By Pamela Cole
Editor-in-Chief

It's festival season here in Atlanta, and luckily Southern Screen Report has managed to attract the attention of Jay Blodgett -- our new festival reporter! Just in time, Jay picked up a copy of SSR and offered his talents as writer and reviewer.

If you haven't been reading Jay's festival reviews, (see the latest on Out on Film) you're missing some mighty clever and entertaining observations about our local film festivals. Jay recently moved to Atlanta from San Francisco (why on earth would anyone do such a thing!) and has been winding his way into our film and video community under the cloak of Southern Screen Report. He has been attending the fine festivals of San Francisco for over 15 years, and, as a result, has great experience and comparisons to share with our audience.

I'm delighted that Jay has come on board so enthusiastically! One of the missions of SSR has always been to educate our readers about the tremendous film festival opportunities in our community. One of our very first print editions (two years ago) featured a listing of local film festivals and a brief description of each one -- over a dozen at that time! There are many more now, and more every year!

It has always been a mystery to me why more so-called film lovers don't take advantage of these screening gems. There are literally thousands of non-mainstream films that can only be seen in film festival heaven. These screenings often include the actors, directors, or producers of the film, eager to discuss their work with a listening audience! Imagine!

If you read Jay's witty festival reviews, you can see just how much you're missing by not attending your local film festivals. And if you keep reading SSR, we'll make sure you know when the next one is coming up, so you can go!

(HINT: if you run a film festival, please advertise with SSR, so people will know about it and attend, for goodness sake!)

 No more print editions - for now

You may have noticed that SSR did not publish a print edition in September. Unfortunately, we have discontinued our print editions - temporarily, we hope! The costs of printing and distributing a print edition are enormous, and our advertising revenue just couldn't keep up. (My fault, I'll admit, for not being a better business person or ad salesperson--not my strong points.)

 Stronger Web Presence

However, you may also have noticed that our web presence has picked up, and we are now updating the website much more often, sometimes weekly. We're also planning a whole new facelift for the website in the near future! Keep watching...

Which brings me back to those advertisers…we're still trying to attract advertisers and become a viable publication (returning to print, as well). If you have any services, films, wares, or faces you would like to put before our growing audience, please consider advertising on our website. Remember, advertising is not an expense -- it's an investment.

  Volunteer!

We continue to need volunteers who want to be part of our publication. If you have a few hours a month to spare for some mighty fun volunteering, think about it. We especially need:

• Advertising salespeople/business gurus (come on, I know you're out there!)
• Web savvy geeks to maintain the website
• Photographers
• Reporters/writers

If we attract enough of the above, I feel sure that one day we won't need any volunteers at all, because everyone will get paid.

Southern Screen Report has become known and loved in our community -- I know because people tell me this everywhere I go. Please help me to keep it up and running -- volunteer, advertise, or donate some cash. At the very least, click on a couple of those annoying Google ads…we make a few pennies every time you do.

Till next time…

Pam Cole
Editor-in-Chief
Southern Screen Report