Might It Be Time to Get Out of Entertainment Journalism?

“Journalism is Fucked and We’re All Doomed” is my ongoing column looking at issues affecting entertainment journalism writers.

A portion of this is available for free subscribers, but this piece is exclusive to my Gold Star Crew of Silver and Gold Film Mavens. Supporters include: Ashley Eakin, Jessi Parrott, Talleri Mcrae, LMoore, Tonia Steed, Chelsea Meister, Josh Hornbeck, Julia Mazza, Kathia and Alcmatta

Paid subscribers are the backbone of The Film Maven who support independent journalism, as well as female- and disabled-created content. Paid Film Mavens get access to shout-outs, exclusive articles and series, Zoom mixers, and The Film Maven Discord server.

Consider becoming a paid subscriber and joining the community that invests in independent journalism free of AI and influencer opinions!

I’ve written this before, but a big question I’m always asked by aspiring journalists, right after “What’s it like to talk to a celebrity,” is “how do I do what you do?” I’ve always told them things like “It’s hard” to “Only do it if you absolutely love it AND can financially afford to do it” but, lately, I’ve felt like the harbinger of Doom outright telling them “Just don’t. Do something else.” I’ve felt like this for a few months now, the result of both leaving a toxic AF job that attempted to break my confidence as a writer as well as seeing a lot of good writers (and several friends) devote their lives to entertainment journalism and end up one in a bevy of corporate layoffs.

Thus, the question above. Is it time for me or, really, all of us, to admit that entertainment journalism is dying and we should all go become plumbers?