Guess Who's Back...

Hello, beautiful coven. It's been a good, long while and, if I'm being entirely frank, I'd hoped our reconnection would be on better terms. But, here we are! And, yes, things do look differently than you remember: we've migrated from nazistack to Ghost. This will have no impact on subscribers!

For those who don't know, I was laid off from IGN mid-August. To say it came as a surprise would be an understatement. After delivering the highest performing interviews at both IGN Live and SDCC and going viral out of the Fantastic Four junket, I felt pretty secure in my position. I should have known better, of course — this isn't my first layoff, and they never have anything to do with the skill of the worker. Still, it's a devastating blow to lose my union and community. One that I won't pretend not to still be reeling from.

I wanted to get the coven together and talk about what this newsletter/website will be going forward, and what needs to happen if you want to keep entertainment journalism and criticism alive (whether you get it from me, or others). On the latter, the below pretty well sums it up. If you want to keep us around, you have to follow us; you have to engage with us, and if you have the means, you have to support us. While I'd be honored if the person you chose to support was me, my stress over my own financial situation isn't what this is about (though I reserve the right to panic about that later). Journalism and criticism are both critical to the entertainment ecosystem, and they are being devalued everywhere we turn.

When the prevailing fan sentiment from a junket is "thank GOD they sent an actual journalist to do this interview," it's pretty evident that influencer culture has overstayed its welcome. But convincing studios and executives of that is a different conversation and, at the moment, follower counts seem to be the only thing that matters.

Now, on to this site and its future. If you take a peek around picketywitch.com, you'll notice that there are places for reviews, features, news. etc. That means that Pickety Witch will no longer just be a weekly newsletter, it will also be home for my work. Bear with me as I figure out the new mechanics over here but, currently, the plan is to have a weekly newsletter and then regular posts throughout the week. This also means that I plan to ditch Patreon so, if you're a supporter over there, please feel free to cancel and subscribe natively (I'll talk more about the reasoning there at a later date).

I've been asked about "what's next for me" eleventy times since it all happened. The short answer is this website. The long answer? Well, we're all on this little choose your own adventure together. I'll let you know when the forks in the road come along, and which path I decide to head down. In the meantime, I'm thankful y'all are here.

The second most asked question that's come my way is "how can I help?" of which I am endlessly thankful for. In the context of this exact moment in this exact setting, the answer is simply "subscribe"! Whether it's paid or free, subscriber count results in access. More access means I can bring you more coverage (and that I can continue to eat).

I'm on deadline for another website (more news on what's going on there to come) so that's it for now. Here's my The Long Walk review to tide you over until we meet again.