How to submit a pitch

If you have an idea for a pitch, submit a pitch here. If you have questions or would like additional guidance, send an email to reviews@hyperrealfilm.club. We're interested in all sorts of pieces from our local film community whether it be your personal relationship to a specific film to listicle-style rundowns of films of a certain genre or style. We'll try to respond to every single pitch with some sort of feedback, and if a pitch isn't quite right, we're always open to a revised pitch later!
Please include an estimated word count that you envision for your piece. There’s no word count minimum or maximum, necessarily, but 750-2000 words is a good baseline for general pieces, and 250-300 words max per movie when it comes to lists. If you’d like to go longer, we can talk about it.
We will follow up with you via email, usually within 2 weeks. We try to respond to every single pitch with some sort of feedback, and if a pitch isn't quite right, we're always open to a revised pitch later!
If this is your first time writing for us, we’ll also need a headshot and a short bio (<100 words) to add you as an author. We can link out to any social media or website you might have.
Once we’ve approved your pitch and received your rough draft, please allow up to two weeks for us to send feedback. If you haven’t heard back from us by then, feel free to send another email to make sure we’ve received it!
Send any photos you’d like us to include in the piece. A general rule of thumb is one picture every 250 words, and 1 picture per movie if discussing multiple films. Every piece additionally requires a header image (min. 1500 pixels wide); you can let us find one or send one of your preference. See Images in the Hyperreal Style Guide for further details.
Once you send over a rough draft, we'll get back to you with any edits. For small proofreading and clarity edits, we may make those changes on our end. For larger edits like structure or overall refocusing, we'll reach back with notes and suggestions. We're here to make your work the best it can be, and editing is a collaborative process, not a criticism of your writing. We're here to help!
Once an article is finalized, we'll reach back to let you know when you can expect to see it published on the site. After the article’s published, we’ll promote it in our stories and on discord!

Interested in writing for Hyperreal but not sure where to start? Here's what you need to know:

What are we looking for?

Passionate film writers of all levels of experience. You don't need to have majored in film or know what mise en scène means to have a unique take on a film that's worth sharing! For new writers, or anyone nervous about the process, feel free to reach out to reviews@hyperrealfilm.club. We want to encourage all of our passionate community members to get a chance to share their writing, so we're happy to troubleshoot and offer feedback and advice as much as our time will allow.

Not sure what to write about?

Your emotional response to the film can be a great place to start. Did you like it? Did you dislike it? Why or why not? Can you pinpoint certain story choices that pushed you away or really brought you in? Was the acting especially affecting? A performance especially magnetic? If you're not sure where to begin, start with the "what" of the film you liked or disliked and then move into the "why." From there, you can add in extra-textual points if you want—how does the film in question relate to other works in the director or actor or composer's filmography? Does something in the film become even more meaningful from context outside of the film? Does it change the way you viewed the film, for good or for bad?

What's the Hyperreal vibe?

Pieces on the site should come from a thoughtful place, first and foremost. We're not saying that you should write a glowing review for a film you hated, but try to dig deeper than just a hit piece. As satisfying as it can be sometimes to really rip apart a film, there's usually another way to communicate what you disliked so much about it without slipping into a hyperbolic takedown.

What style of article should you write?

Any kind! We talked about reviews earlier, but there's plenty of ways to write about film. You can write a piece about one specific scene in the film that you feel like sums up the film or otherwise stood out to you. You could write about a film's place in history, and how it inspired other films that came after or was itself inspired by earlier films. You can write a listicle about your favorite low-budget schlockfest films or the most romantic films you've ever seen.

You can also reach out to someone for an interview, although we ask that you pitch us on that first before reaching out as a representative of Hyperreal. If the possible interview subject is a local filmmaker, there's a good chance that we can arrange something with them for you after you pitch us the idea. There's no word minimum or maximum word count, but if we feel like a piece needs to be shortened or could be expanded, we'll reach out to you after receiving the rough draft.

What are the perks?

Beyond adding to the vibrant Hyperreal community, we may be able to offer screeners and, depending on the event, press passes to local film festivals and events. In the future, there may be print copies of some of the articles on the Hyperreal site as part of a film crit zine. If your piece is in there, you'll get a free copy.

The Hyperreal Style Guide

New to writing, or want a quick reference for how we like to do things around here? Check this guide, which covers our specs as well as some common grammatical issues we see pop up.

Word count: We don’t have a hard and fast rule, but a good baseline is 750-2000 words. For lists, 250-300 words per movie max. If you want to go longer, reach out to us to discuss!

Images: Should be in .JPG or .PNG format.

Article images should be around 700 x 1200 px, but bigger is OK.
Header images should be min.1500 px wide.
We can also grab images for you if you prefer!

Movie titles: Should be italicized, eg. The Godfather, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Very long titles can be shortened after the first mention, eg. Uncle Boonmee

Years: Include an apostrophe when the century is not specified.

Yes: 1980s, the ‘80s
No: 1980’s, the 80s

Sources: Should be linked to (if digital) and cited in the article, including the year. For example:

In a 2022 interview with Indiewire, Werner Herzog said..
In the 1996 issue of Film Lovers Annual, Herzog noted…

Periods and commas: Go inside punctuation marks.

Yes: “I love movies,” Remus said. (We know.)
No: “I love movies”, Remus said. (We know).

Want to Write for Hyperreal?