How to Pitch Articles

The cinéSPEAK Journal centers the voices of:
- Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples of color
- Women-identifying people
- People who are LGBTQIA+, Two-Spirit, Trans, genderqueer, gender nonconforming, nonbinary, and/or queer
- Those who are disabled, immigrants, formerly or currently incarcerated, or have other lived experiences that are historically excluded from journalism and mediamaking
- People from and/or based in Philadelphia
We highly encourage new and emerging writers or community members to pitch to us.

We are interested in stories about film, filmmakers, and moving image-related community building in Philadelphia.
We are especially interested in timely stories and stories that tie in relevant social justice issues affecting Philadelphians and global communities.
Read the articles we’ve already published to get a sense of what we do, our lens/perspective, and our editorial voice.

We aim to build and uplift independent and community moving image work in Philadelphia.
- While we want our articles to be honest and genuine, we generally want to focus on the positive aspects of community work happening in the city.
- Negative takes on community film events should focus on issues of equity and should take the form of constructive criticism.
- Writers should speak with a variety of people from an organization before taking a critical stance on their work.
We aim to highlight diversity and promote equity within the community film landscape in Philadelphia.
We aim to bring more awareness to film work happening in Philadelphia.
We aim to incorporate social justice issues and perspectives into our coverage of films and film events.

The voice of our journal is clear and accessible for our Philadelphia audience.
Our articles can utilize short personal anecdotes when especially relevant, but should generally focus on the topic.
When writers take a stance, it should incorporate positions grounded in concrete examples.

Coverage should be focused on BIPOC or youth-oriented festivals and community moving image events in Philadelphia.
This coverage should include interviews from programmers/relevant event planning staff and highlights from films or videos that will screen at the event.
Timelines for event coverage:
- All film festivals have to be covered prior to the festival.
- Events that are 1-7 days long have to be covered prior to the event.
- Exhibits that are at least one month long have to be covered no more than 1 week after the launch event.
- All event coverage needs to be pitched at least 8 weeks before the event or festival.
Examples of festivals we want covered:
Examples of relevant articles we’ve published:

The media cultural critique is an opportunity for op-eds that connect global issues and films to the city of Philadelphia.
As a general rule of thumb, if the op-ed is referring exclusively to an event, first drafts are due 1 week after the event. Exceptions can be made as necessary.
Example topics:
- Turning Red and AAPI experience in Philly
- Candyman and gentrification in Philly
- January 6th Insurrection and the role of social media videos in the age of the TikTok Ban
Examples of relevant articles we’ve published:

Local arts industry investigations are news pieces, oftentimes featuring interviews, about the local Philly moving image industry.
These articles can connect national arts industry issues to the local level.
Example topics:
- Philly tax credits not reaching indie filmmakers
- National inflation affecting local arts organizations
- IATSE strike and how it impact local workers
Examples of relevant articles we’ve published:
- After a Tough 2020, Philadelphia Movie Theaters Eye the Post-Pandemic Future

These interviews should feature Philadelphia-based moving image artists and organizers (filmmakers, curators, festival programmers, editors, animators, sound designers, etc.) showing at a big festival or having a major national/international moment.
There must be questions that are Philadelphia-centric and about how Philadelphia supported their careers.
These interviews will be more in-depth than the “Philadelphia Artist Spotlight” column.
Examples of relevant articles we’ve published:
- Magic, Memory, and Making Time For Elders: Filmmaker Rea Tajiri on Wisdom Gone Wild
- From North Philly Stables to Netflix: An Interview with Director Ricky Staub of Concrete Cowboy

Pay rates start at $250 and depend on article length and work involved.
Pay for articles is dependent on keeping timelines and providing a final draft. If a writer does not follow article timelines and does not provide a final draft, the article may be killed with no fees provided to writers. Kill fees will only be provided when a final draft of an article is not published due to editorial reasons.

Your pitch should be roughly two paragraphs long. We want enough detail to know what your piece will be about, but it should also be concise and to the point.
Be specific! The more detail you tell us about your argument, examples you plan to use, and research you’ve done or plan to do, the fuller picture we can get of your article.
Google your idea before pitching to see if anyone else has written on the same topic with the same argument. We want to publish original ideas.

We will respond to every pitch that we get. If you don’t hear from us within 4 weeks, please feel free to follow up.
If your pitch is accepted, someone from the Editorial Team will follow up with suggestions, a timeline, and guidelines for writing your piece and for the editorial process.