We Want Media

A year ago, I enjoyed a cup of coffee with Stu VanAirsdale to discuss his New York-centric cinema blog, The Reeler. I hadn't read the piece in a while, but looking back, it reflects many of the same attitudes our guest speakers and blog posts have held about maintaining a successful site.

Stu began The Reeler by finding a specific audience and delivering unique content.

Even though he’s not a native, VanAirsdale feels he’s the perfect voice for New York. “I’m just high strung enough, ambitious enough, disinterested in bullshit and excuses for this city,” he says. At the time, there was no real online source specific to New York film culture. “There was film criticism online, and there was film culture,” he says, “but no one was writing in the context that I was.” VanAirsdale split from indiewire and founded his own blog, The Reeler, in June of 2005, with hopes to fill that void.

He also gripped a bit about the long hours ...

VanAirsdale works what he calls an “impossible work day”, often waking at 6am, writing until the afternoon, and then dealing with “bulls**t business” while juggling events coverage

... while maintaining that it's all worth it to be able to focus on your passion.

The product is getting closer and closer to VanAirsdale’s original vision. “Now that I’ve got it, I don’t know what to do with it,” he laughs.

One thing Stu did have that Peter Rojas and Choire Sicha did not was a J-School background. But The Reeler seems to me just another example of that time honored blogging tradition: unique content + underserved market + a lot of dedication can equal a good blog.

You can check out the full article at my own film blog, which I am shamelessly plugging.