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Another film enthusiasts’ magazine comes to an end.

As reported in the current edition of Dress Circle magazine, the long established British magazine
“International Film Making” will cease publication. The reasons cited by the editor, Roy
Salmons for its demise, was the reduction in the supply of articles and the number of subscribers.

As Dress Circle editor Ross Adams says “The plain fact is that those interested in film, as against
digital technology are diminishing and the younger generation are simply not interested in “old’
technology”.

I can only concur with Ross’ comments. It is very much a case of “use it or lose it” when it comes
to hobby magazines. In the case of Reel Deals, (and I would think DC as well), there is certainly
no ‘profit’ at the end of the year. The cost of producing the magazine is only just covered by the
subscriptions, the bulk of that being taken up by the printing and postage costs. And we are
expecting yet another increase in postage rates next year.
RD is about to enter its 23rd year, that is a lot of articles and a lot of work over that time. All of
which, strangely after all this time, I still enjoy doing. The other aspect of RD, which can’t be
counted in dollars, is the number of friendships made through contacts with other enthusiasts.
Where to From Here

I have noticed over time, the number of advertisers have dwindled, rarely do I receive an article
or piece of information to print from other than the few regular contributors.

It has been suggested by a few readers that RD should “go on -line”, that I should do away with
the printed version, I’m told that an on-line version could be kept “up to date”, advertisements
could be updated, and so on. From my experience in observing what has happened to other
hobby/enthusiast magazine that have gone on-line, it seems to be a sure fire recipe for their demise.
Reading a computer or tablet screen is not the most convenient way of browsing. This is
particularly the case with a list of films, etc. Nowhere to mark your interests on a tablet screen!
The current subscription rate for RD is holding quite well at around 220 (down from an all-time
high of about 300 some five years ago), so I guess we just keep plugging away - but it does require
your support if you enjoy reading it, how about contributing an article, an item of interest from
the news or your local area, a report on your home theatre or screening room, even a report on
your digital set up! Everyone is interested in what other collectors are doing.

Mike Trickett

REEL DEALS December 2015 3