Re-Branding/Re-introducing
Elon's Wrath Got Me Using Substack
Well, Twitter's cooked. Done-zo. Dead-o.
Pull back the trigger and send that little blue bird to the farm-ass app.
With Elon Musky Ass' implementation of limited tweet views on the platform, many jobs dependent on social media platforms like Twitter, social media managers, publicists, advertisers, and journalists (where I reside) will most likely be in jeopardy. I just got on Blue Sky recently (@rendy), but I will have to work from the ground up to regain that large following I spent years culminating up until now.
As a freelance journalist whose work depends on view counts, whether it be Rendy Reviews, Them, RogerEbert, or wherever outlet that allows me to cook––the only feasible place to better the reach for my work is good ol' Substack. Allow me to introduce an impulsively decided newsletter called "Ren Recommends," (title pending) a bi-weekly semi-self-promotion guide to what I've been covering within the past month in the film and television realms (reviews, interviews, listicles, features, whosits, whatsits), at all the outlets I've written for. In all fairness, I was initially going to open this in January but found little motivation. With many journalists' careers getting held at gunpoint, there's no better time than now.
Here’s the subscribe button. You know what to do. Don’t worry. I won’t look.
What You Can Expect In Each Newsletter:
A preview of the month's new releases: embedded tweets, skeet reactions, or complete review links (depending on embargo).
Also, I'd like to point out that my personal bias will overtake me. I have friends in these fields, and I love to hold them up high (i.e., see my pal Sabrina Wu in Joy Ride in theaters this Friday.) It's a 4-star movie, babe!
Speaking of platforming others, platforming my journalist friends'/icons pieces covering film, tv, music, behind the scene interviews, and video essays. It will include hot takes too. I love getting many opinions from people who disagree with me about media.
Now for my NYC peeps. A special treat for you.
I've been addicted to watching old movies at Metrograph, Alamo, Nitehawk, etc., usually on 35mm. Whenever I post on my IG story that I see a classic film on film, I get nearly 10 DMs going, "WHAT? Were they playing this? I'm so jealous."
To avoid those DMs, I will list selected retrospective films playing across the city monthly. If there's an asterisk at the end of a title, you can most likely expect my ass in that theater.
Now onto a bit of housekeeping*
(*boundary setting)
I've been covering film for a decade and added TV to my plate for a few years. As I get older and attend more casual events and stuff––primarily in comedy––I've been getting tired of talking about movies with people. Or at least people who don't know me like that. You can get asked, "Are you watching Barbie or Oppenheimer first," so many times before breaking souls and responding, 'You know I'll see those on separate days?" Not to get all J.D. Salinger on you, but I tire of movies.
I'm laying down my gavel and asking, please, if you see me and we start conversing, don't talk to me about movies. It's like passing Sean Evans hot wings when he's not on camera. You know he's tired of chicken. Movies are my chicken. I don't want to talk about it if I’m in public and away from a cinema.
Film journalism is my work; I love what I do. I love that I've been making friends out of it within and out of the industry. I get ecstatic to see pals from the comedy world step onto the other side. But I would like to keep those worlds separate as much as possible. If our friendship is strong, we go way back, or we're both in the industry in some capacity, we'll talk about movies. If not, I will ask if we can change the subject to, I don't know, the weather. Sports?
Please don't talk to me about movies (or TV); that's what the Substack is for.
That covers everything I wanted to get through. I hope you enjoy this new Substack! Let’s see how long it takes before I completely neglect it. I got a twenty that says three months, haha.
Stay tuned; the first post of June (recap) and July (preview) is coming imminently.