(Movie) Ticket to Write: Popular Online Film Journalist Aims to Become the First Reader-Supported Critic

In an era when trust in the traditional institutions of journalism is waning, popular online film critic/movie reviewer MaryAnn Johanson, of FlickFilosopher.com, is looking to become the first film critic -- in any media -- to be supported entirely by donations from the moviegoers who look to her for guidance, enlightenment, and amusement.

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 2, 2005 -- With muckraking political bloggers forcing the debate now raging online and off about who deserves to be called a journalist, and with trust in the traditional institutions of journalism waning, MaryAnn Johanson figured the time was right to take a daring leap. One of the most popular, most respected, and longest-posting movie reviewers on the Internet, she's looking to become the first film critic -- in any media -- to be supported entirely by donations from the moviegoers who look to her for guidance, enlightenment, and amusement.

Johanson, who's been posting film, TV, and pop-culture criticism at FlickFilosopher.com for more than seven and a half years, explains her Micropatron project: "If 1000 regular visitors to my site -- a tiny fraction of my readership -- donate at least $30 each by May 15, I'll commit to posting fresh new harangues and hosannas about The Movies every workday for a year." In addition to helping to support the creation of daily content, Micropatrons will receive benefits -- such as access to exclusive movie-related giveaways -- not available to other readers.

"The Micropatron project," Johanson explains, "is about whether there is an audience for truly independent, noncorporate film criticism that is beholden to no one and nothing. I think there is. I believe that thoughtful moviegoers are tired of being subjected to film 'journalism' that looks suspiciously like advertising."

Smart, unconstrained criticism certainly does seem to be under attack. The online magazine Salon recently fired one of its film critics, Charles Taylor, quietly and without explanation. "It's worrying," Johanson admits, "to see that a voice like Taylor's could be dismissed so easily. That's why readers who care need to vote with their dollars: to prove to corporate media and to Hollywood that there *is* an audience for film criticism that's more than plot recaps and thumbs-up/thumbs-down, which is basically all that's left in print."

FlickFilosopher.com debuted on the Web in 1997 and has been continually publishing since, ranking it among the granddaddy of all movie sites online. Internet traffic service Alexa.com places the site in the top 1 percent of *all* sites online, and *Variety* has named Johanson, a New York City-based freelance writer, "one of online's finest" film critics.

More information on the micropatronage project:
http://www.flickfilosopher.com/flickfilos/micropatrons.shtml

More information on FlickFilosopher.com:
http://www.flickfilosopher.com/flickfilos/press.shtml

Interview contact:
MaryAnn Johanson
thechick@flickfilosopher.com
914-843-9136

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