Everyone's a Critic or At Least They Could Be
 by: Heather Wallace

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:

    * http://www.rottontomatoes.com
    * http://www.movie-gurus.com/content/join/
    * http://www.movietome.com/about/writer.shtml

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.

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.