A little friendly extortion.
So basically what I do here, for those who just wandered in, is maintain a site where people can look up how I’ve rated a particular film, or read something I’ve written about it (either a professional review on another site or a single-paragraph “drive-by” here or on Letterboxd). In exchange for which, I very humbly ask that you pay whatever use of the site is worth to you each month. That may be $0.00, which is fine—there’s no paywall, and “subscription” is entirely on the honor system. I had initially suggested as little as a couple of bucks; most people are sending $5–$10. Some have kindly donated more. It’s entirely up to you.
However. My financial situation has become much less desperate. I no longer need donations just to cover my rent, at least for the moment. So if you’ve sent me money primarily out of a desire to help out, and don’t really care whether I type up my reaction to Das Boot or Robinson Crusoe on Mars, you’re now off the hook. Thank you so much for your generosity.
However again. If you would in fact be bummed to see site updates disappear, you should keep tossing me a few bucks every month. I suggest this not out of greed, but because I am colossally lazy by nature, and there’s no way I’ll keep this going if I’m not being more or less guilt-tripped into writing everything up right away. It’ll vanish at the first easy excuse. Once I’ve been paid, however, I feel a professional obligation to deliver something of value in return.
Basically, I’m asking you to motivate me with cash. But only if you genuinely feel that what I'm doing is worth the money. I myself would happily pay Theo Panayides 1% of my monthly income if it would persuade him to start writing capsules of new releases again. (Seriously. If I were raking in $10K/mo., it would easily be worth $1200 per annum to me.) But times are tight, and there’s tons of terrific free content out there, and I want to make it very clear that I do not need donations anymore.
Do not send me money unless the absence of my film journal would make you rend your garment and whatnot.
But if it would, you better had.