8 Goals for the Future of 'Beyond the Balcony'

I rebranded my humble little blog into a movie site with a personal twist called Beyond the Balcony on October 2020  I was excited about the relaunch and I was stuffed full with ambitious plans for the future of the site.

It is now two years later and for various reasons I've detailed on several occasions, my site has not captured that original vision and dream. There has been several successes over the past two years including Scott coming on as a contributor, The Movie Breakdown joining iHeart Media's Spreaker Prime, and writing various pieces that have connected with readers. 

There is very little point in dwelling on what I haven't delivered or stewing over the lack of audience growth, but rather I want to reaffirm that I love this site, I appreciate my readers and listeners, and I am excited about what this site can become.

What exactly could this site become? 

Well, I am glad you asked hypothetical inquirer, because I have eight things that I am striving to achieve for the site over the coming year and beyond (the balcony).

1. A separate author site. Before the rebrand, this was essentially my writing blog where I just posted whatever came to my mind and used it to promote my various writing projects. I had a dream of creating a movie site, and since this already had some loyal readers and I was shifting towards writing mostly about movies on here along with hosting The Movie Breakdown, it made sense to transform it into a movie site with a personal twist.

As the site grows an audience, it is going to become more important to actually focus on the movie and pop culture aspect rather than posts about my personal life or outside writing projects. The idea of having a separate personal author site and a movie site has been something I've had bouncing around in my head for years. I keep fleeing away from it, because I realize it is way too much work to manage on top of my own personal writing project dreams and my day job of writing for clients. 

This means that this actual goal is likely more than a year away. It will happen when I gallop into the majestic realm when my author career has taken off, the site and podcast has reached a substantial audience that can attract major sponsors or a Patreon, and the movie site (this one) is big enough to pay several contributors, so I can focus some time on the new site.

This may be a dream worthy of ranking beside the clouds raining Skittle and Everett wrestling a dinosaur alongside He-Man, but what is the point of dreams if they aren't intimidating and seemingly unrealistic. Dreams must push us.

2. Movie reviews focused on quality over timeliness. My written review output was less dazzling than a star-filled night. It is a bit smoggy over here. But despite what may be believed by the evidence left stinking up the site's carpet, I love writing movie reviews and delving into the importance of art in our society and culture. 2023 will be the year where there are at least a few hundred-word reviews of every new release and of course, some thousand-word deep dives on the pictures that truly speak to me in some form. 

But my Achilles heel is the result of writing for several large pop culture sites where a piece of news or a review must be posted within hours of a release or it has lost all value to the editor. I'll often convince myself that I took too long to get to a review or saw a movie too late, so it isn't worth the energy to write and post it on here, since no one will want to read it.

That is a hot and steaming pile of excuse, and it is time to flush it.

My goal and hope is to post a movie review on opening day or the day after as much as possible. But since this is not my day job and life loves its twists and turns, this will not be possible every time. Rather than being obsessed with a review or thoughts on movie news being posted immediately, I'll focus on creating my best work possible for whenever it can be written and posted.

I'll stop shying away from having my analysis, insight, and deep thoughts on art being posted and thus read by those who may then critique and analyze my own work. 

3. Being honest. I feel like a failure.

There, I said it.

I feel like I am plummeting to the depths when it comes to my career. I often feel like I've been a disappointment as a husband and father. I am bummed that my inability to quickly recover from the hard hit taken on my career from Covid has meant that for the third straight year, I can't buy my son the Switch he has been asking to get.

But I also get strength from spending time with my family and I love them dearly. It pushes me to strive for greatness, and be the husband and father they deserve. When I really focus on my career and life, then I can see those victories and believe that I may just be a few hours away from a holiday miracle.

Advice is really just anecdotes from one's own personal experience. My hope is to encourage, inspire, and motivate those that also struggle with mental health. I want to be there for other aspiring writer and creators, and do what I can spotlight that their dreams are possible.

My hope is that if I am honest about my own internal struggles and openly share about my own writing career that I can offer great value to my readers. This is something I intended to push myself to do more in the coming months and years.

4. Build a positive and joyful community. There is so much negativity on this thing called the internet. There are actually creators and writers that seem to have made a decent living based off just hating things and tearing other creations down. They have formed a following that is united over hating a certain franchises or people or cupcakes. Dang cupcakes.

This is exhausting. It also feels like the easiest way to grow an audience. It would just be healthier to roll around in toxic waste.

I will write negative movie reviews. It is inevitable that I won't like every movie or show in 2023. But I don't want to be defined by what I hate. I want to be defined by what I love. I want my legacy to be one of kindness, compassion. open-mindedness, thoughtfulness, and joy.

My desire is that if I write with those attributes in mind and try to make this a movie site that values progress and inclusion that I also attract those kind of readers.

I do not get a lot of comments or interaction on the site or on social media. It is something I intend to improve in 2023, and I hope to build a community that cherishes these traits and values.

Plus, I want this to be a place that is fun. Fun is good too.

5. Creative Chances: Remember when I had an interview with a stuffed bear, revealed an unknown Canadian holiday, and wrote a very random fictional novel excerpt? 

While the main focus will be writing about movies, my first love has always been storytelling and creating new worlds. It has now almost become a running joke, but 2023 will be the launch of the weekly fiction serialized story. 

There will be some other fictional pieces scattered throughout the year either as short stories or another attempt at some zany humour piece or maybe even a poem. I want my creativity candle to shine in 2023 and beyond (the balcony).

6. Digging deep into the movies. I love film history. I want to know more about it. My plan is to do more pieces digging into the impact of older movies or exploring trends from other eras. I want to celebrate all aspects of movies, and history is a crucial part.

The plan will also be to analyze more major movie news that drops throughout the year, and trying to provide my insight on why it matters. 

I also want to take a gamble on more potential weekly or monthly pieces to see if they connect with an audience. The strategy is to find things that I love to explore but also bring entertainment and value to my reader. 

Essentially, the goal is to provide more variety when it comes to writing about movies.

While it is smart for a site to have a niche, I will also take a chance on writing about other things like comic books, video games, wrestling or TV sometimes too, and see what connects with the reader. I'll try to find some creative way to connect it back to movies, or maybe I won't. We can all find out together, but variety will be the magical goal of 2023.

Also, in the goal of more variety, I will be expanding into videos. I have several plans, and it will launch at some point in the first half of 2023.

7. Tackle tough subjects. Movies can be about anything. Politics. Mental health. Social issues, History. Parenting. Crimes, Fantasy worlds. Cupcakes. Oh golly, those cupcakes.

I don't want to shy away from the things that movies explore. This site has had pieces on politics, social issues, and mental health. Through the lens of cinema, I plan to write about them again. or address them when it is explored in a movie that I am reviewing.

But I also don't want this site just to be super serious. But I do think as someone who is exploring art that it is my responsibility to tackle the tough things found in it.

8. Champion great works. Many movie sites mostly focus on the big blockbuster pictures. I will write and podcast about them too. But I also want to channel my inner Roger Ebert, and devote substantial time to those great and amazing movies that are being missed by the casual movie fan. I want to be better at spotlighting the stuff that didn't get a big marketing push or seems to be neglected by other movie sites. 2023 will be the year that I am championing the great but underseen movies and creations, along with celebrating the big stuff too.

What are things you'd like to see on Beyond the Balcony?