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.
14 responses so far.
1 Jeff Draughon // Sep 22, 2009 at 3:12 am
It sucks to ask for money … but three bucks per month is a fair price, and TFT is the only podcast I've found that's worth paying for. Count me in.
Please, keep talking.
2 bookscout // Sep 22, 2009 at 4:27 am
Hey, I'm a member of something. Keep up the great work – I have kids so you're basically going to the movies for me.
3 kiley // Sep 22, 2009 at 5:09 am
wow…i never pay for anything on the net…and i just did…
it feels a little like driving a prius…
4 StanleyRumm // Sep 22, 2009 at 7:41 am
I'm probably shooting myself, but how about if members only were able to leave comments? That way I could keep my nose out of every opinion expressed around here -or else pay for the privilege. It'd be interesting to me to see if I could bear to “not comment” on something I might feel strongly about or if it would make me put my money where my mouth is.
Either way you win! ;)
(…Of course I'd expect a cup of tea and an ironed newspaper now & again if I was a paying member.)
5 StanleyRumm // Sep 22, 2009 at 11:34 am
Paying for things monthly doesn't really suit my erratic income. I never do it when I can help it. But I'll do it this one… just tell me there's a quick & easy way (and how?) to cancel the payments if and when I need to in a hurry.
…Always leave the back door open when you find yourself in a stranger's kitchen I say!
Or something like that.
6 Jett Loe // Sep 22, 2009 at 11:50 am
Excellent question SR – PayPal's website does not have the best user interface and it can take forever to find out how to do something. Anyhew, any subscriber to TFT can cancel and any time – here's how:
Canceling a subscription cancels all future scheduled payments of that subscription. A subscription can be canceled up to the day of the next scheduled payment.
1. Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click the My Account tab.
3. Click the History subtab.
4. Click More filters, select Subscriptions and agreements, and then click Subscriptions.
5. Change the date back to the year the subscription was created, and then click Show.
6. Click Details next to the subscription.
7. Click Cancel Subscription.
7 Phil // Sep 22, 2009 at 1:46 pm
I'll leave it to the folks in charge, but I personally don't care for the “pay to play” idea. I think all commenting should be free (without Stanley, we'd miss out on the debates!).
I'm kind of like you, Stanley, so what I opted to do was figure I could not eat Big Macs for a few weeks in exchange for TFT goodness, and I did a 'one time payment', because think about what you might spend in a week, or a month, eating out for lunch, Starbucks, etc. Healthier for me, and when Jett and Gareth get into it, my rising blood pressure won't be as deadly without my horrible diet piled on top of it! (though God forbid my checking acct ever got down to $2.99…not that it hasn't happened. I'm the guy who forced Domino's pizza to make you write your driver's license number on your checks).
Either way, I'm glad to hear others are stepping up in support of these guys.
8 Tom // Sep 23, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Hey, I'm with bookscount on the whole kids issue! Please keep talking guys. How many of us makes 10%?
9 Jett Loe // Sep 23, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Good question Tom – we'll talk about it on this week's show :)
10 ejufifybi // Sep 24, 2009 at 11:53 am
ejufifybi…
juvenille diabetes research …
11 Rowan Nairn // Oct 7, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Hey Guys,
Have you seen what Techdirt is doing? http://www.techdirt.com/rtb.php
They have a sliding scale of return on investment, spanning prices both cheaper than your suggested contribution and a lot more expensive. Maybe you could do something similar – e.g. Maybe a higher contribution gets a shout out on the podcast. Maybe a higher contribution would get a chance to decide on a movie for you to review on the show. Maybe an even higher contribution would buy a chance to participate on the podcast. These are some of the scarce resources you have to bargain with. I'm sure you can think of more better ones.
Rowan
12 Jett Loe // Oct 7, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Hi Rowan -that's a great link, thanks! :) Gareth and I are up for all sorts of ideas/models – thanks for adding to our list of possibilities! :)
13 Rowan Nairn // Oct 7, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Hey Guys,
Have you seen what Techdirt is doing? http://www.techdirt.com/rtb.php
They have a sliding scale of return on investment, spanning prices both cheaper than your suggested contribution and a lot more expensive. Maybe you could do something similar – e.g. Maybe a higher contribution gets a shout out on the podcast. Maybe a higher contribution would get a chance to decide on a movie for you to review on the show. Maybe an even higher contribution would buy a chance to participate on the podcast. These are some of the scarce resources you have to bargain with. I'm sure you can think of more better ones.
Rowan
14 Jett Loe // Oct 7, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Hi Rowan -that's a great link, thanks! :) Gareth and I are up for all sorts of ideas/models – thanks for adding to our list of possibilities! :)
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