Happy New Year, my dear readers! After a somewhat chaotic publishing schedule in 2021, my aim is to return to a regular weekly rhythm, as you’ve seen with the last two posts of the year that just ended. And that’s not the only change coming to Talking Pictures in the weeks and months to come.
As previously mentioned, I will no longer be doing reviews as part of this newsletter, mainly because I’m already writing more than enough of them for my other outlets, and I don’t feel like repeating myself too much. Additionally, the festival reports will be quarterly, with one post devoted to an overview of all the events I attended within the three-month period. Other festival stuff may still pop up, separate from the reports, but that will be on a case-by-case basis.
I also plan on finally launching the Critical Thinking section, where I discuss the craft with my peers. Hopefully, the first post will be up by the end of the month. Stay tuned.
And last but not least, I will start implementing a paywall for some of my posts. That was always part of the plan, and I hope most of you will stick around with this new feature. The current subscription plan is 7$ per month or 70 per year. There’s also a Founding Members option, where you get to choose to pay a yearly amount that is above the aforementioned 70, up to 210$. This comes with additional perks: paid subscriptions give you access to the full archive and allow you to post comments on the Talking Pictures page; Founding Members also get to suggest topics for newsletter entries, should that interest them.
Why am I doing this? Because, as a freelancer, I could use an additional revenue stream, and I trust most of you are willing to stick around for my takes on movies and TV. As for what will be available under which plan, the current idea is that the opinion pieces, Looking Back posts, general festival reports and lists will be free. Everything else (Streamland, Animationland, Multivese Madness, Critical Thinking, Festival Files excluding reports) will be accessible only via the paywall. However, initial posts for 2022 (up to the end of February) will remain free, so you can still decide (and other potential subscribers can check out the entire offer).
Catch you next week, with something that’s been bugging me for quite some time…