You won’t notice what is happening, because it’s not discernible, yet this is the most exciting event since the Reel was founded in 2002.
As you read this, our webmaster Chris Winn is throwing the switch and transferring 50,000 pieces of content from our antiquated platform to a new one that is enabling us to expand ReelChicago from a “newsletter,” to a serious Hollywood Reporter-like portal.
With completion of the work under-the-hood, Chris will delve into the Reel’s new design that will bring you some great new upgrades.
First off, Reel 2.0 will boast expanded content covering more areas of the visual media industry, written by top-notch industry professionals who really know their stuff.
The ReelLink Directory will give you up-to-the-nano-second company-contact information. Placing ads won’t cost you a dime in our stand-alone Free Classifieds section. More advertising choices, too, to deliver your message to the largest, targeted reader database this side of Santa Monica.
Starting today our stories will be on Google, and we’ll be on every possible new media that our savvy consultant, Joe Orlandino, can conjure up.
As part of our expansion, an advertising director will help plan your Reel media strategy and an assistant editor (praise be!) will help round up the news. Filmmaker Ed M. Koziarski continues as contributing editor and Rachel Benoit, our webmaster of seven years, picks up when she left off when she returns from maternity leave.
Fittingly, the launch date will be in January, the month in which I started the Original Screen magazine in 1979, so I will be entering my 3lst year of chronicling the industry. Back then, we forged a community where none had existed before, and we are confident that Reel 2.0 will be exactly right for the community we inhabit today.
Your ideas for new features and services are welcome, as is your news! Send comments, brainstorms, what we need to provide, what you’d like to see, like that.
