Tonight, I received an email from my friends at indieWIRE alerting me that my blog of seven years, The Back Row Manifesto, was being discontinued as a part of an upgrade of the indieWIRE blogging network. Fair enough; it’s rarely updated, draws low readership because of the infrequency of its publication, it is not really a part of the new indieWIRE blog community hierarchy (which is focused on news gathering and reportage) and it’s not, nor has it ever been, a professional blog. I’ve never made a single dollar blogging (not that I’m proud of that *ha*) but when indieWIRE allowed me to launch a blog back in 2004, that was never the point. Things change and that’s how it should be. I am forever grateful to indieWIRE for giving me a platform for all of those years. Not only was it a fair decision to discontinue the original Back Row Manifesto, but beyond that, indieWIRE has promised to archive the blog, which, incredibly generous.
So, before I go any further, a huge THANK YOU to everyone at indieWIRE for having me. It was an honor to be a microscopic piece of the family for all these years and I wish the site nothing but continued success.
As for me, well, for some reason, I’ve decided to keep it going here at my own domain, using WordPress. So far, so good; I feel much more free here, able to say whatever I want without worrying so much about the industry taking much notice. It’s also a very simple design, vertical, a nice template to focus on images and words, a literal clean slate. To get started, I’m going to replicate my favorite pieces and a few recent posts from the indieWIRE version of the blog on here, in the hopes it will give me a good foundation for the future and let me figure out how to execute my preferences using this platform. Think of it as a “Greatest Hits” collection to help christen the new place. One a day for the next couple of weeks… stay tuned.
I hope that I can continue to write about the films that move me, talk to the artists who inspire me, and share my passion for the cinema with those who will follow me here. I hope to make the new place as homey as the old place, but I also hope I can grow here as well. So, update your bookmarks; this is my new home. Time to unpack and get myself situated…
The Back Row Manifesto 
I’ll look forward to more writing here then, right? 🙂
Good luck with this new/old venture and if you need any WordPress hints, I seem to have a good track record helping film people figure this thing out.
Welcome to your new home. Can’t wait for more BRM and excited that you feel more freedom.!