The Realities of Becoming a Paid Movie Critic for a Print or Online Publication in 2025
The realities of becoming a paid movie critic for a print or online publication in 2025 are stark, as one aspiring full-time film critic found out in the last quarter of 2024. The lessons from only a few months ago are relevant today. The aspiring paid film critic in question asked to write for my movie website, FilmBook, pro bono in mid-2024. I agreed, and he began. As the critic lived in London, England, we sent him to the 2024 London Film Festival as a member of the press.
After the festival, when asked to begin writing film news articles in addition to film and TV show reviews, he decided to resign because he felt that he would never become a full-time, paid film critic for a print or online publication. In my reply email, I offered my unvarnished opinion on the paid film critic subject, which I have dubbed ‘The Reality Check.’
The Reality Check
1.) To become a paid critic, you need a strong history of published criticism on your resume for legitimate news and/or entertainment websites.
You are getting that now, but four months of reviews on FilmBook is not a strong history. It’s the beginning. [The remainder of this response has been omitted for relevancy reasons.]
2.) The people that get paid to write film reviews for major publications have degrees in literature, film history, or journalism. This is what you need to compete. This is what you are competing against if you don’t have one of these degrees.
The job that you want is sought after and extremely difficult to get because it’s so fun and enjoyable.
When an open critic’s position, at say Variety, becomes available, they are inundated with resumes and applications. The top choice for the job will be a person with vast experience in the field. The bottom choice will be a person with little-to-no experience. Would you choose a veteran for your sole critic’s position, knowing exactly what you are going to get because you can see their publication history, or would you choose a rookie with little-to-no publication history?
3.) Intern for the publication you want to work at. Example: Variety. Get the experience, put it on your resume, and then apply for a paying job there before your internship ends. Remember, though, the competition for that once-in-ten-years critic’s job, if that is the job you apply for at Variety [or any other publication], will be extremely fierce.
4.) Start a YouTube channel and review there. It will take years to get paid, but if you build an audience, you never know. You could become one of those YouTubers that makes a living at it.
Bottom line: to eventually be a paid film critic that writes reviews for others to read, build up your online publication history on a website (or websites) that are legitimate news and/or entertainment websites, not a personal blog or any type of mass fan review website. Once you have a thorough background in published movie criticism (and/or the education or internship I mentioned), then apply to the paid critic’s position.
You will be in a far better position to get the paid critic’s job if you do.
The Print / Online Publication Landscape
Needless to say, my blunt situational assessment and honest advice about becoming a paid, full-time film critic for a print or online publication, the YouTube advice notwithstanding, did not go over well. I tried not to be harsh, but this person needed a wake-up call. It isn’t twenty or thirty years ago anymore. It’s not the time period before the Internet. That era is gone, and so are, except for a few rare instances, the type of film critic position the aforementioned former FilmBook writer aspires to possess. He’s too late. Print media is downsizing, trimming the fat, becoming lean and mean, and not expanding. The rise of social media, YouTube, and A.I. has only exacerbated the situation. Print media, in some form or another, will always exist, but the days of large entertainment divisions within them containing multiple staff film critics are a thing of the past.
I showed the aspirational writer the current, narrow path to a paid film critic’s position (when one becomes available at a print or online publication): education, great writing, and years of online publication at news or entertainment websites (like he began to do for himself at FilmBook). It’s the same answer to anyone that wants to be a paid film critic at a print or online publication. You need the scholastic coursework (it makes you more marketable), skill (e.g., avoiding the use of FANBOYS at the beginning of your sentences), and a strong publication history to even be considered. The competition is too high now, and the positions are too few for anything less. Without those credentials and work history, your job application won’t even get past the first level, human resource screener (most likely an intern or an algorithm). Instead, you will receive an automated rejection email, generated and delivered by Salesforce, in your inbox.
This is not cynicism. These are facts: “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and” evidence”—John Adams. When one of those unicorn-like, paid movie critic positions becomes available at a print or online publication, you need to be ready with your aligned degree, honed writing skill, and resume, i.e., “preparedness meets opportunity.” If not, all you will ever have is a dream and an inbox full of rejection notifications.
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