We’d like to be as well funded as this guy.  Alas…

These folks would love to help…But…

Hi folks – you already know what I’m about to say if you’ve listened to this week’s episode, in which Jett and I wander around the concepts of the American Dream, false noses, the meaning of consumerism, false moustaches, underwater photography, the vocation of being human, Russian orthodox icons, false hairpieces and all kinds of other matters that encircle the fascinating quintet of films that is ‘Andrei Rublev’, ‘The Informant!’, ‘Easy Rider’, ‘The Big Blue’ and ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.

We also raise the question of the future of the show – The Film Talk has been running for three years, on our own dime, as they say in these United States.  In that time, Jett and I have both re-located from Belfast to different parts of the US, both been married, and both continued to disagree about the merits of Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Fountain’.  Also, of course, we’ve been thrilled by the varied delights of Quentin Tarantino’s moral philosophy, the late Heath Ledger’s Tom Waits impersonation, Francis Coppola’s shooting style, Elliott Gould’s desire to make a ‘Long Goodbye’ sequel while living in the constant present, how the man-ape from ‘2001′ feels about playing the first human, the meaning of criticism, why ‘Wolverine’ would have been better without the special effects, why documentaries these days are more interesting than most fiction films, and too many other things to count.

But after three years and ninety episodes, we’ve reached a crossroads.  In short, the show can no longer sustain itself without some ongoing funding.  We don’t ever want to have a ‘pay wall’ – we always want to make the show available for free, without restriction; but we can’t afford to do that without some means of making the show pay for the costs of production.  Until now, we have borne these costs ourselves, but this isn’t possible anymore.

Now, don’t worry – we’re not shutting down.  In fact, we’re hoping that by the end of the year the show and site will be in a much better position financially.  At the same time, we need to be realistic about continuing to do it on our own dime.

To that end, we’ve decided that we need 300 of our listeners to become members of TFT by subscribing at the very modest rate of $3 per month.   If we can achieve 300 of listeners as paying members by the end of the year, then we believe we can sustain the cost of doing the show.  If you’re able to support us, click here to donate $3 a month or here to make a one time donation in any amount (if you’re outside the US you’ll still be able to donate and the currency will be converted by PayPal; and you can cancel your ongoing donation at any time should you decide to do so).  And thank you.  We know that times are tough, and we want to emphasise that we’re grateful for your loyalty and participation in the Film Talk community whether or not you are able to support us financially.  But if you can afford three bucks a month, or if you’re able to make a one time donation, or if you have other creative ideas for raising funds, it will help keep this show on the road.

We’ll keep talking.