PODCAST LAUNCH HAS STEEP TRAJECTORY

One of the parts of my blogging job I like best is reviewing movies and television shows. In fact, if I hadn’t grown up to be an author (to the extent you can say I am), I would have worked hard to find a job as a film reviewer. As dream jobs go, that one is at the top of my list. 

In this age of the “gig economy,” I figured I wouldn’t wait to find an opportunity for someone to pay me to do what I wanted to do; I would just make an opportunity to do it myself. After all, I’m already not getting paid to write SFR. I might as well not get paid to review movies, too.

Of course, my interest in movies and television goes well beyond science fiction and SFR. I’m at the multiplex at least once a week watching all kinds of films, and my TV habits are pretty wide-ranging, too. So I’ve had to take this idea beyond Spacefreighters to another platform—this time to the brave new world of podcasting.

A podcast, for anyone who has somehow missed it, is an audio program produced on a website, with episodes that can be listened to at any time, anywhere—on your computer, on your phone or on your tablet. My podcast is called My Moviehouse My Rules and can be found here.

 

The podcast logo for My Moviehouse My Rules

The tagline for My Moviehouse My Rules is New Screen Reviews with Old School Attitude. I get tired of reading film or TV reviews that show an ignorance of film history. So many reviewers write as if they haven’t seen a movie made before 1970 or a television show before 1990. If a film is a remake, they never mention the original. If a technique or a plot device is used, they never understand who used it before, or first. It’s not that I want every review to be a lecture, but a little background is useful, especially for people who love movies, or TV, like I do.

Then there’s the problem of everyday folks who don’t have time to go to the movies at all. They have a tough choice when it comes to spending their hard-earned cash—either on date-night or for on-demand on their TVs. They don’t need a lot of blah-blah about avant-garde cinematography or directorial POV or modern angst. They just need a few simple words about character, pacing and plot. Is it worth watching or not? I have a feature on the podcast called the Lightning Round that distills the essence of my review down to a few quick minutes to help you make viewing choices for your weekend.

I have to say learning to get my point across in a podcast has not been easy. Podcasting has a steep learning curve. Who knew it took so many words to fill up ten minutes? (On the blog or in my novels I’m always cutting words!) I struggle to get the tone right. And I’ve had to become a sound engineer to make sure the audio sounds professional using the computer software it requires. Then there was the website to set up. So bear with me if there are glitches—I’m still learning!

But if you want to be a radio star, let me know. I’d love to have you on the podcast to talk movies or television with me. I haven’t figured out the mechanics of recording interviews yet, but that’s just another technical hurdle to jump. It’s my dream job, after all. Can’t let the little things stop me!

Check out my take on the Oscar nominations, my first Lightning Round, and reviews of some of the Oscar-nominated films in my first episodes on My Moviehouse My Rules, and LIKE My Moviehouse My Rules on Facebook.

Cheers, Donna