The New Site We're Launching - Page 2

Might wanna widen the search for non-CHUD content beyond the usual rogues' gallery, as we're apparently not a super-diverse gang. Cobretti can write about actually living a life, but beyond that we're mostly movie-obsessed cracker* shut-ins with poor impulse control**, separated and defined by which nerd movie franchise we know more about (dibs on Planet of the Apes).

*Nooj is Asian, though. And I think there's like four girls and a couple African Americans.
**Did this offend you, the reader? I didn't mean you. You're awesome.

I'm offended that you referred to me as "the reader". I have the content of this site read to me by a third party, thank you very much.

Email sent! This sounds fun.

I didn't include non-film interests though. These would be music, all sorts of artsy stuff like serigraphy, sewing, gadgets, poker, animals, and anything weird.

Unfortunately, this is pretty spot on.

Clearly, I meant Natalia, DonS.

Fuck you.

Oh, cool. Never mind then.

Your column was one of the best articles I've read on CHUD mate.

I'm not offended. Is that what you meant? Because I’m definitely "the reader".

Somehow, money is a taboo topic. I remember asking someone at Cinematical how much they paid, and getting a response like I just shat in their Count Chocula.

Screw A Serbian Film, the ultimate shocking film will just have scene after scene of people asking other people what they get paid, or how much a job they're thinking about applying for pays. Because nobody seems to like to discuss that shit, man, ever noticed that? At least in America.

Not ripping on anybody here, just an observation.

Email sent, though I'm skeptical my areas of interest/expertise will coincide with the new site's needs. More than anything, want to do my part to help it succeed.

I like how everyone's sending in their areas of knowledge (including me), not knowing what the site's actually going to be about, and then Nick'll be like "BZZZT! Sorry, thanks for playing, the site is actually crustacean yaoi."

But there's a difference between asking "What do you get paid?" and "What do I get paid?".

Not if your asking them how much they stand to profit from your work.

Please select which GIF is the best response to this thread:

a) Bunk&Kima.gif
b) Citizen Kane clapping.gif
c) Gay Perry touching his nose and pointing.gif
d) That's a Bingo.gif
e) A and C
f) None of the above

Will it have an iPhone app?

Who cares what they stand to make off of your work? If you don't like what they offer for you to do your work, don't take the offer. Or negotiate for a better deal.

I worked for years as a movie reviewer in the interior of BC. My price was fifty to two hundred dollars an article depending on length and publication. End of story. I didn't care that most of the newspapers I worked for were making huge profits and mostly owned my one media giant. As long as I thought what I was getting paid was fair market value and I could buy beer with the proceeds I was happy.

What's wrong with wanting fair compensation for your work? Or for wanting to know if there will be fair compensation for your work? Or for wanting to know specifics about that compensation? And why are so many people seemingly offended that people should ask for compensation?

Asking someone what they make, or for details of their business model, or for publicly asking what they're going to pay you, is generally pretty poor form unless you have a long professional/personal history. However, learning the business and understanding the economic realities is a fundamental part of entering a profession. Otherwise, you DON'T KNOW what fair market value is for your services.

Yeah ... "cool" really doesn't enter into it when you have mortgages, kids, and some sense that your time and effort have value.
Sure, you have to realize that the owner is taking all the risk and doing all the legwork, but there's nothing wrong with seeking fair value for your contribution to a business.

Starting up anything new is stressful, and probably feels like you're being slowly crushed. Just say: "Hey, we will promote the shit out of your name and give you creative freedom to express yourself and put your flag on the intertron in an established forum that gets XXXXX hits a day. But I can't pay you. At least not right now. Unless you come up with a damn better reason than that you're funny and can string a series of sentences together."

I don't think anyone would have a problem with that at all. As for my comments above, they were general bits of advice, as people said a few things that seemed to promote rather counter-productive views of how professional life works.

I sent you an Email before realizing this is not a call out for "new Chud" site helpers.

Anyway, I'll be glad to offer my service doing some funny, cool, photomanipulations, effects, etc. to use with articles, if interested, and for free naturally. And I'm no amateur ;-)

More info in the mail.

Rath said, "Compensation details would be nice." All Nick had to say was, "None right now, possibly some in the future" and the conversation would have been over.

*ding, ding, ding*

The conversation is never over...NEVER!

I mean, maybe Rath could have phrased it a little better, but it's not like he came out and said, "Fuck this if you're not paying me," which is how it seems some people read it.

I think you've misinterpreted my post or I misinterpreted your original post. I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with looking into what someone stands to profit from your work if that someone is asking you to contribute it for free.

I like beer, gin, rum, cooking and alternative healthcare. Not sure I can write worth a flip but I make a mean Powerpoint presentation.

I didn't get paid to write here until Movie Insider rolled around, but was able to use CHUD as an outlet to get access to junkets, screenings, interviews and set visits that I subsequently sold under fake names to magazines in the UK, Germany and, in particular, France as well as a few other places here in the States so I didn't have to work a real job while trying to break in as a screenwriter and, of course, got an education in how movies work while I did it. I'm not saying that writing for free online is the be-all, end-all, but if you're mercenary about it and can figure an angle (and in my case, be fairly ethic-less about reselling the same quotes - totally got busted once on doubling up coverage of the "Dawn of the Dead" remake in two UK mags), hey, it can pay.

Jules Feiffer, in his autobiography published this year, talked about contributing weekly "Sick, Sick, Sick" strips to the Village Voice for years and years hopelessly unpaid and found unusual ways to have it pay off for him in other ways that led him to be successful as a cartoonist. But he got out there and pounded the pavement.

If you want to write, having a platform that's already getting traffic is not nothing. Figuring out a way to get paid on it, I suppose, is a way of separating the wheat from the chaff. What's that thing Will Smith said here or there? There are plenty of people out there more talented than him, but he'll beat you every time in busting his ass to get out there and promote as no one else is going to do it for you.

I know a lot about political organizing, but I'm also sure that I won't be able to write about specific races because I'll be involved in them. Would general knowledge on political grassroots activism be of interest to the site?

FWIW, I emailed Nick. I've been doing professional writing and editing for 15 years, as well as being a pretty good amateur at graphics.

If the team can use me, great. If not, I'll still be supporting the new site.

...and email sent

I sent an email. I don't know if my sad pathetic sickly stories qualify, but they're here if needed.

Yeah, I think we got crossed signals somehow. I agree with the above.

Nick posts a vague job description, Rath asked a question he knew the answer to, and Nick sidestepped the answer, which he surely didn't include by choice in the initial posting. This thread didn't go off the rails, it started there.

Crustacean Yaoi in case someone hadn't tested Rule 34 today.

But on topic, I agree with MichaelM. I don't have any particular interests that outweigh any others, and there are people on this forum who are better experts, but I am an excellent editor. Some good editing would help make good, salt-of-the-earth articles great.

Hi, Guys.

Because I am also helping Nick to launch the new site, I'd like to step in and steer a little to help you guys understand what we're looking for and to clear up a few misunderstandings. I am helping Nick with recruiting to handle the massive work load and am smiling to see so many hands raised already.

1. Nick's post was not a job description. It's a call out to see who is interested in helping with a massive endeavor that is not editorially constructed like CHUD at all. It'll have the same offbeat no-rules sense of humor though because... well... it's from the same publisher! But it is a different animal with a far broader base than film. In fact, film might be 10% of the pie at best. That's what you have CHUD for!

2. I know for a fact that Nick loves his Chewer community. It's an amazing group of people. Intelligent. Passionate... and hell, I've seen the non-solicited offers for help and it's inspiring. We do need your help--quite a few of you, in fact, and Nick trusts you guys enough to ask. To see Nick's open door for opportunity reciprocated with inherent mistrust, microscopic scrutiny of his words, and assumptions of his intentions is a little saddening. Nick is an open book. So am I. We'll give you as much information as we can as soon as we can in this process. Right now, we're testing the waters for response, so please bear with him and myself as well.

3. No one person is a one-trick pony. This site's community is united by a passion for film, but every single person here lives a fully-faceted human existence outside of film as well and if you want to help, we're interested in what else makes your heart beat and what else you fancy yourself an expert in, because that is what you might have a chance to write about. If you want to help and have put off sending him an email because you only know about horse grooming, then dammit, send him an email. We'll see if your writing skill fits our requirements and if there is a special place we can plug you into. Trust me... we have so many nooks and crannies and some will be built just for you.

4. What can you expect out of helping? Someone mentioned early on that this was a chance to be part of something great. I sure hope it is, and I've spent minimum 60 hour weeks for months now on that promise and with that goal. Nick opened a door for me a little over a year ago to write a blog on this site, and that was my first experience with putting my hard work out there into the dark and waiting to see what happened. What happened? I've gotten to experience over and over again the feeling of accomplishment to A) finish something B) have something to share with my community whether it be facebook, friends and family or this community here C) to try something way bigger than myself. And it has been consistently rewarding in ways I never saw coming. There will be Chewers who will get to experience that through this new site, and I can't wait for others to have that experience as well if they haven't already.

Let's keep this positive and on track. The door is open. We are listening.

88, great post and thanks for helping sketch the big picture.

I think it's a general rule of thumb that more people need to listen to Smilin' Jack Ruby. Like about everything in life. The man is a fount. A FOUNT I SAY!

Some of you are maybe too young or haven't hit the point in your life where you know how much you can offer or what you are capable of doing, but only you can decide what your time is worth and what you can make of an opportunity. Absolutely everything is open for negotiation in life. Coming in here and publicly asking for terms up front just cripples your ability to negotiate anything to your favour down the road. And a messageboard forum is not the place to be trying to feel this opportunity out. Switch it to PM's, ask the pointed questions you need to, and if it's not for you, walk away. Nick isn't a bastard for asking for help on the new site. Just like you're not a bastard for saying no if you don't feel comfortable with the terms of that work.

Expect the expected.

Hi, all.

This morning I am going through the email responses we've received and I am just overwhelmed at the breadth of interest and the credentials you guys have tucked in your back pockets. We have a kick-ass community here. And generous as fuck. You guys are great!

That being said, if you've casually replied with interest in this thread and haven't sent Nick an email, please do so if you're interested. It's much easier to capture your info that way (email / real name / area of expertise) because you are being fitted into a spreadsheet so we can contact you. I don't want you guys to get missed:

nicknunziata@gmail.com or andrea@chud.com

I can't thank you guys enough for jumping on this. The door is still open for more!

Email responses to you guys are starting to trickle out.

Just remember... if we decide not to use your help in an editorial capacity, we are grateful for help in distributing bumper stickers, etc etc when the time comes if that's something you care to be a part of. Some of you have offered specifically that, and there will come a time when that kind of help is vital.

The door is still open if you wanna jump on board folks. Drop me a note: andrea@chud.com

Thank you ALL.

I'm extremely proficient in Monster-Hunting. Seeing as how I haven't been eaten... er... digested yet, I'm thinking that pretty much makes me an expert.

I have a Masters in Monster Lore from Miskatonic U in case you were wondering.

I choose:

g) C and D.

specifically, C pointing at D's nose.

Email sent.

Well as outlined in my initial email I'm in South East Asia and offline between the 20th of December to the 20th of January, but am available as soon as I'm back.

Hell, I dunno if this is the sort of thing the site would be good for, but I could always write a few 'An Australians Adventures In The Orient' tales upon my return?

Really looking forward to this new site, hopefully we can all be a part of it.

Agreed, Ken. I'm extremely excited about the new site, and moreso at the prospect of being able to contribute.

By the way, I thought of a couple more areas last night where I'm knowledgable and passionate. Dunno if that would help with the wide range of content you are all considering or not. Should I send another e-mail with them?