Sweet mother of Jesus, get a hold of yourself, man!!! You got a great site, and its shaping up to be greater. Just keep at it, dude.

Matt,

Your personal well being/state of mind is way more important than the site. I’m really sorry you’re on such a downer at the moment and if its because of the site then I think maybe scaling back is a good idea.

However, it is a great site. You do an amazing job and for a site that is, as you say, non-profit, I think it stands up there with some of the mainstream sites that pay big money. You’re always so down on your writing too which you shouldn’t be.

You have a gift that a lot of writers don’t have, in that basically you can write in an easy, free flowing way, without ranting or waffling or dancing around the point. Your stuff is interesting, concise and informative. And y’know just because people don’t post replies doesn’t mean they’re not interested. I hardly ever post, but I’m on the site almost everyday reading what you’ve put. You do a great job and your writing has set the tone for a great site.

Also you should worry less about keeping us writers happy. Every time you change the site we all bitch and moan but after a few weeks we just get on with it. It is a writers job to do three things:

1. write (obviously)
2. bitch and moan
3. drink way more alcohol than is good for them

If we’re doing all of the above then we’re normally happy.

Anyway I love the site and I love writing for the site. I know my stuff is infrequent and often perhaps too far on the fringes (nobody really cared about poor Bruno S.) but as long as you’ll have me I’ll keep sending my stuff in. And I will do this because I genuinely think it’s a great site, love being a part of it and trust you as the editor.

So take a break, scale down, whatever you need to get your sanity back. You’re good at what you do, Matt. Remember that and you’ll be fine

Firstly, I TOTALLY understand you. I have my own website – and – yeah – I know the pressure. I wrote reviews about so many films that the readers “demanded” – but I didnt really care about. And its very frustrating to communicate with the staff – because they often simply dont put the same passion into the website like the webmaster (which is understandable since they are just the staff and doing it for free). The most people, the visitors, always totally underrate the work of a webmaster. It is a shitload of work tand you have to invest 3, 4 hours a day – besides your private life and work day.

And you cant really live from a website. Thats an old fairytale. Yeah, there were geeks who created a website and now running it like a professional business (and making money with it). BUT they started it in the 90s (Bloody Disgusting, Chud, AICN, Joblo, Rotten Tomatoes, TORN….) and were the first ones. Today there are simply way toooooo much movie websites – especially since EVERYONE can build a website with using a blog system or Joomla or Typho 3. You dont have to programme anything anymore. Everyone is now a “journalist”.

Actually thats not a bad thing – but its pretty tough for webmasters who take their “job” serious to rival with those “a post in two days”-sites. Its not one site that is the problem – its the amount of all of those sites.

I can understand your frustation – and the most ppl dont recognize it. They know that a Sam Raimi interview is for free – but dont see that you have to take the time to travel to the interview, you have to pay for gas and stuff and then you have to edit and upload it. So for every interview you are paying real money from your own pocket. When I made my Uwe Boll (yeah, I know…) interview in January for my website I had to take a vacation day and payed 130 Euros – just to travel to Mainz, where Boll lives. And a lot of ppl dont really appreciate it – because they are used to get interviews for free – from professional websites.

There should be much more support for fan websites who are run proffesional – like OWF. (Note: Joblo, AICN, RT arent really fanwebsites anymore – they are professionals who are earning a lot of money….I am talking about the real fan websites who are run professional).

Well, I cant really give you an advice. You have to make the decision alone – but I would say move on. Invest a certain time of the day (lets say 2 hours a day) for the website and not more. Rebuild OWF a bit.

Make a short news area – where you are simply linking to other movie websites. Thats a good way to update the website daily with “less” work, and to generate new users.

Open your website to more writes and give them some more freedom (that they can upload their own stuff).

Dont turn every news entry into a personal story. Yeah, its a great read – and thats why i like OWF – but in the end its simply not possbile to talk about every news bit – to invest a half hour for every news entry.

You have to make compromises – or you have to give it up.

Thats how I did it. I said to myself, instead of updating daily I will just write two reviews a week – but two more in depth reviews. that meant that I lost around 10 – 20% of my visitors. But in the end its less stress, and more enjoyable for myself.

@ VideoRaider – The site already had a bunch of writers who had carte blanche to write as they pleased. Apparently that is not the answer.

@ Video Raider- Also, your comment about successful websites is off. Although you’re correct about sites like AICN and JoBlo, sites like SlashFilm or FirstShowing have been launched in recent years and become self-sustaining and successful sites. In the case of First Showing, it’s almost mystifying.

Matt
All I have to say is. I love the site. I check it multiple times everyday.
Myself and many others would be bummed if this site went away.
Like I said. I love the reviews and the movie nerd discussions you guys write.
Thats my confession.
T

I discovered your site about a month ago and now it sits in my tabs on firefox between Spill and Movieweb. I hope you don’t sell it or make many changes. This is a hidden gem of a site that I’m glad I found. I love Ray’s reviews and articles because he doesn’t pussy foot around stuff and tells it like it is.

This site is awesome! Ever since I have discovered it, this is where I always go to in order to find out my movie news. I am a huge movie buff and and I usually always go to this website first, it hasnt let me down yet!! And probably never will. Don’t give up…if this is truly a passion for you, don’t let it slip away. Sometimes when things get tough, thats when you have to stay in the game and fight through it all, and in the end it is all worth it!

God bless!

Listen I am a Television and Film major and am currently going into my senior year at school…. with that being said, I just started going to your website a few months ago and have fallen in love with it. I probably view the site every day now and get all my latest news, gossip and articles from it. Please don’t let the site die, it’s the only site I have found that isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, has great general discussions and knows when they are reporting truth or just rumors.

Once again, please keep on keepin’ on

“A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. ”
Bob Dylan

omg love the new layout keep it this way plz

You have absolutely zero reason to feel that your site is inferior. This is one of the most professionally produced sites I’ve seen. But I say yes to scaling back from covering every single little thing to do with films – be more partisan, cover what you like. No-one’s cared about a Hellraiser film since the 80s, for God’s sake, don’t waste your time on s**t like that. And keep Ray’s reviews going, the man is a legend!

Matt, hang in there! As I mentioned in my recent email response to you, the site is looking better than ever and I would love to take up your offer and come back and write for OWF.

I had great experiences contributing to the site and loved the opportunities it gave me to pen and post reviews, interview film stars, attend press screenings where I could rub shoulders with established critics and be able to rant and rave about films without the pressure of promotions! (See Empire and Total Film’s undeserved four star reviews for TERMINATOR SALVATION for a recent e.g).

And I credit you and Peter for pathing the way for these wonderful experiences and making them happen. Creating a stable, established website that was good enough to be listed in the The Good Web Site Guide 2008 and continues to evolve and provide a showcase for the penniless freelance film writer.

In a word I am PROUD to have OWF on my C.V!

Stick with it, you have dedicated at least 3 years of your life to this site – don’t throw all that hard work away! Your a good writer and editor with sound intentions and ambition and you have established a solid working relationship with Peter, who provides the necessary backbone.

This can’t be the end.

awesome fuckin site man

Matt I can respect what your saying. You put a lot of passion into something for three years and you want a payoff. Its hard to work pro-bono forever and I fully understand what you guys do is hardwork.

My question to you and Ray-Why has Slash Film and First Showing made it so big (quantcast says they get 10,000 hits a day) Amazing. Why did they hit so big and how did they get so connected to make a living doing it? Why has the search engines been so kind?
Iv’e run a site for a year
http://blog.entertainmenttodayandbeyond.com/
I write everything myself. Its hard work almost like an addiction. I own a business so Im able to spend time during to day and write a piece or two. I try and do something that is well thought out. I also have archived a radio show on movies that I know is the best produced a program can be. My producer friend is one of the best in the business and a true radio pro. Listen to my top ten disaster films . Its GREAT. I believe that. Still can’t build a following. I do this for fun but it would be nice to hit big in time. Honestly Im not holding my breath or giving up my real job.

Building that following is hard. The search engines blackball you for the most part for at least a year so that makes it very difficult. Sometimes you can get a 1000 hits in a week and not get a comment. That’s a frustration.

Getting back to other sites-Slashfilm- Peter works his ass off. Some times I wonder does that guy ever leaves the house. He must be in front of his computer 20 hrs a day. That’s no joke. He writes one piece after another. Again amazing but eventually he will want a life(maybe a wife and kid) and I don’t know how he can run that site and have that..He will have to delagate.
Alex at First Showing-Smooth looking site that basically puts up 5 news stories aday. Nothing overly insiteful just efficient. He clearly is connected with the industry. But How?

So my question is why did those guys get to a point were they got really big and are able to make a living (like Ray said they have only been doing it 3 years) . Alex even went to Canne a few weeks ago. Amazing.

Jo-Blo-Doesn;t do much for me
Chud-Devin’s a GREAT writer but the sites so cluttered.He’s been out there al long time.
The Movie Blog-I enjoy John’s voice.
Rope of Silicon- They give a negative review to 9 of 10 films.
Screenrant-Vic has alot of writers and his site is playing with the big boys now.
Wearemoviegeeks-Post like its no tommorow-Almost too much.
Aintitcool-I still really like it although they don’t work nearly as hard as they did years ago. Not many early reviews anymore.

Also just so you know not everysite needs huge traffic to sell ad time
Jeffrey Wells -Hollywood-elsewhere gets aroung 5000 hits( again according to quantcast) a week and he very successful blogging and selling ads for the site.

Personally Im proud of what Ive done on my site. I think its good but that and a nickel will leave me 95 cents short of a cup of coffee.
Bottom line-Nothing in life is easy but a few do get lucky. Luck is a good thing.
GOOD LUCK and have a solid game plan.

Chuck

I’ve been coming to this site ever since I landed a top secret audition for the Justice League failure.

I was, and still am, amazed at the accuracy, integrity, and ability this site has to report the inner workings of Hollywood. It also provides a perfectly geeky forum for us movie-philes to duke out our opinions about what’s going on in the world of film.

Matt, we’ve not seen eye to eye all the time, as I’ve spoken out against a few of your posts- However, you have no idea how integral your site has become to my daily activities. Whether or not, we butt heads (as Facilitator and Reader) I’d rather have a decent site that allows us to do so, while agreeing on the common good.

I don’t go to any of the other sites that rival OWF, because they’re hard to navigate and full of fluff. Hang in there, Kiddo. Let this storm pass, and get back on it.

This site is my first stop for movie news. While we can all sympathize with feeling pressure and we certainly wouldn’t want this to affect your personal life, please don’t let this site go away. Most websites nowadays are full of whiney fanboys who aren’t happy with anything that makes it to the screen. I always appreciated your honest, intelligent and fun coverage of the news. Take some time off, remember why this was fun and come back to us.

Firstshowing only does 5 posts a day. That is key. Stop posting everything that crosses your desk. Just because it shows up in Variety, doesn’t mean anybody cares. Slashfilm has a “Page 2″ feature that is just links to other people’s movie news and scoops, with only a descriptive sentence attached to each link. This is how you take care of the majority of news and buzz that happens each day. Maybe someone cares about Hellraiser, and for them you provide a link where they can get more info. But until proven otherwise, you don’t waste your time on a complete write up of items of marginal interest.

1. Two times a week, publish a “Link-o-rama” post, linking to all the news you missed or didn’t care to write about.

2. Follow MCN’s Hotblog example and have an open mic thread, where commenters can talk about anything movie-related.

If someone saw a John Wayne movie for the first time on cable and wants to talk about it, they can. If someone else wants to debate if Megan Fox is a legitimate star, they can do that too. If you notice that the Conan movie (or anything else) always generates lots of comment on the open thread, then you know what your audience is interested in and can delegate a writer to keep up with and post all the latest Conan news, while ignoring whatever your commenters aren’t talking about. Hotblog opens a new thread every 2nd day. You might want to start out with a weekly open thread.

The key: Only write about things YOU or your audience cares about. If you want to write about obscure art flicks, then do so, even if you know your audience doesn’t care. You care and perhaps the persuasiveness of your writing will make your audience care. And if you notice that there is a noisy section of your audience that loves Keanu Reeves (or Twilight), then delegate a writer to cover it even if you hate it. It’s a give and take relationship of keeping you and your audience happy. And don’t assume without evidence that you know what your audience wants. Loving genre films in general, doesn’t mean loving every genre film coming down the pipe.

Good luck with everything, man. Love the site.

@ chuck – In the case of First Showing, site owner Alex Billington made early use of sites like Digg to push his site and traffic. I have been shocked at the amount of traffic that site receives … I consider it one of the worst film sites (after phony news sites like Cinema Blend). Alex knows almost nothing about film prior to 1997. Yet the site has a massive following.

It is frustrating because I think anyone who has worked a “real” job for any length of time would love to have a successful site that they can live off of and grow and nurture as a real business. I look at people like Perez Hilton and I marvel – that fatass was practically homeless when he made that site. It looks like shit. Yet he built it rather quickly into a multi-million dollar site. He has almost no on-camera ability, but for some reason he shows up on Miss America contests and MTV. It’s all due to his ability to strike it rich pursuing the American dream.

I have been letting the readership respond to Matt’s nervous breakdown, rather than add my two cents. An internal email I sent to Matt probably set this off more than anything else.

But I personally thought the site was headed in the right direction. I love VideoRaider’s suggestion to make news stories links, rather than full articles. This site had a few writers with different abilities and perspectives, and I thought the idea of having individual blogs on the main page was a workable and unique solution to allow that discussion to flourish. Obviously not.

It is too difficult to sustain a gaggle of writers on a site where it is a single blog – stories are pushed down and off the front page, and lots of ideas and thoughts disappear needlessly. So perhaps it’s best that Matt continue on by himself. It’s frustrating on my end because I worked damn hard for this site and wrote my fingers off … and to be unceremoniously kicked in the nuts (again) kinda sucks.

If somone can name a more neurotic site than this one, I’d love to hear it.

Ugh.

so where to next Ray? Keep us updated…

I said it before and i’ll say it again, AICN was my GO TO site for all things cinema, but for the past year, OWF is my first stop. If time is an issue, maybe u’d want to make your stories a little short and concise (like I Watch Stuff, i know that’s a totally different type of movie site, but it gets the point across.) Listen man, if u site has reached as far as Malaysia, i think u are certainly on the right track.

There’s gold in them hills, i tells ya!!!!! Hee Haw!!!

keep at it matt.
site is awesome.

Hey Matt,
I think all of the above have got it right and if you can you must keep this site going, i’ve visiting this site every day for the last year or their abouts anyway and it’s pretty much the only site with any passion to it and that’s a rare thing these days! believe me, I know i’ve been trying to be an independent filmmaker since 2003 and basically where i’m from (Newcastle) no one gives a shit, so you just got to have passion about something and “Dont let the bastards gring you down”!
saying that i’ve had my fair share of downers and I pretty much have Mental problems (much like most of the UK these days it seems. You can’t even be Mad and be original these days!)
This pretty much the only site i’ve ever been moved to post on and i wouldn’t like to loose it.
Keep it going if you can my man! ( let’s hope it’s all worth it in the end!) and you know what? i’m not talking about cash either!

“saying that i’ve had my fair share of downers and I pretty much have Mental problems (much like most of the UK these days it seems. You can’t even be Mad and be original these days!)”

You are not alone. I hear you. I am right now in a 24/7 filmmaking battle with so called friends who let me down 2 weeks prior a scheduled filming.

Ah..yes…someday we will look back and laugh.

Matt,

I LOVE YOUR SITE!!! I check it at least three times a day. It’s awesome!! Your writing style is engaging and entertaining without insulting your audience’s intelligence like the afoermentioned sites that another poster listed previous. If you need a break…take it. Burn out happens to everyone. But PLEASE don’t go ( listen to the SONG if you have to man !!) It would be a great loss to the internet community for movie news, reviews and articles. And if you do need to go out, (as ya’ll say over there) Cheers Mate ! It was good while it lasted.

Not to kick a guy when he’s down… but this is sort of lame. My opinion — outsider looking in — is that some people were working, and some weren’t.

As I tell my friends all the time: “The shit don’t write itself.”

Yes it’s work. Yes work can suck sometime. If I went balling to my boss every time things got to my boss / manager / agent every time things were difficult, they’d find a way to tell me that, perhaps, I should seek employment elsewhere.

So, unless it comes back together, I’m outta here.

It seems like your barometer of success was comments, or lack thereof. The comments and hits will come if the reading is compelling. I would wonder, which articles got the most hits?

Anyway, good luck in the future.

Your site has heart and actully cares about movies.Its not just a job.

I’ve enjoyed my involvement writing for this site and I think it’s a really great film online magazine…as I used to read it before I even wrote for it!

I’ve been reading this site since almost its inception. That first Superman article was how I got here. Its the first website I go on when I get online. I look forward to reading everthing on here. I absolutely love this website and all its writers especially Matt. I absolutely want Matt to be safe and healthy but these last 28 comments I think proves that people really love this site. You don’t have to be a public servant because being unlike other film sites and not writing about “things we want to here” but rather real shit is what makes this a unique site. In terms of films this is a nonprofit site its like the most independent film out there. Think of all the great completely independent films out there that launch people and how we absolutely covet and love them as our favorites. I would be devasted by this site going down but honestly I have been reading this site so long I feel like me and Matt are friends in a way so his sanity and health always come first. I am Obsessed With Film and this is the only site online I would ever need. I constantly come to the site hoping for a new article. Hopefully you get back into this thing because myself and plenty of others love you and this site. Also hopefully you do if no one else you let Ray and Simon stay on the site I love their articles the most. Every other writer like Clark, Clayton, Fallows, Pfiefer, Conterio, Edwards are all fantastic but I love reading Ray he is the extreme of this site and keeps it intersting and Simon does great features. My suggestion get back to basics. Write about news stories that interest you because the people who read this site share your opinions alot so you will interest them. Next keep up your top tens I feel like making lists like that help you to really organize your thoughts and its a great way to just write about passionate things. I could write happily for days about my favorite Kubrick films or my top ten westerns its refreshing as a writer. Next make movie reviews easy. Only write true reviews for films that truly affect you and that you love. That should be your scale. No letter grades or stars the more you write the more you care about it. We don’t need Land Of The Lost reviews. People reading know its shit. Don’t even bother stay with the positive. Leave that type of stuff to Ray. He is so good at talking about the negative.(a compliment) I would say overall keep those two writers and do what feels right for you. This site rules and I love it to death its my main film source including print and television. This site fits me and many others we love it and so should you if you really sucked people wouldn’t care about this site. I know whats its like to feel self conscious about your shit but you have to sometimes take a step back and look at the positive. Plus as time goes you become a better writer life is about growing. After hopefully you get back on track the site goes back to basics. Its Matt Holmes’ site so write what you want to. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to read Matt Holmes’ site I would go to some other bullshit site. Stay positive and good luck I love this site and would do anything to keep it alive and well.

P.S. the back to basics design is great. I love the look because no one else really has it.

Best of luck now and hopefully into a long future.

Stop changing your website layout countless times.

People inheirently don’t like change, whats worse is that your change AGAIN once you’ve given enough time for people to get used to one style.

Matt, I for one enjoy the site immensely. I’ve enjoyed watching it grow and change and I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I hope you’ll continue. We ALL get into a funk from time to time, it passes.
You always seem to have new content near-everyday, that’s a HELL of a pace, even if you’re doing something you enjoy. Don’t sell yourself short. You do great work.

You’ve been burning the candle at both ends. Take some personal time, recharge your batteries, then get back in the game.

Validation if ever it were needed. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who took the time to comment. I know Matt very personally- he is a very good friend, and witnessing the past few weeks has not been the best, but I think you’ve gone some way to ensure this site doesnt go anywhere. Big love- and Ray, I love you man! Don’t feel any grievance, it isnt you, trust me. If I could come cuddle you and possibly spoon for a whole night I wouldnt even have to consider it twice!!

Peace

I’ll add my name to the list of people that want this site to stay. I love coming here everyday for movie news and just to exchange comments with other visitors on the site. Its the first site I come to for movie news because its, in my opinion, an unbiased view of the industry. Most of the other sites I’ve been to seem to give bias to the larger films when they release. You guys actually say whether or not you think a movie sucks. The most important part after that, is that you guys back up your opinions in the comment section and actually have an interaction with your readers. To me that is a huge part of why I love coming here. Its always nice to see the author actually giving reasons for his opinions as opposed to saying “well its my site, so that’s how it is.” Please don’t get rid of OWF. It will be missed sorely by your readers if you do.

As a side note, however, if it comes down to your personal well-being versus this site’s existence, just step away. Don’t let this site cause anything really bad to happen to your state of mind.

@ Simon – Well, cuddling between the two of us might be expensive, but rewarding – if you have a big cock.

What am I saying???

You’ve got a brilliant site here Matt, I don’t always agree with some of the stuff that some of your writers say, but isn’t that part and parcle of it???

There are very few decent UK based film sites on the net (in fact I can count them on one hand) and your’s is by far one of the most popular. Please don’t give it up, what you’re doing here really is something great!

Ya got a great site going here. One of the few sites I find myself checking out 10 times a day. Keep it up man. Write what ya like, ya can’t go wrong.

I LOVE YOU MATT!!! YOUR SITE IS GREAT!!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!! DID I MENTION, I LOVE YOU!!!! What a joke. This is just a pathetic attempt by Matt to get some attention and praise. I come to this site occasionally and I read the interesting stories, but unfortunately most of the stories are bland and boring. I would come to the site more often if the post were more interesting and the layout of the site didn’t change monthly. For a site that seemingly get a lot of visitors, it’s amazing what a mess it is. If Matt wasn’t such a control freak maybe the site would be more successful. Maybe the site would be better off with a new owner.