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since 1997 | by maryann johanson

I may stop posting movie trailers

Sun Sep 15 2013, 04:26pm | 16 comments

The trailer posts don’t generate much traffic, nor do they seem to inspire much conversation here. I could be using the time they take to create in more productive ways.

I’d like to know if you’d miss the trailers.

If you’re a subscriber and you’d miss the trailer posts, please let me know in comments. If you’re not a subscriber and you use this site as a primary source for movie info — including trailers — then you really need to become a subscriber, because I can’t do this without your support.


posted in:
maryann buzz
  • Dr. Rocketscience

    I’m a bit of a trailer junkie, which means that, in many (most?) cases I’ve already seen the trailers by the time you post them.

  • I’m NOT a trailer junkie, as I don’t like to know too much about a movie before seeing it, other than whether is worth seeing or not.
    That being said, your site is the only one I watch the occasional trailer on. Especially if it’s for a movie I’ve never heard of.
    Didn’t you ask about stopping trailer posting once before, and most people said not to? I have a feeling you’ll get the same reaction now. Still, if your time could be better spent, go for it.

  • Jurgan

    Well, I only sometimes watch them, and while I like to discuss a few of them, most I ignore. It’s kind of like being a member of a public park or museum that you hardly ever visit- you’re not really using the service, but you want to keep “just in case.” So, I would say that I might miss them a bit, but I’d get over it if it means you can use that time for something better. I’d estimate it takes you about ten minutes to watch a trailer, post it, and write up a comment. That’s not a lot of time, but it certainly adds up. Maybe only one a week that you’re really looking forward to or dreading? Perhaps just trailers for movies that make your bias meter? Just offering some compromises in case anyone really doesn’t want to part with this feature.

  • Same here. I would like you to keep posting trailers occasionally, when it’s a movie you want to point out in some way maybe, but I don’t need it as a regular service.

  • It’s more than just ten minutes. Sometimes it’s a chore to find a trailer. Sometimes I have to determine which version of a trailer is best to post. Sometimes I have to figure out whether there are different international and domestic versions, and *then* whether the publicist I deal with here will care if I don’t post the UK version. (Yes, this matters.)

    I have to do a little research on a film to see what might be worth saying about it beyond what the trailer shows. I have to create a thumbnail image from the trailer video. I need to create posts about the post here for Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

    I promise you that anything that looks easy and effortless here isn’t, and anything that looks like it takes some time requires five times as long as you think it does.

    Yet it’s not the work that’s the issue. It’s that too few readers are supporting it. This is not a sustainable situation.

  • Yes, I did ask this before, almost exactly a year ago: https://www.flickfilosopher.com/2012/09/im-thinking-of-no-longer-posting-trailers.html .

    A year is a long time on the Web, and I’m a helluva lot more desperate and pessimistic than I was a year ago about the viability of my work here.

  • Jurgan

    Well, if it’s that much trouble, then by all means scrap them. Or, like I said, only occasionally if there’s one you’re really interested in. It’s your choice, of course, but I won’t miss it if you need the time for other things.

  • KateAf

    I like the trailers and reading your opinions of them. I don’t comment on them, though.

  • David_Conner

    For whatever reason, I’ve gotten to the point where I seldom actively seek out trailers, and thus never really sought out the trailer posts and won’t especially miss them.

  • Jess Haskins

    I am pretty much seconding this view. I don’t watch trailers and seek them out, but if I do ever see them I watch them here, and occasionally find out about a movie I hadn’t heard of and wouldn’t pay much attention to otherwise (I might have missed World’s End if not for the enthusiastic intro I got to it on your site). So I am pro trailers, although I understand if they’re a time sink.

  • PJK

    Only post trailers for movies that you feel the need to bring to your readers attention, the ones that will get ignored by others, otherwise skip them. There are so many sources for trailers for popular movies that adding posting those to your workload seems not worth the effort.

  • RogerBW

    I enjoy them mostly because of the timing; I don’t really follow film news in general, so often the first I hear of a film is the trailer post here. If I can track down a convenient source for the majority of trailers I’ll probably go with that, make notes on them when I see them, and return to those notes when the film gets mentioned here.

  • Kathy_A

    I’m with Marky and Jess–I don’t normally seek out trailers, especially for films I haven’t heard of yet, but if something looks good here, I’ll watch it. Here is where I found out about The Hollow Crown dvd release (tomorrow!! Yay!!!), which I probably would never have known about otherwise.
    I am a subscriber, and I do like your trailers (loved Escape from Tomrrow this morning, for example), so if it’s not too much of a time crunch, I vote for keeping them.

  • Bluejay

    I think you should occasionally post these “I may stop posting movie trailers” posts, because these always seem to get a conversation going. ;-)

  • Ha.

    Maybe I should threaten to stop posting lots of things.

  • FridayLast

    I’ve been a subscriber for a while, because I love your reviews, really enjoy your take on things, and think it’s really important to have reviews from a feminist perspective as part of how we talk about movies.

    I do like the trailers, but I’d be equally happy if, as others have suggested, you just posted trailers for films that you want to bring to people’s attention, or are really excited about, or where the film/trailer sparks off thoughts for a wider discussion that you want to have. (To be honest, there’s probably a very big crossover between the trailers that I do watch here, and the ones that I imagine would come under those categories, as I think we have very similar tastes!)

    (I think this is actually my first comment here, though I’ve been a reader for years, so hi everyone!)

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