The site was started by myself, Eric Hillis, back in February 2009 with an embarrassingly poorly written review of Marcus Nispel's 'Friday the 13th' remake. For the next couple of years the site was barely touched, save for the odd dabbling here and there.
It wasn't until late 2011, after being made redundant from my decade long job running a DVD store, that I decided to knuckle down and try and make something of the site. Taking out a loyalty subscription with my local Dublin branch of Cineworld, I decided to review every movie released.
I continued with this tactic until early summer 2012 when I figured I'd get myself added to the press lists of distributors, thus allowing me to attend press screenings. The first screening I attended was 'The Dark Knight Rises', courtesy of Warner Bros, the first distributor kind enough to add me to their list. This completely changed the profile of the site in terms of visitors, as my review was one of the first to appear in the IMDB critics section for the movie. Gradually, other distributors added me and now there is but one who still choose to ignore me, (a certain Hollywood studio associated with a right-wing news channel).
Along with screenings, I began to be regularly contacted by low-budget film-makers asking if I would review screeners of their films, something I was more than happy to do.
In November of last year, my review of 'Skyfall' impressed a writer for The Irish Times, leading to me acquiring a position as journalist with a local Dublin newspaper. Now, finding the time to review new releases as well as screeners is getting tougher, which is why I've recruited several other writers, and still need more.
Roughly 90% of the content here comes from me but other contributors have provided great stuff. They are Joshua Mitchell, John Saltwell, Ruairi Kavanagh, Nick Sauer, Denny Spangler, Courtney Young, and Michael Parkes. My thanks goes out to all of them.
Want to write for us?
There are three areas in which we need more contributors. While Nick and Michael have come on as TV writers, we'd love some more help as there's just so many damn shows out there. We're also looking for someone to review new release documentaries for us. Lastly, if anyone is interested in reviewing low budget screeners, which we'll have posted to you, this would be a helpful addition also.
If you fancy coming on board in any of these areas, or in any other capacity, drop me a mail at eric@themoviewaffler.com.
The Waffler's World
Back in the beginning, it was only personal friends who knew about the site, but now we have a worldwide audience. Our readers come from literally all over the globe. Here are the ten countries TMW is most popular in, according to Google analytics.
1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Ireland
4. Canada
5. Germany
6. Australia
7. France
8. Israel
9. India
10. The Netherlands
Our 5 Most Read Reviews
1. Life of Pi
3. Skyfall
5. Sinister
The 10 Best New Releases Of Our Run
.jpg)
1. Martha Marcy May Marlene
2. Mud
3. The Hunt
4. Margaret
5. No
6. To the Wonder
7. The Grey
8. The Muppets
9. Melancholia
10. Blue Valentine
2. Mud
3. The Hunt
4. Margaret
5. No
6. To the Wonder
7. The Grey
8. The Muppets
9. Melancholia
10. Blue Valentine
If we can see another ten movies of this quality over the next 500 posts, we'll be very happy indeed!
Thanks to everyone who has helped us out over the years and, most of all, thanks to all our readers!
Thanks to everyone who has helped us out over the years and, most of all, thanks to all our readers!