Film Stories: can you help us with a one-off special by over 70s?

To hopefully help get through prolonged isolation, we want to do a special issue of Film Stories with lots of new writers – all aged over 70.

Right then. Accepting that the world has been in a better place than it’s at now, I want to use Film Stories to do something positive.

As things stand, anyone over 70 is being asked to isolate themselves for a period of 12 weeks in the UK. All those brilliant people and brains. It’s not much, but I want to provide an outlet for at least some of them.

I’m proposing, then, a one-off special issue of Film Stories, that’s penned by those in the UK, over 70. Ideally, many of those writing articles for it won’t have been published before too, but that’s not a necessity. Hopefully, it’ll help people with the prolonged isolation period, and also offer some paid work in the process.

How it works

Simple. If you’re over 70, and would like to pitch an article – be it about cinema memories, about Marvel movies, about anything related to film young or old – then drop us a line: [email protected].

I’m looking for pieces around 1000-1500 words long. We may get little response, and thus won’t press ahead. But conversely, hopefully, I can’t help but think there are lots of brilliant stories out there that haven’t been told. I’d love to offer an outlet for them.

Also: if you’re under 70 but know somebody who might be interested, or someone you can work with to help them pen a piece where appropriate, then get in touch too. It’d be lovely if families could work together on this, for instance. Or if people could reach out to those who won’t hear about this, and perhaps help them to get an article together? I’m very conscious that some over 70 may be feeling quite lonely at the moment, and this may be something to help.

Is it paid work?

Yes. If an article runs, it’ll be paid. Not huge amounts, but please be assured I don’t make a penny from this. But all writing is paid for. That said, don’t send completed articles in unless you have a commission. I don’t want to disappoint people if I can’t fit their work in.

Will this be a print magazine?

That’s the plan, although I’ll need some financial help to get there. I can cover some of the costs, but to print an issue costs thousands. If you can help with that, please let me know.

The issue likely won’t be as big as a regular Film Stories issue – unless I get a lot of support – but once there’s interest (if there is interest), I’ll put a preorder page up to see just how many people would buy a print version. Failing that, I’ll put together a digital PDF magazine version instead.

If you’re a business/individual who’d like to contribute to help with printing/production – on the understanding I take no profit or income from this – then please get in touch. I’m at simon at filmstories co uk.

What’s the timeline?

I’ll be working on this over the next three to four weeks, and will give an update as the project progresses. Like I say, it’s dependent on interest, but I will post regular updates.

Any questions?

Add them in the comments below, and I’ll update this post as appropriate.

Thank you.

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