Film Companion is open for business!

I’ve always been conflicted about advertorial content. I’m an old-school journalist. I’ve come to digital journalism via television and print. One of the first principles we were taught at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (where I got my Masters) was that there must always be a church and state separation between advertising and editorial. The twain shall never meet. 

Over the last 15 years, I’ve watched the two not just meet but merge until they were indistinguishable from each other. Across print, television and now digital, advertising disguised as editorial prevails – usually with disclaimers in such small type that consumers rarely notice it. I’ve gone hoarse trying to explain to my mother that everything she reads – especially in the entertainment supplements of leading newspapers – isn’t necessarily true. Artists and films aren't being written about because of quality or newsworthiness or talent. They make the headlines because they have marketing budgets to buy space. 

Naturally then, when it was time to introduce branded content on my platform Film Companion, I was nervous. Film Companion is a curated platform for film, television, short films, web series, even film books. We do reviews, interviews, on-set coverage, recommendations – in both video and text. Our aim is to be a content companion for smart people who like entertainment. We pride ourselves on our integrity, quality and passion – the people creating content at FC are mad film lovers just like the people who consume the content. For me, this community is sacrosanct. 

We wrestled for months with advertorial guidelines. We needed to make FC a sustainable business without losing our quality and integrity. Eventually we came up with three types of branded content (you can read the details here). The bottom line was that our advertorial has to be content that feels organic and true to the nature of the platform – so no random plugs for face creams or colas. And we would label it prominently so consumers don’t ever feel cheated.

It’s a new and tricky terrain for us. But I’m excited. Film Companion is now open for business.