What is this?
Good question. Glad you asked. The Reveal is a home to writing about film (with occasional digressions into television) written by Scott Tobias and Keith Phipps, two longtime writers and editors who’ve been friends and collaborators for over two decades. We first worked together at The A.V. Club, then at the beloved film site The Dissolve, and currently serve as two of the four co-hosts of the film podcast The Next Picture Show.
What can I expect?
If you’ve read our work over the years, you probably have a good idea what to expect. We’ve covered movies and other aspects of pop culture’s past and present in the form of reviews, historical deep dives, back-and-forth conversations, podcasts, and more. But expect more. After years of carving out (still ongoing) careers as freelance writers, we wanted to create a space where we could follow our interests where they led us without worrying too much about finding timely hooks or appealing to the broadest possible audience. We want to reach readers as passionate about all aspects of film as we are, those happy to hear our thoughts on the latest Marvel movie but just as happy to read about a half-forgotten German drama we stumbled across on the far reaches of a streaming service or read an ongoing series listing the best films of the Australian new wave. (Hmm… We were just throwing that out there as an example but that sounds like a pretty good idea.)
Why subscribe?
In a time when moviegoing itself seems to have reached a turning point, we’re committed to movies and making thoughtful, incisive contributions around them. We’re also committed to turning out those contributions at a steady pace and in many shapes and forms, week in and week out. Subscribers to The Reveal will regularly receive our thoughts on new movies, current events in the film world, and our explorations of older movies. And we’re making much of our work available for free. But we’re also creating a tier for paid subscribers.
Why become a paid subscriber?
There are two reasons to become a paid subscriber to The Reveal.
First, we’ll be making some of our content, including some fun ongoing projects, available only to subscribers. We will also be making some of our community functions available only to subscribers. At The A.V. Club and (especially) The Dissolve we loved the thoughtful community of commenters that grew out of our work and would like to re-create that here.
Second, it’s a way to keep this experiment alive and viable. We’re not treating The Reveal as a side project but as a major new extension of the work we’ve done together over the years. We want to remain true to the spirit of our past work but also explore how he can push that work in new directions. We want you to be a part of it, but there are many financial challenges facing impassioned film writing in today's digital world. Simply put, we’ll need your help to keep it going.
