# Becoming a movie critic...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-movie-critic/198003>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 27, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-movie-critic/198003 "2003-08-27T16:31:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![remisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@remisser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/remisser)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-movie-critic/198003/1 "2003-08-27T16:31:32Z")

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Let’s say I wanted to start a website critiquing movies. Is there any way to get ‘credentials’ to be able to see the movie when the newspaper reviewers see the movie? How is that done? Or are internet reviewers largely ignored?

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-movie-critic/198003/2 "2003-08-27T16:52:09Z")

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Write to the PR departments of the film companies. However, it’s not likely you’d get press credentials until your site had both been up for a while and has some sort of credibility.

Though you could probably shorten the process by using phrases like “The Greatest Film Ever Seen!” “A laugh riot!” “The best thrill ride of the summer!” in every review. Use lots of exclamation points. 🙂

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**Author:** ![aleong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4af34b/32.png) [@aleong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aleong)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-movie-critic/198003/3 "2003-08-27T18:09:54Z")

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You should look into becoming a member of the Online Film Critics Society ([http://www.ofcs.org](http://www.ofcs.org)). Provided you can demonstrate a decent body of work and meet their minimum annual requirements for number of reviews written, you can take advantage of being placed on studio screening lists or getting free movie passes, as well as getting free Oscar screeners at the end of the year.

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**Author:** ![remisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@remisser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/remisser)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-movie-critic/198003/4 "2003-08-28T03:53:06Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \*  
> \*\*Write to the PR departments of the film companies. However, it’s not likely you’d get press credentials until your site had both been up for a while and has some sort of credibility.
> 
> Though you could probably shorten the process by using phrases like “The Greatest Film Ever Seen!” “A laugh riot!” “The best thrill ride of the summer!” in every review. Use lots of exclamation points. 🙂 \*\*

Riiiight. Then nobody would go to my site. It’d seem hollow.