August 5, 2006

A summertime question for Anne Thompson.

Why is it a relatively big deal when writers already established in print launch a blog? Because, whether it's Dave Kehr, Joe Leydon, Jami Bernard, or for that matter, Neil Gaiman, William Gibson and so on, we know their particular beat, area of expertise or insight, their style, and we know they're about to take it one extra step closer to their readers. In the case of Anne Thompson, who's been blogging since late last year, a recent example: it's easy to laugh or scowl at Mel Gibson right about now, but Anne Thompson explains why, for those who've spent time with him, it's not that easy at all. My question: "Has blogging turned out to be what you'd hoped it'd be?"

Mags Good question. My entire career, I have sought to be able to write what I want, when I want. The closest I ever came was my weekly "Risky Business" column in the LA Weekly. I didn't have to get approval for what I would write about. I could roam around different areas of the business, be responsive to what was going on. I moved on to EW and Premiere, where I felt much more constricted, and became intrigued by the sites Ain't It Cool News, Dark Horizons, and those written by Jeff Wells and David Poland.

When I left Premiere in the summer of 2002, Poland, Wells and I had a meeting about what would become Movie City News. At the time, I needed to make a living wage, as did Wells, so with our early input, Poland went on alone. I also visited the blogs of Cathy Seipp and Jackie Danicki, among others, and when I joined the Hollywood Reporter, I asked them to not only let me write a weekly "Risky Business" column again, but to mount their first blog.

Risky Biz Blog

I love the Risky Biz Blog, but it eats me alive, too. It must be fed. I juggle a lot, but the blog feeds my creative juices. It has destroyed my writers' block, self-consciousness, and fear of exposure. Gone. It's fun to design it, make it interactive, personal as well as professional, reflective of my taste and news sense, informative and entertaining. It's still evolving. And every so often I burn out and give it a rest.



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Posted by dwhudson at August 5, 2006 3:42 AM