The Film Maven Got Nominated for Awards (and So Did I)

I certainly never set out to be a journalist for the awards (or, for the money, considering our current times). But as I started gathering stuff for nominations for this year's National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards, given out by the L.A. Press Club, I decided to take a risk and nominate The Film Maven.

And, yesterday afternoon, the nominations were dropped. I was shocked to see that I'd received a whopping four nominations! Including:

⭐️Best Nonfiction Book for Popcorn Disabilities: Th Highs and Lows of Disabled Representation in the Movies

⭐️Best Film Feature, Actor Related for my L.A. Times piece on the cast and crew of Roofman

⭐️Diversity in the TV/Streaming Industry for my Film Maven exclusive on the ASL dubbing of Wuthering Heights

⭐️Best Entertainment Blog By an Individual Not Tied to an Organization for The Film Maven

I've won two awards already for my freelance coverage, so seeing my first Times piece got a nomination is special. I was so stressed writing the article and the fact that it's being recognized with an award validates all that frustration. Here's to next year's Times piece – that I'm writing right now – gets recognition.

But it's the other three noms that I'm so humbled by. I haven't written a lot about the struggles I faced getting Popcorn Disabilities out into the world. The publisher I sold it too originally got bought out in the eleventh hour. I intentionally avoided an academic press and when they got bought, no surprise, the bigger publisher decided my book was now academic. This didn't just mean the book would now be more expensive for people to buy, but it would limit the bookstores that would end up purchasing it which is exactly what happened. It was dumped on Thanksgiving Day with absolutely zero publicity, outside of what I did on my own. It broke my heart because this was a labor of love I spent a year on, receiving very little advance. People, thankfully, are finding it but it's not what I wanted it to be. So when I nominated it on a whim I didn't expect much. To see it as one of the nominees for any book award is amazing because I truly didn't think it would happen.

And then there's the two nominations for this very newsletter. I've talked about this before, but I initially started TFM – back in the days when I called it Kristomania! – as a means of keeping my byline out there as I transitioned back into the freelance landscape. I was worried work would dry up and I'd need something that would be a portfolio. As I started developing things more it became a refuge for me to talk about the topics I find interesting and the areas where I feel we need to be talking about things more. One of them is my disability in film work. HBO Max didn't have to let me sit in the studio and watch the ASL dubbing. They could have told me "You're not a big outlet. Kick rocks." But they didn't, and it's why I push so hard for more access, to tell these stories and have them taken seriously.

I've been a freelancer longer than I've worked in corporate America, and it's hard to be taken seriously. Especially if you're a woman, and disabled. So to have the entire newsletter itself labeled as one of the best is something that really chokes me up. Whether it's my "Journalism is F***ed and We're All Doomed" series to Popcorn Disabilities, this site has always been about the freedom to write what I want. The landscape of writing is changing, journalism is seen as uncool, and this type of writing, especially, is perceived as something any influencer with a following can pull off. Numerous journalists are trying to go independent. But you guys continue to read my work, share it, and find value in it.

So this is all to say I'm very happy to get these four nominations. I don't have any illusions that I'll win any, let alone all four. But it gives me validation for all the days I've felt low, or that my writing doesn't reach anyone. It means a lot.