Last Updated: 5/29/23
People are hungry for good geek stuff.
In addition to the General Guidelines for All Articles, there are particular guidelines for articles that cater to our Entertainment – Geek – Pop Culture audience.
Entertainment features should be approximately 900-1500 words. Longer pieces and Pillar Posts may be requested and you may be offered a bonus rate.
Try to avoid statements in your articles that “date” it. I.e., references to Covid, masks, etc., Entertainment content should be as evergreen as possible. I should be able to read a review for The Bad Guys and it’s just as relevant the day it opens in theaters as it is when it comes out on DVD or drops on Netflix.
Reviews should be at least 700, preferably closer to 1000. Longer is fine.
Listicles are not just numbered lists as you see on Ranker – we want at least a sentence or two at least justifying why you are listing a movie, book, comic, etc. The minimum for a Listicle is 10, but we prefer 15- 20+ in most cases. Do not end your list with “finally,” “concluding,” “the last on our list,” or anything that states or implies the reader is finished with the article. We want them to keep reading.
Interviews are fine, as long as they’re relevant to our mainline audience, which is geeky, pop culture stuff. However, interviews need to be narrative-driven, not just a series of Q&As. We would like you to tell a story with your interview.
We tend to love nostalgia – our average reader is Millennial to Gen X, so top stuff in the 80s, 90s, Aughts is good. Anime and manga are good. TMNT, Transformers, He-Man, GI Joe, etc.
The more we have working listicles and Trending Topics keeping us at the top of MSN, the more we have for thought pieces, deep dives and articles that analyze or explore a topic, rather than just reporting on the latest video game or listing the best movies of Martin Scorcese. I personally LOVE deep dives and so does our audience. As long as we’re delivering content that’s working, we can take some swings for the fences.
If you are doing a listicle, with or without slides, do not end it with “finally,” “concluding,” “the last on our list,” or anything that states or implies the reader is finished with the article. We want them to keep reading.
For all review posts, the final line of the review will state where you can see the movie, i.e. “in theaters July 7.” or “now streaming on Paramount+,” followed by the line, “Follow us here for the latest on movies in theaters now.”
Unless you are specifically instructed to by your Editor, you do not need to worry about images.