A Wind of Change

Introducing: content for paid subscribers

From next month, I'll be unemployed. I wish I had better news to kick off this post with, but it’s the stone-cold truth. I'm losing my part-time job which made roughly 50 percent of my monthly income. On top of that, I was told a few days ago that a magazine I regularly write for is shutting down its TV section completely (another loss of revenue). It sucks, but it is what it is. I have a plan in motion to survive until the end of the year and not bleed too much money while I'm out of employment. Also, there's probably a life-altering change on the horizon for me as I've been thinking about leaving the UK for quite a while. This is my not-ideal but opportune chance to finally take that step — even if it seems terrifying. There are a lot of details I need to work out to make it happen, and I won't bore you with them.

But I’d like to turn this unfavorable situation into something positive, too. What that means for The Screen is that I'll start creating some content only for paid subscribers. I'm aware that this is less-than-ideal at this point, and I wanted to keep my newsletter entirely free as long as possible but time and circumstance forced me into making this decision. It'll be a slow transition, and 90 percent of my posts will remain free and available to everyone.

I’ll begin with one paid-sub-only piece per month, which is going to be randomly chosen by me. Sometimes, it will be an exclusive review of a TV show or movie before the release, other times, it will be a personal essay like this one or an entry in a regular column like my Horror Aughts series. And maybe, occasionally, a podcast episode. I want my readers to still have access to all types of writing that I publish here, so you’ll always get a taste of the kind of stuff that I write.

I also need you to know that every penny I make from this newsletter literally goes to paying rent, buying food, and surviving in general. Just to not find my ass out on the street one day. So whether you become a paid member for a month or a year, it'll always be an immense help for me, regardless. Whatever you can afford will be my lifeline — and if you can’t, I understand that, too.

Bringing this to an end, as soon as this post goes live, yearly subscriptions will be on sale at $30 by the end of December. Monthly membership remains at $5, as always. The first paywalled post comes in October. Here’s the option to upgrade to become a paid member:

Thank you for supporting and reading The Screen. It means the world to me.