easier navigation to specific film related topics (see above tabs). But there’s a lot more work that can be done and with new people helping me, 2011 should be a great year for The Filmsmith.
The first major change will be the addition of supporting writers. From the very first post to this one, everything has been generated by myself, Remington Smith. Now, each post will be clearly credited as written by myself, Ben Creech, or Aaron Faulkner.
Mr. Creech is a veritable encyclopedia on film history whose tastes run a little closer to arthouse than my own. He will be writing occasional reviews and essays.
Mr. Faulkner is currently a film production student at the University of Iowa and he will be posting regular news segments.
The addition of extra writers will allow the site, for the first time, to have at least one new update everyday. No more periods of 4-14 days of nothing, followed by a torrential downpour of writing. For 2011, regular updates will be our business motto.
Second, a podcast is in the works which will hopefully yield interviews with directors regularly heralded on this site. Even if we aren’t able to nab interviews with prolific directors, the podcast would at least allow us to talk about older films with better ease. I’m regularly watching films on DVD that I’m unable to give full review treatment, but a podcast would provide a space for promoting fantastic older films with greater ease.
Finally, we will be moving away from the wordpress format. The site is currently beholden to the limitations of the blog setting which not only hinders stylistic choices, but financial possibilities. Everything so far has been produced out of sheer love, but as we continue to expand, money would help. At the present the best we can offer is the Paypal donate button, which won’t even allow us to offer a Paypal subscription (enables you to donate say $2 each month regularly). So not only will we be able to offer the Paypal subscription with a new location, but it will allow us to utilize Google AdSense.
WordPress bars its users from utilizing ads themselves. In moving away from wordpress and using Google AdSense we will be able to make money currently going to wordpress. I don’t like web ads, but unless you guys are going to become our wealthy benefactors, we have to find revenue sources.
The last year has been interesting in terms of seeing the site’s evolution. I never thought I’d be putting myself in business or ever saying to someone, “I want to hire you.” All I want to do is share my love of film in a way that doesn’t question your intelligence and hopefully leads you to some interesting cinema. I’m looking forward to seeing how we can share that passion with more readers in 2011.
Thanks for reading,
Remington Smith
The Filmsmith 