What sparked the idea for Reel Talk?

I’ve always been really passionate about movies and, after several extended movieanalyses with people I know, I decided to expand my thoughts and ideas into a blog. I figured I could meet like-minded individuals, and debate with those who disagreed.

How did you choose the name Reel Talk? Was it an afterthought when you had already chosen ticketstubz?

TicketStubz was actually chosen afterwards. I really liked the pun of Reel Talk (but little did I know it was already popular!). The URL Reel Talk was already taken, so I settled with another clever title–ticketstubz.

When was Reel Talk launched?

December 2008.

Was your experience or lack of experience an issue when you launched Reel Talk?

I never owned a blog, but I have several years of journalism experience so I just thought it was an extension of that.

Reel Talk is a Blogger blog. Where are you on the Blogger vs. WordPress debate?

Blogger has undergone quite a few changes lately, but when I first joined WordPress, I was told, had better templates. But I’ve gotten kind of used to the blogger quirkiness.

How does Reel Talk generate revenue?

From ads. I’m still looking to get more prominent ads featured on the site.

Do you have a separate bank account exclusively for Reel Talk, a business account? If so, with what bank?

No.

How many people work at Reel Talk?

Just me, but I am always looking for guest bloggers!

Do you have assigned work shifts at Reel Talk?

N/A.

How many page views does Reel Talk get per month?

5,000.

What do you use to measure site traffic?

Google Analytics.

What mistakes (if any) did you make in the beginning with Reel Talk?

I think I was too informal in my writing in the beginning. I like to think I’ve made it more formal, more stylistic, and more polished.

When and how did you join the National Association of Black Journalists?

When I was a writer/editor for Essence Magazine, a few of my articles were nominated, and awarded, by the NABJ. I’m not a member, but I am an honoree.

Did you go to school for journalism? If so, what school?

Yes, St. John’s University.

Do you find that a background in journalism helps when you write about film?

I do, actually. I think it helped me come up with new ways to write about similar subjects and really create a convincing picture in my writing.

How did you become a contributing film critic to CNN?

I met one of the producers of CNN Newsroom online and she followed by blog and twitter feed and she said she was a fan and offered me a few stints as a guest critic. It was nerve-racking at first, but I really enjoyed it.

How did you become a contributing film critic to BBC radio?

One of the producers had followed by twitter feed and read a few of my comments and thought I’d be a great guest for a segment on kids films. It was a very fun experience.

You co-host a film radio show called Cinema in Noir. Is that on terrestrial radio or satellite radio?

It’s a multicultural movie discussion show on Blog Talk Radioonline.

Were you approached for that film radio job or did you approach someone?

I was approached by one of my former co host, Rocky, on twitter. We had like-minded goals–diversifying film discussion–and she offered me a spot on her soon to be radio show.

Are you paid for your CNN, BBC, and Cinema in Noir contributions?

No.

What advice do you have for a person wanting to break into radio regarding film?

First and foremost, you have to have passion. You also have to be able to express your thoughts about film and be able to argue a point with equally passionate critics. Start your own show online, which can lead to bigger and grander things. It gets your voice heard as you essentially carve out your own brand as a go-to critic who is knowledgeable and confident. Others will see that and want to book you.

What advice do you have for a person wanting to contribute (regarding film) to CNN or the BBC?

A lot of it is who you know. Chat with the CNN folks on your various social media links. Follow them, comment on their posts. If they see your passion and your knowledge of the subject, they’ll become interested.

What is the best advice you can give to an aspiring movie website master?

One of the most important things I’ve learned as a journalist is having your own voice. Not just someone who has an opinion, as you already do. But, rather, a writer who’s writing is distinctly theirs, whose writing style is incomparable to any others. That distinguishes you from the pack. Also, stay up on the latest movie news, and follow other bloggers to see what they’re doing and just acquaint yourself with the process. A lot about getting your name out there is getting other people in the blogging community to know about you too. I’d also recommend learning website formatting, or teaching yourself how to do it (like I did). Research traffic analyses websites to find you how you can record traffic. Come up with a an eye-catching design template and a catchy title for your blog. The rest is gravy.

If someone wants to read more about you, where can they find you?

Reel Talk is a great way to find me, or you can find me on Twitter (Profile: Reeltalker) or LinkedIn.

Movie websites constantly come into existence and then blow out like a blighted and beleaguered flame for a myriad of reasons. They cease operation because of a declining audience, there are time commitment issues, bad management decisions, et cetera.  The Movie Blog is not one of those movie websites.

The Movie Blog has been online crunching and churning out movie news and movie reviews since 2003. They are  consistent (Movie Content: Consistency, Starting a Movie Website: Write Consistently, 5 Strategies for Writing and Publishing Website Posts Consistently) in their daily publication of new movie articles. The entire writing team of The Movie Blog has now moved onto a new writing venture, a new movie website.

I had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Rodney Brazeau, one of The Movie Blog’s senior editors and the founder of the new movie website Reel Time about his former website and the new one that came online last week.

1.) What sparked the idea for The Movie Blog?

At the turn of the century in 2000, John Campea started a review site called Movie-Reviews.org where he and a few friends – myself included - would do weekly movie reviews. John also had his own personal blog, but as he found he was mostly talking about movie news on it, the idea of TheMovieBlog was born. He started the new site to do more than just reviews, and a new platform for movie discussion was born (though we didn’t know it at the time)

2.) How did you choose the name The Movie Blog?

Back in 2003 when John chose to create a movie blog, there was no need for clever names. TheMovieBlog was exactly what it was, and the domain was available.

3.) How long did it take for The Movie Blog to be built?

This was a drive of passion. The site was never built with the intention of making money or developing a career. We just kept plugging away and enjoying the discussions in the comments. After about 4 years of this “hobby” John was able to make TheMovieBlog into his full time career and us writers actually saw a return on our investment.

4.) Who built The Movie Blog? Who programmed The Movie Blog?

TheMovieBlog is like an old house. It was built on WordPress with a variety of themes throughout its history. Much of the programming fell to volunteers and paid scripters. The current version was a purchased Wordpress Theme that was heavily modified by Rodney Brazeau

5.) When was The Movie Blog launched?

July 28th, 2003

6. ) What content management system (CMS) do you use?

WordPress

7.) Who designed the logo of The Movie Blog and how did you come up with the slogan “The Official Home of Correct Movie Opinions”?

The Logo has gone through a number of versions, the most recent has been in use for about three years. Rodney Brazeau designed this most recent logo. The Slogan “Home of Correct Movie Opinions” came from the very clever Dave Lapsley who coined the facetious phrase in conversation and it stuck. It embodied our belief that opinion cannot be wrong and the subjectivity of film is diverse and ripe with opportunity for open discussion.

8.) Do you have a basic hosting plan or are you on a dedicated server?

The current owners of the site house it on a dedicated server. We have had the site hosted on a number of hosting plans until its purchase.

9.) How was The Movie Blog financed?

Blood sweat and tears. This came out of our own pockets until the site was purchased. The site was actually purchased twice. The second and current owners are financing the operations of the site from its proceeds.

10.) Did you write a business plan for The Movie Blog? If so, how did you pitch the main idea of the site to investors?

Our driving passion for discussion and sharing movie news and opinion was our pitch – to ourselves. We were instantly sold on that. It was recognition of our accomplishments that drew investors to want to buy the site. Despite being sold twice, they were far from the only offers.

11.) Was your experience or lack of experience an issue when you launched The Movie Blog?

In 2003 there really were not that many movie blogs out there. Our lack of experience defined the site as it grew. We learned organically what things we could do and not do.

12.)  What mistakes (if any) did you make in the beginning with The Movie Blog?

We didn’t make any mistakes. Just learning opportunities. How we word our stories, keeping integrity in giving credit for where we read the stories, and how we manage discussions (to keep it clean, no trolling or spam advertisers). These all became opportunities to make our site better shortly after uttering a soft “oops”. These opportunities also earned us respect with studios and many of the PR contacts we have.

13.) What type of business is The Movie Blog? A Limited Liability Company, a Sole Proprietorship, etc?

Currently TheMovieBlog is owned as a property of SimianPlay and in itself is not a company.

14.) The Movie Blog has gone through some changes over the years, most notably your acquisition some years back. Can you tell us a little about that? What spurred the changes, upgrades?

They bought the site because of what we were already doing. The audience we created was our greatest asset. Purchasing the site did give us a little more room for opportunity, but really did not have any impact on the direction or quality of the site.

15.) How much was your site acquired for the first time? The second time?

I know how much, but again since this was not me it was paid to, I cannot share these details.

16.) Do you have a separate bank account exclusively for The Movie Blog, a business account?

As a property of private investors, we do not see any of the money directly. They handle all the finances of the site. Only the owners know exactly how much money the site is making.

17.) How many people work at The Movie Blog?

Until its recent takeover, we had myself (Rodney) and two other consistent writers (Anthony and Darren). However MANY writers have written for TMB over the years, many of them on their own successful ventures now.

18.) Do you have assigned work shifts at The Movie Blog?

News doesn’t come in shifts, so we work when we hear news or fit it in our schedule!

19.) How were you and your staff paid by the companies that acquired you?

I don’t know the details, as the site belonged to the original founder of the site. Part of that purchase included keeping John on board to run the site. I am not at liberty to disclose the amounts or what he arranged to pay staff at that time.

20.) How did the company decide what to pay each employee?

The payment was negotiated based on what each of us contributed to the site.

21.)  How does The Movie Blog generate revenue?

Ad Space with some really respectable networks. Specifically BlindFerret Media (http://www.blindferretmedia.com/) and IndieClick (http://indieclick.com/). We dealt with a LOT of ad networks over the years and these guys have handled us with the most respect.

22.) How much traffic does The Movie Blog receive per month?

When I left TMB it was maintaining 700-800k in pageviews a month (60% unique). Since leaving I cannot say for sure.

23.) What is happening over at The Movie Blog now?

I can only describe it as a Hostile Takeover. The financial owners of the site made some false accusations against me and my character. It was quickly apparent that they were not interested in resolving this error in judgement. As a result they were left to run the site themselves after they locked out me and my writers.

24.) When did you become aware of what was happening?

Mostly after the fact. They were very much “hands off” letting me run the site as I choose. One day my login credentials did not work, and when I asked if there was a technical issue I was told that they were ”auditing” the site, and I was locked out from that moment on.

25.) What reasons were you given for this move by the owners?

They felt I was less than honest about management of the site. I have nothing to hide from them. Everything I have done was to benefit the website, and its all there for the world to see.

26.) Did traffic levels or Page Rank have a part to play in their decision?

None at all. This was personal.

27.) Did you try to change their minds or alter the situation?

Yes. Repeatedly. This was decided the moment it was done.

28.) What legal recourse do you have?

None. Despite running the site for the last three years, I have no formal documentation outlining our responsibilities to each other (yes, we repeatedly asked for one to be drawn up – one I drew up was ignored). In effect, due to this oversight I was technically “squatting with permission” rebuilding the site after John Campea left to run AMC’s Script to Screen.

29.) What are your plans now for you and your writing team?

Freedom. We have launched a new site that will be benefitting from years of experience running one of the oldest movie blogs online, and thanks to the overwhelming support of the readership I have grown to know online, and the writers who once wrote for TheMovieBlog, we are creating a new home for what readers of TheMovieBlog have grown to love and more.

30.) What is the best advice you can give to an aspiring movie website master?

You have to LOVE what you are doing. If you are getting into this to make money your lack of passion will quickly show. If you love what you do, people will see it and they will be moved by it. With so many movie sites opening every day all hoping to make this their career,

Also, as we have learned the hard way, Contracts mean nothing as they can always be broken by bigger pockets, but no contracts just makes you homeless. If you DO have a site and investors want to buy it, make sure every contingency is on paper.

31.) If someone wants to read more about your new venture, where can they find you?

ReelTime (http://www.ReelTimemovieblog.com/) is the name of our new movie blog, and its just starting to grow. We have a lot of ideas for great unique content to come.

In Conclusion

There are many lessons to be learned from this Rodney Brazeau interview (good, consistent content brings traffic and rewards), chief of all being: Do not let your website (small business) be acquired without defining the parameters of that acquisition in writing (a business contract). Clearly and thoroughly define your relationship in writing in the form of a employment contract if you continue to work for a company after it has acquired from you. Business contracts can be used to “define and strengthen relationships by increasing predictability, allocating risk and reward, creating and retaining options, and aligning incentives” [via Harvard Business Publishing]. When you do not have a contract, none of these attributes are present or possible.

Many companies get rid of the founders once the founders’ company has been acquired, especially if there is no contract protecting them. It happened to one of the two founders of Cisco Systems and it happened at The Movie Blog. Will it happen to you after reading this interview?

I recently had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Ryan Parsons, the founder of Trailer Addict, about his website and his answers provide plenty of insight into start-up organizations, planning, having a vision, and finding capital to fund that vision.

1.) What sparked the idea for Trailer Addict?

Working on a film blog back in 2007, I noticed that film blogs have begun a new trend of embedding movie trailers from 3rd party sites. Though a cool idea, the trailers were always in a low resolution that was easy to stream. The original concept behind TrailerAddict was to be the first video site to allow embeddable HD content. Today just about every video site offers HD content, though TrailerAddict specializes in film.

2.) What business or consumer need does Trailer Addict fill?

The fanboy, or anybody that considers themselves a fan of high-production video. We’ve come to understand that plenty of our visitors are bigger fans of movie trailers than they are of the movies themselves.

3.) How long did it take to build Trailer Addict?

The initial design phase took a full five months. We went live January 2008 with our first pop on Digg. At that time TrailerAddict was running on a system that only required 7 tables of information. Today we have just over 40 tables in our database.

4.) Who built Trailer Addict? Who programmed Trailer Addict?

Save for the flash player and menu, all the design — graphics and coding — was done by myself. It was a big learning process, but it’s nice to know exactly how the system works from back to front.

5.) How many servers does Trailer Addict utilize?

The site is run on one primary server, which is soon to become two. The files are delivered from two different systems. The first system is our virtual CDN that now consists of only three file servers. We now also utilize an actual CDN company, who should (hopefully) better syndicate our videos across the globe.

6.) What company hosts Trailer Addict?

The company that hosts TrailerAddict is a datacenter in LA known as PacificRack.

7.) When was Trailer Addict launched?

TrailerAddict was launched January 2008.

8.) How was Trailer Addict financed?

Bootstrapped. I took out two lines of credit with Wells Fargo the summer of 2007. The site went a little over $80K in debt before it started generating positive revenue.

9.) What was the process to taking out the lines of credit at Wells Frago? If your personal credit rating played a part in getting those lines of credit, what was your credit rating at that time? Was your personal equity an issue?

My credit score was about 794 when I took the credit lines at Wells Fargo. I’ve been using the bank since 18, and have a few higher-up contacts there that made sure I got the credit lines without difficulty. Once I maxed out the credit lines, I believe my credit score did lose something like 50 points. The lines are now paid off.

10.) Did you write a business plan for Trailer Addict?

Yes, there was a business plan.

11.) How did you handle the financial section of your business plan since you were a first mover in the HD Movie Trailer delivery industry? How did you project cash flow and repayment of investment? How did you construct your balance sheet, etc?

When it came to exact money figures, it was sort of a crapshoot.

I didn’t even know what to expect, and the ad market was plummeting thanks to bad economy at end of 2008 and all of 2009. We didn’t want to run pre-rolls, which are the #1 revenue source for video sites, so I just played the gamble of losing it all. This was going to be my final web project if it didn’t work out, and I saw it as good experience, though it would have cost me huge.

I bet big on it, and it worked out. But I also made sure to work hard to have it happen. 14 hour work days are the average, and there is still no sign of letting up.

12.) What was the key differentiating element (sale’s point) for your business plan? What sold people on its validity?

The key sales point, when I pitched to investors, was the fact that, after enough research, I could create a bandwidth system that would not only be incredibly cheaper than any other video site, but support higher resolutions of video. HD content was not being done at that time, so we had our niche.

13.) Which investors did you pitch and how did you get them to sit down with you?

I used to serve tables to make ends meet while working. Helps a web guy to stay social. I served tables at a nice steakhouse and always found myself in extended conversations with patrons. I was prone for making contacts and friends through guests that visited the restaurant. I ended up becoming friends with a wealthy investor who, after I pitched one day, wanted to help me out.

So I started going all over Southern California with him to investor meetings and just general “Meetings of the Rich,” as I called them. It was cool. We also went out and had dinner and drinks a lot. Awesome guy. The only thing I really learned, however, was that these big investors don’t get impressed by upcoming web properties. It was sort of a field they didn’t entirely understand, and they wanted a huge chunk of site for not that much invested. So I passed on all of it.

I did use LinkedIn to approach some angels also, and I did hear back from a few. But that only got me invited to more investor meetings, which I passed on. Then I was introduced to a guy in LA by my Wells Fargo contact, who ended up giving me a job at an LA datacenter — that focused primary on porn — instead of investing. I did that for a few months and then went back entirely to site. By the time all that was over, imagine a period of 8 months, I decided that bootstrapping it entirely was best way to go.

14.) Was your experience or lack of experience an issue? If so, how did you overcome that in your business plan?

Been doing websites since 2003, and have seen just as many failures as successes. I also ran a humor video site in 2006, a site we sold for pennies due to too much competition.

15.) What type of business is Trailer Addict? A Limited Liability Company, a Sole Proprietorship, etc?

It’s in the process of becoming a corporation, though ran as a Sole Proprietorship through 2010. The shift has been long over do.

16.) How does Trailer Addict generate revenue?

Strictly on banner ads. Unlike all the other video sites and blogs, TrailerAddict does not take advantage of pre rolls; the video ads that play before video. We find those to be the most annoying, and have hence passed on them in favor of user experience.

17.) How many people work at Trailer Addict?

There are two primary administrators — Ryan Parsons and Shawn Lewis — and a small collection of “little helpers.”

18.) How did you meet Shawn Lewis?

Shawn Lewis is my brother in law, so it wasn’t exactly a chance meet at the workplace. He and I attempted an internet partnership with two others, but that ended with no success. He had the experience necessary after that to join TrailerAddict and help run it.

19.) How many pageviews does Trailer Addict get per month?

Approximately eleven-million page views per month.

20.) If someone wants to read more about your company, where can they find you?

They can view our website at TrailerAddict.com or email us at contact@traileraddict.com.

In Conclusion

As you can see, there was much to learn from this interview. A.) Have a good credit score if you approach a bank for a line of credit. Mr.Parson had a credit score of 794 and still needed the help of someone on the inside to get the credit he needed. That was before the market fell. My business advisor told me that if you do not have a credit score of around 700 (minimum) in today’s economy, you are not likely to get a loan. B.) Have a niche, a differentiating factor in your business plan. It can’t be that your running it or that “its going to be cool”. C.) Having a background in websites will help with your creditability and will mitigate some of the risk associated with lending you funds to get your idea up and running.