Starting 2006 August 1, Cinema Minima Correspondents will be eligible to participate in its Reporter Rewards™ program. The program, which will be administered quarterly, will be in beta test from 2006 August to December.
What is the purpose of the Reporter Rewards™ program? Reporter Rewards™ is designed to encourage the publication of ambitious stories which are noteworthy, and which adhere to Cinema Minima's Style Guidelines.
Only stories which are exclusive to Cinema Minima will be eligible. Stories which appear in any form in any other publication — including the author's own Web site or blog — will not be eligible. Stories must also adhere to Cinema Minima's Style Guide.
How does the Reporter Rewards™ program work?
Although Cinema Minima does not pay for stories, it does offer quarterly cash rewards to Correspondents whose work contributes to Cinema Minima's influence, which is reflected in the rates which Cinema Minima receives for advertisements it carries.
Contributions will be assessed by the Editor, based on several factors, including quality, relevance, and influence measured by the quality and number of links to a Correspondent's stories from other influential Web sites and citations in other publications. The Editor's judgement shall in all cases be final.
Example — You publish several short, weekly interviews with prominent and up-and-coming directors, in which you provoke them to say noteworthy things. Several very popular Web sites link to your stories, each week. Your interview with Christopher Nolan is cited in an article in the highly-ranked The New York Times Web site. In consequence of this — and similar contributions by other Correspondents — Cinema Minima's page rank rises, and with it, the amount advertisers pay for ads on Cinema Minima. Your quarterly cash reward will reflect your contributions.
How important are "hits" — the number of visitors to the Cinema Minima Web site? The number of hits is no longer a significant measure of performance for an online publication. Most Cinema Minima readers get it by subscription to its RSS news feed — since 2005, more people read Cinema Minima's news feeds than visit its Web site. News feed subscription is the significant indicator of online readership — not the quantity of visitors to the Web site. So the number of hits will not be given much weight — if at all — when considering the degree of success of a story or a series of stories.
How much money? Don't quit your day job.
Reporter Rewards™ will be funded by Cinema Minima's advertising revenues. The net — after expenses — would be divided among participating Correspondents, according to the magnitude of the contributions of each. If Cinema Minima has a good quarter, it will be reflected in the size of the rewards; if Cinema Minima has a bad quarter, that will show in the form of reduced revenues and smaller rewards to participating Correspondents.
If I participate in the Reporter Rewards™ program, would I become an employee of Cinema Minima? No. The purpose of Reporter Rewards™ is to encourage excellence — not to offer compensation for work done.
Should I join the Cinema Minima Correspondents program for the money I expect to get by participating in the Reporter Rewards™ program? No. You should only write for Cinema Minima if you have something to say to movie makers about cinema.
I am already a Correspondent, but I do not wish to participate in the Reporter Rewards™ program. (My stories will not be exclusive to Cinema Minima, or I just don't need the money.) Would that be OK? Yes. Please advise the Program administrator — which, for now, is the Editor — that you do not wish to participate in Reporter Rewards™ program.
Details
Details about Reporter Rewards™ will be posted at Cinema Minima Per Diem: Reporter Rewards. Reporter Rewards™ is a trademark of Cinema Minima.
Now it is OK to accept comments on Cinema Minima stories. Hitherto, comments had been discouraged at 
