Changes to Film Grotto
Hey all,
I just wanted to let you know what is happening with Film Grotto. I have always planned for FG to be my spot on the web where I would post daily, or at least as close to daily as real life would allow things that interested me about movies. I’ve been really happy with how FG has turned out so far. I’ve only been running the site for about 5 or so months and traffic has steadily increased. I’ve been able to attend a film festival with press accreditation which is something I never thought would happen. I’ve created my first podcast and plan on doing the second episode very shortly (real life just got in the way with a work trip and family obligations causing a delay) and while there is room for improvement I’m happy with how it turned out. I’ve met a bunch of great people in the movie news community and I’ve even chatted with a rep from Anchor Bay Entertainment. Everything has worked out great.
Even with the way things are going its time for a change. Up till about four or five days ago I had actually planned on no longer posting new articles and items here at FG. I have been offered a chance to join in on something that is hopefully going to be pretty big in the long run and in the mean time it should be a blast to be a part of. I’m not at liberty to say what it is yet but suffice it to say I just can’t see myself as having the time to maintain FG in addition to this new project. I don’t want FG to turn into a site where I only post once a month. So my plan was to basically just let it sit.
Things changed on Friday. While I was away on a work trip I had two people offer to write for the site. Phillip and Dave have agreed to write here on FG. Then on Saturday I received an email from Ross, from over at Movie Patron and also Movie World asking if he could write here. So within two days I went from basically shutting the site down to having three contributors. This has forced me to change my plans for FG.
I will not be shutting down FG any time in the near future. What I will be doing is offering these three fine gentlemen a spot to write about movies. FG will also be accepting other writers. If you wish to contribute to a small community driven movie site feel free to send me an email at john@filmgrotto.com. FG deals with all movies but my preference for writers is for people who want to experience more than just summer blockbusters. There is so much good film out there that people never get to see and I’d like FG to encourage them to see it. Sure, we’ll post news about the blockbusters if it really interests us but if you are interested in cinema and film as opposed to just movies and want to write definitely feel free to get in touch with us.
I shall continue to post as much as time permits but by January I’d expect my posts to drop down to one or two per week. I am very excited though, to see where the new writers take Film Grotto and fully welcome Dave, Phillip and Ross aboard.
Ross Miller said
November 13 2007 @ 11:16 am
Well thank YOU John for allowing me to come write for this great site. As you know I have my own movie website (www.movieworld.co.nr) but that is really only for reviews. I tried a few times to start my own movie blog but it just didn’t work out for many-a-reason. I have been writing for months now for MoviePatron.com’s Blog and it worked out well there (but for a reason I won’t disclose I won’t be writing for it for much longer - not knocking MP or it’s founder Andrew there btw).
I love the way FG is set up and the films that it deals with (like you said not just blockbusters) and I feel I have a taste for all kinds of cinema (which fits the bill of what you want in a writer for the site). I hope and am sure it will work out well working for the site. Cheers again, John.
PS - Why do you think suddenly a few people were interested in writing for the site, John?
John Allison said
November 13 2007 @ 1:39 pm
I’m glad you and the others are aboard. Deciding to shut down FG was a hard decision and you mean that it will stay open. I’m not going away or anything fully but by myself it just wouldn’t have been worth visiting.
I may be getting more traffic because of Toronto After Dark or it could just be that the site is hitting the age and enough content that google is bringing more people here. Or, perhaps its just the amazing content and wonderful personality of its owner.
Ross Miller said
November 14 2007 @ 3:53 am
Yes the latter is probably the correct explanaton
Dave Becker said
November 14 2007 @ 9:20 pm
Thanks again, John, for the opportunity to write for Film Grotto, and for deciding to keep the site open after the 1st. It’s been a crazy week at work for me, but once we reach the weekend I should be able to post a few things.
John said
November 15 2007 @ 7:17 am
No Problem Dave,
Write when you can and what you can. If you, Ross or Phillip don’t post for a month or so then I’ll probably disable the accounts just to keep the site a bit more secure. I’d rather you wrote about what you want and not feel pressured to come up with half baked posts.
Madeleine said
November 20 2007 @ 9:56 pm
Hey John, quick and probably mundane question, how do I log in?