Erin Donovan

By FocusFeatures.com  | June 08, 2009 @ 02:38 pm

Tell us about your blog.

Steady Diet of Film mostly covers documentary and international films, though occasionally I cannot resist the siren call of mainstream, Hollywood fare. I'd like to think my review of Confessions of a Shopaholic, sandwiched between coverage of the latest Terence Davies and Andrzej Wajda films is doing some greater good in the universe. Steady Diet has also become a clearinghouse for the reviews and coverage I write for other sites.

How would you describe your readers? Do you have much contact with the people who read you?

I think it's a balance of people who are film lovers and already know every nook and cranny of what I'm writing about who want to discuss ideas and people who don't know or care about film history but can still glean some helpful recommendations here and there.

Tell us how – and why – you started your blog?

I also run a documentary distribution company called A Million Movies a Minute and people who were giving me advice in the beginning seemed very concerned that I have more of a "web presence." Of course, this was in San Francisco when the economy was good. Hardly any filmmakers care about my thoughts on the state of our union, they want to make sure the deals are solid. But now people seem to get more excited about covering AMMAM when they see I can string together a few sentences on films and issues they care about.

Describe your blog day – do you work at home? Go to a café? Sit in an office?

I work in my home office most days. I long to be one of those people who can take their laptop to a coffee shop and somehow become infinitely more productive. But I rarely enjoy the company of strangers.

How do you find things to blog about and how do you decide that a entry is worth being in your blog?

I scribble down ideas on receipts or tear out news articles I find that have an unexplored film angle. I struggle with finding the time and clarity to write about all the things I find interesting. A few weeks ago Christopher Holland was discussing on Twitter how he only writes about 20% of his ideas for posts, I think that's about my average as well.

What is your favorite blog entry?

I loved writing about new approaches to documentary financing post-financial collapse. It combines all of my favorite things: documentary film, economic geek out, black humor and optimism. I also like my review of the Hannah Montana film because I got to mention my wonderful goddaughter, Natalie.

What was your most popular/controversial blog entry?

I wrote an off-the-cuff entry on bad sex scenes in narrative films ages ago that to this day still accounts for about 30% of my traffic.

Is blogging the new path to fame and fortune?

I've definitely noticed a lot of people getting book deals from blogs but I'm not sure book deals are the surefire path to fame and fortune. Although, it's done very well for Diablo Cody and Nick Dawson!

What separates journalism from blogging?

A lot of bloggers consider themselves citizen journalists, I think that's an interesting approach. Blogging on the whole though seems to be more about chasing the story that will garner the most hits that day, journalism is about maintaining a public record. Maybe I can be a purist because I don't really consider myself one, but journalism is the fourth pillar of democracy and is at its best when it's audience-agnostic.

Something that fascinates me about the transition from print to online news resources is the struggle facing editors and writers who want to write longer, more in-depth pieces but have to contend with what ultimately drives traffic (which by all accounts is sex, celebrities and listicles). I wind up unsubscribing from great sites because I can't stand all the noise. I think a great interim solution would be creating more specialized RSS feeds (the Onion AV Club is really good at this) because I'm extremely interested in reviews, festival coverage and technology news but couldn't care less about casting rumors, leaked screenplays or blog drama. I haven't resigned myself to the idea that documentary, indie and international films should have to settle for crumbs. We just need to get better at marketing.

Who are the bloggers that you read religiously?

Still in Motion – Pamela attends just about every festival I wish I could. Infinicine is great for legal and technological developments in indie filmmaking. Thompson on Hollywood because Anne makes the “medicine” of keeping up on the industry go down more smoothly. During the Cannes film festival I was obsessively refreshing Stranger than Fiction and Mike D'Angelo's coverage for the Onion AV Club. The Playlist is extremely well-written and seems to be in all places at once. I find myself getting the most film recommendations from people who write a little bit more personally like Robert Davis, the Cinetrix and Stacie Ponder. And of course, Andrew Sullivan to keep my ire going.

How has your life changed because of your blog? Has it gone in any new directions because of your newfound prominence?

It's created a lot of great opportunities for me. I've been able to attend some amazing festivals and meet people I have a great deal of admiration for. I've found the more obscure a film is that I cover the more likely I am to be contacted by the director or producer, which is alternately gratifying and grating depending on their attitude (and my review, I suppose). When I meet people at festivals now they mostly know me from Twitter. Which is a little strange but even in person I tend to speak in short, over-caffeinated thought-bursts, so it works.