Like my contemporaries, I write an article a week for Odyssey. Trying to figure out what to write each week is the hardest part of the job. Alongside my work with Odyssey, I also write for a film blog, Taste of Cinema. I have been writing for the blog for a while now. Taste of Cinema is a blog that documents arguments on certain film topics. Whether it is a 'Top 10' of a certain genre, or a historical recap of a famous filmmaker, the writing style is a little different than my sassy, infomercial style for Odyssey.
I started off as a fan of a blog, one I discovered on Facebook. One day, I saw a “Write For Us” page. It was a pretty simple application. A writing sample and some location information was all that was needed. I was subsequently hired to be a writer for the blog, where I create content for the blog, based on suggestions that I come up with. I correspond with my boss and create a list based on what we discuss. You can see all of the content I've written if you search my name (Ryan Anderson) on the 'Taste of Cinema' website.
My first list was published in April of 2015 and I have been writing intermittently since then. Mostly during the summer and winter months, as during the school year my life is chaotic enough and adding one more thing is probably not the best idea. It takes me around a couple days to finish a list since we range from 10 to 30 films. I have some personal favorites from my time at Taste of Cinema. One of them is my first list, "15 Great LGBT Coming of Age Movies That Are Worth Watching" which was inspired by watching one of my favorite movies, the British classic Beautiful Thing. Another favorite is my list on self-destructive characters, which features such favorites as Randle McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Lester Burnham from American Beauty.
With film being such a subjective medium and so many people having so many opinions, I choose not to read the comments on my posts. Sometimes I skim them to see if people leave constructed criticism or start a nice discussion, but most of the time it is people commenting movies I missed or saying I suck for not liking Adam Sandler (a running theme in many of my lists). One of my more controversial lists, "15 Great Documentaries to Help You Better Understand the Modern World," had quite the string of comments throwing major shade for including some films and not including others. I even mentioned in the article or at least tried to hint that it was by far from an exhaustive list, it was my opinion, and that the purpose was to talk about films that can boost people's understanding of the world around them, not represent all of the world around them. I guess people didn't get it.
I've thoroughly enjoyed writing for Taste of Cinema, and not just for the financial compensation for writing for them. I love reading other articles too, they give me new films to check out or a nice reminder to revisit films when I get the chance. I don't get to watch as many films as I want to anymore, but writing for Taste of Cinema has given me the opportunity to keep writing about a subject I really love: film.
