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If you watch a lot of TV, you’re not alone.
According to the latest Nielsen Total Audience survey, the average American spends a little over four hours each day glued to the television.
And while watching movies and shows is undoubtedly a great way to unwind after a hard day at work, wouldn’t it be nice if you could get paid for it?
Well, if you also enjoy writing, you can. All you need to do is share your thoughts with the world.
Here are the top ways to get paid to review movies.
If you consider yourself a good writer, you can become a paid contributor at a movie review or entertainment website.
Generally speaking, you’ll need to have excellent grammar, writing samples, and the ability to develop article ideas, to land one of these roles. Since these are freelance positions, you can apply to as many of these jobs as you’d like, depending on your availability and income goals.
Here are a few places to check out.
Ways To Get Paid To Review Movies
1. Animation Arena
2. Taste of Cinema
3. ScreenRant
4. Bustle
5. Cineaste
6. Cracked
7. Hubpages
8. Medium
1. Animation Arena
Animation Arena, a website dedicated to animation of all sorts, hires writers to create movies, video games, and comic book reviews.
Each review needs to be about 550 words long. The pay is $15 per review, and as one of their writers, you can write up to 10 reviews per month.
You don’t need to be a professional writer for this gig, but you need good grammar and must submit two writing samples with your query.
You can learn more about becoming an animated movie reviewer with Animation Arena here.
2. Taste of Cinema
Taste of Cinema brings in millions of page views per month by specializing in “list” articles. They are currently looking for contributors to write movie reviews and classic move lists.
For reference, some of their most popular move lists include topics like:
- The 30 Best Movies of 2018
- The 10 Most Overrated Actors Working Today
- The 18 Best Philosophical Movies of All Time
As a contributor for Taste of Cinema, you’ll need to come up with your own movie-related article ideas. Then, once you write your article, you can pitch it to their editor. If accepted, you’ll be paid depending on the number of views or clicks your article receives.
(This means there’s no guaranteed pay. Still, if you’re a new movie reviewer, having an article published can help you build your portfolio.)
If accepted as a contributor, you can write as much or as little as you like.
If you want to get paid to review movies, you can see the full application instructions here.
3. ScreenRant
ScreenRant was started in 2003 and is now one of today’s top entertainment news websites. They focus on movie and TV news, reviews, interviews, and more.
Right now, ScreenRant is hiring contributors to write for one or more of their top categories. If you land a contributor spot, you’ll be paid for your articles and receive a byline.
While ScreenRant doesn’t list writer pay on their website, a Reddit user reports that pay is a combination of a flat fee + incentives for how well the content performs.
You can fill out the application here if you want to get paid to review movies. To do so, you’ll need to submit three writing samples and describe your previous experience.
4. Bustle
Bustle is a popular website geared toward women. Some of their top subjects are entertainment, wellness, style, and life.
From time to time, Bustle hires new contributors. If you want to find a writing position in their entertainment category, you can check for job openings here.
For this position, you should be prepared to provide previous writing samples with your application.
5. Cineaste
Cineaste is a quarterly publication founded in 1967. Their subtitle is “America’s leading magazine on the art and politics of the cinema.”
Cineaste accepts pitches for feature articles, interviews, film reviews, DVD reviews, and book reviews. To increase the chance of an editor accepting your pitch, you’ll need to stick to the recommended word count and style guide listed on the Cineaste website.
The pay is dependent upon the type of article. If your article is accepted, payment will be:
- Short take reviews: $18
- Book & DVD reviews: $36
- Film reviews: $45
- Feature articles: $90
6. Cracked
Cracked is a comedy-based website that has articles on all kinds of subjects, including movies.
Anyone can sign up to be a contributor with Cracked. However, that doesn’t automatically mean they’ll publish your articles.
Cracked has high standards, so it may take a pitch or two before you’re published. If you are published, though, they’ll pay you $100. Then, after you have four articles accepted, they’ll bump you up to $200 per article.
To give you an idea of what kind of movie content they’re looking for, some of their recent posts include titles such as:
- 5 Ways Movies Screw Up Exciting and Emotional Scenes
- Sorry, But ‘Ted Lasso’s’ Theme Song Sucks
- How Costume Designers Hack Our Brains
Start Your Own Movie Review Blog or YouTube Channel
If you want to control the content you produce, you can start a movie review blog or YouTube channel.
In complete transparency, it will take a lot of time and effort before either of these become profitable. However, if you stick with it, you can create a movie review empire that could eventually become a full-time gig.
The beauty of starting your own content channel is that you can choose how you’d like to niche down. For example, you could review only horror movies, lifetime movies, Netflix movies, etc.
You can learn more about starting and monetizing a blog here.
Write for Revenue Share Websites
If you don’t like the idea of starting your own blog but are still looking for complete control over the content you produce, you can write for revenue-share websites.
These websites work by allowing you (or anyone) to sign up to become a writer. Then, as a writer, when your content becomes popular, it generates revenue through ad networks, product sales, or affiliate links.
That revenue gets split between you and the site you’re writing for.
Here are some of the most popular revenue-sharing websites to sign up with.
7. Hubpages
Hubpages is one of the oldest revenue-sharing sites on the internet.
To get started with Hubpages, simply sign up and create your profile. You’ll then be able to join the ad program or Amazon program to monetize your articles.
Once you complete those steps, you can begin writing.
After writing, your next step is to publish the article. Once you do, HubPages will put it through a quality assessment check. If it passes, your movie review will become searchable on popular search engines and may land on the featured page.
This will help improve the odds of you receiving traffic and, therefore, making money from your review.
The more articles you write, the higher your chances of making money.
8. Medium
Medium is where authors and storytellers come to share their knowledge and experiences. It’s an open-source content platform where anyone can write.
However, to make money writing movie reviews on Medium, you’ll need to be approved for the partner program.
To become eligible to apply, you must have at least one story published and over 100 followers.
Once accepted, you can begin writing.
There are two ways to earn.
The first is dependent on how long Medium members spend reading your articles. The more time spent, the more you make. The second happens when a reader upgrades to a paid membership after reading one of your stories. If they do so, you’ll receive half the membership cost they paid.
How Much Do Movie Reviewers Get Paid?
Film critics work as freelance writers or journalists, getting paid to publish opinions in the form of articles. Since pay varies by publication and a yearly salary is dependent on how many hours a film critic chooses to work, it’s hard to pin down an exact pay range.
However, for reference, the average journalist’s salary is $42,062 per year, according to Payscale.
If you’re a new movie reviewer and are interested in writing reviews in your spare time, you’ll typically earn between $15-$200 depending on the length of the review and the publication.
Other Side Hustle Ideas Worth Checking Out
Here are a few more side hustles you can check out:
Ways to Get Paid to Review Movies – Final Thoughts
If you love watching movies and have strong opinions about what you watch, you can make a decent side hustle income reviewing movies.
To find success, you’ll need solid grammar skills and the willingness to learn how to format and perfect articles. If you have those skills, you can get started by sending in applications or article pitches to the sites listed above.
Alternatively, you can start building out a blog or YouTube channel with your movie reviews if you prefer complete editorial control.
Looking for more ways to earn money?
Check out the video below to learn how I went from $0 to $3,000,000:
