The Plus Side to Drastically Changing 'The Movie Breakdown'

First of all, I am humbled and encouraged that all the feedback on shifting The Movie Breakdown from a segmented-structured multi-review show to a single movie deep-dive freeform format has been positive. There have been a few listeners that said this plays better to our strengths and that they like the hour-plus focus on a major movie. We did have a few that admitted they were skeptical about the change working,. but feel we nailed it and converted them with our debut episode in the new format. It probably helps that we kicked things off with what seems to be one of the most beloved movies of the 1980s, The Goonies.

The major reason for some hesitation from some listeners seems to mostly echo what was my main concern with the change to the format as well,. They like that we caught up with many of the Netflix releases and when theatres were a thing in Ontario, we caught many of the new theatrical releases. This is not going to be as common or be able to be pulled off to the same extent with only one move review a week. This mostly eliminates our show as required viewing as a catch-up with all the recent releases.

My other major concern over the change is that a single movie format means that it either needs to be a recognizable older movie or a hot new release if there is a chance at getting decent downloads. The simple truth is as a person who is trying to make this site and podcast a significant part of my career, then reviewing a movie that will draw an audience is a factor. The older format allowed use to slip in smaller independent or international movies as one of the four or five reviews. It is not likely we could have justified ever doing an entire episode on The Platform. If we did anyway, it is likely that most of our listeners wouldn't have bothered downloading it and would have been a major flop. Maybe I'm wrong, but after doing this since 2013, I have observed that the shows with at least one bigger or more popular movie tend to be the episodes that get many more listens.

I'm going to be completely honest here, the shift in formats was out of actual necessity to keep the podcast going rather than 'let us try something different.' It is very unlikely that we could have gone back even if our listeners hated the new format. This is why I am so grateful that it took because it was sort of a do or die situation. There are countless factors and I really don't want to elaborate too much, but simply put, my career and life couldn't manage reviewing the four or five movies that both Scott and I had access to each week while also still reviewing other things that I've promised on this site and managing other major parts of my career and life. 

This actually means that the championing of smaller movies or international pictures won't be absent from this site. The format change will allow me and even force me to write more reviews on here and which will include those lesser known movies along with major theatrical releases and the beloved older movies, and of course, all the other stuff I keep threatening to write about on here.

I was thinking that even though multi-review shows are no longer the norm, that we can do a few special wrap-up shows like a summer movie season show where we look at all the release from that movie season and spolitght our favourites or the underseen gems and such. There will still be episodes that allow us to highlight stuff that otherwise may be ignored and point people towards some other great movies that should be seen.

I also really want to break into YouTube and try other media to expand my pop culture empire. This will allow some room for some fresh stuff to sneak into YouTube as there are movies now that aren't getting full attention on the podcast that Scott and I can cover in a shorter video form.

Not being forced to see and review five movies a week will also mean the MCU series and Disney animated series, which were two that Scott did not have full access to in a legal way that I can focus on more. I also may dabble in TV series reviews and video game reviews and wrestling reviews, and other stuff that I did not have the time to do when trying to manage all the stuff on the podcast while trying to stay on top of client work.

And of course, all the other writng on here that I've desperately wanted to start like the fiction series will have a better shot of coming to life with the extra time that the shift of the podcast will provide.

Of course, it seems like I may be replacing the few hours of work with even more ambitious and time draining endeavors. Some of these things won't have the same time crunch and will be more experimental and casual in nature. It will be written when it is written. It isn't like the podcast that has a set recording date and time. I won't feel like it needs to be a specific length and could be more in the riff format.

Anwway, I'm glad everyone enjoyed the new direction of The Movie Breakdown, It is a change that is going to make this place a more exiting place. I promise.