Disclosures

If you read my manifesto then you know part of the point of NoFilmSchool is to help independent creatives figure out how to derive value from the content we create. This blog is a part of that: rather than work on my own projects and then freelance for others to pay the bills, I believe that sharing what I learn here can actually help pay the rent — freeing me creatively and helping others at the same time. It’s not my goal to make enough money to use hundred dollar bills as hamburger condiments (as seen at left), but rather to grow the site and hire additional writers (to this end, I’ve been keeping the overhead low). Regardless, I want to be open and transparent about these monetization methods (I’ve even shared exact figures to this extent), so I’m not exactly worried about the FTC legislation (16 CFR Part 255) requiring bloggers to disclose their connections to products, advertisers, etc. However, to cover the bases:

The above images, courtesy Louis Gray, should pretty much cover all of the possibilities (most of them aspirational — I’d love to get sweet gadgets and “get busy” thanks to blogging… ). Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the “material connections” particular to NoFilmSchool — this goes both for this web site and the newsletter:

• Ads are ads: in most cases, someone paid to run them here. If I post about an advertiser’s product or service, I will always disclose that connection in the post. Some ads are automatically chosen by Google Adsense, wherein I basically cross my fingers and hope they’re relevant to you (Google takes a 32% cut). I’ve explicitly eliminated irrelevant categories like cosmetic surgery, drug supplements, weight loss, religion, etc. but for the most part the ads are up to Google to target. The big G targets ads using the information they scrape from this site as well as your own browsing history — if this concerns you or if you’d like to opt out of such targeting, see here. This site is the same as millions of other Google-serving sites and has no control over such advertisements; for more legalese, see the following footnote.¹
• Many links on this site are affiliate links. There’s a lot of annoying spam in the affiliate marketing world, but if I’m talking about a camera or service I will use an affiliate link if one is available — for example, any Amazon or B&H Photo link is an affiliate link (“affiliate link” means I get a small percentage of any sale that results). That said, I also recommend plenty of stuff that doesn’t have an affiliate program — if I think something is helpful, I’ll write about it regardless. As you can see from those two links, affiliate programs are a very uninstrusive way to monetize a web site, as they fit in organically and don’t negatively affect visitors.²
• I sometimes get free stuff (like a PDF of a book, for example) in order to review it. If it’s a digital good like an eBook or software, it didn’t cost them anything to send it to me, and if it’s a physical good like a camera or accessory, odds are it’s going back when I’m done reviewing it — I’m not going to gush about something just because I got special treatment. I will also disclose such freebies in the post.

Ultimately, I will never recommend a product or service that I don’t A) use myself, and/or B) genuinely believe is good. A lot of people say that, but here’s the thing — many bloggers and internet marketers are primarily out to make money. I’m a blogger second and a filmmaker first, and that changes the equation entirely — I would never let my reputation as a filmmaker be negatively affected by my blogging! That would be as stupid as it sounds.

Many people view making money on blogging (and the internet in general) as if it’s bad, but as an independent creative the point of generating income from this site is to free myself to make the projects that I want to make. In a studio system, I’d only be able to make a project if someone else thinks that it will make them money. Ultimately, by sharing what I learn about self-sustaining through web sites and creative projects, I hope to help others do the same.

1. Here is some cookie-cutter (is that a pun?) information about Google’s advertising: When you visit this website, you may view advertisements posted on the site by Google or other companies. These advertising companies may collect information about you while you are visiting this website and other websites. They may use this data to show you advertisements on this website and elsewhere on the Internet about products and services you might like. This website does not collect the information or control the content of the advertisements that you will see. You may be able to opt out of such advertising. To find out more about Google and its DoubleClick DART cookie used to generate interest-based advertising, click this link. Your use of this website without opting out means that you understand and agree to data collection to provide you with interest-based advertising. Legalese out. [↩]
2. I use Pretty Link Pro to manage affiliate links. However, I also use it to shorten and track non-affiliate links, so just because a link looks like nofilmschool.com/something doesn’t mean it’s an affiliate program. [↩]