So.... what do you want?

[scarletregina]

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook (which I think is all of you, but if not then friend me!) know that I've been nostalgic for CA. Patrick mentioned that he's been thinking about starting a site again and that he's open to suggestions. He did say that he wants to do something more than news regurgitation.... so I"m wondering, what would you guys like to see in a CA 3.0?

[Mal Shot First]

Once more revenue had been coming in, the plan was to then move away from the longer form pieces and give that to the now-trained writers. I would then turn my attention to trying something crazy: building movie database pages for already released films, like THE GODFATHER or CITIZEN KANE, the original STAR WARS and so on.

My plan was to comb through old issues of the trades, movie magazines and that kind of related content, find the rumors, production reports and so on from back in the day, and then post these updates in the appropriate movie's page. Then, someone could read the page for CITIZEN KANE and see an entry-by-entry log of how the production of it developed.

Imagine being able to read the development of JAWS, from '72 to its release in '75, or the original PLANET OF THE APES. The database pages would also incorporate milestones from the movie's production, like a mention of its first day of filming or its last.

I also wanted to go on and maintain the movie's pages well after their release. For example, if Nike was going to manufacture a McFly sneaker to celebrate BACK TO THE FUTURE's 30th anniversary, then that news would also be added to the BTTF database page.

I wanted to evolve CA so that it would be a different kind of IMDB: one that told the story of the making, release and after-release of these films. I don't know if there would be any large sort of interest from people for this thing, but I thought that it would be fun.

If this is where you wanted to take the site in the first place, why not do it now? There's no sense in making another movie news website if there are hundreds of them out there already. The idea you have described here is fairly unique and would set apart CA from other movie websites. You could add content at your own pace and not worry about having the most up-to-date information, since the information you'd be adding would refer to movies that are now considered classics. That type of site also lends itself better to sporadic conent creation (new content twice or three times a week). Think about it, Patrick - I think it would be a worthwhile project, even if it might not be profitable in the short run (or even in the long run). That's something you could definitely keep doing as a hobby.

This is what I told him in the "Things are like this" thread on CA 2.0, and I still think he should do this if that's where he wanted to take the site anyway. Some of us would probably even provide film reviews - maybe not on a regular basis, but every now and then. If Goiter has time, perhaps he could even start another column (Movies of 1985?), but make it a monthly feature instead of a weekly one if it's too much of a time commitment.

Maybe CA 3.0 could be more of a collaborative effort instead of Patrick doing most of the heavy lifting. If there are members who are actually serious about providing entertainment-related content on a routine basis, it would be cool if Patrick would take them up on it and give them a venue.

EDIT: What I'm trying to say is essentially that he can move into op-ed territory if he doesn't want the site to be geared toward news publication.

[Djack Zteelecock]

Nude dancing girls.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I mentioned taking it in a Famous Monsters of Filmland-like direction. I think that could work. I'd like to see a site that was part current goings-on in film and part museum of trivia and arcana.

[scarletregina]

I seriously love Patrick's idea. Development Hell was my favorite part of CA (besides the forums, of course) and his idea sort of reminds me of that. It would be so interesting.