The night of my first assignment for Scenestr magazine 21MAR207. Copyright Karen Marken.
Last Friday I reached a milestone with Scenestr magazine, I have now had 100 posts published with them online or in their printed copies on the street. This all started with a review I submitted to them of Hidden Figures that Karen had won tickets to see. The review was published 23 February, 2017.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The first film I reviewed on assignment for Scenestr magazine. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Best film of 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At New Farm for the first screening I attended where I needed to sign a review embargo agreement. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Within a couple of months I realised if I wanted to make the most of my opportunities there I would have to put my hand up to do interviews. Despite having done this in the past at university I was still quite nervous when I did my first interview with the stars of Grease: The Arena Spectacular Meghan O’Shea and Drew Weston almost two years ago. Knowing it scared me made me confident it would be truly rewarding and that turned out to be true.
In 2018 there were 50 posts published online of my work, it is doubtful I will match that output moving forward, there are things I am currently pursuing away from Scenestr but I am grateful to continue my work for the biggest street press magazine in the country.
About to see Tom Gleeson at Brisbane Comedy Festival 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
All the people coming to see Cher in 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Pretty neat having my own Media pass at Byron Bay Film Festival 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The delicious menu from SABA at the Cine Latino Film Festival Opening Night 2017.
Myer Centre Cinemas in Brisbane CBD for ‘Captain Marvel’ 05MAR2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At QPAC for the Queensland Symphony Orchrestra 12MAY2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
19AUG2017 ‘Lord of the Thrones’. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Young Australian Filmmakers Awards 14OCT2017as part of Byron Bay Film Festival 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Italian Film Festival Opening Night 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinemas December 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At QPAC for Circa in DEC2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Shakespeare Double Bill at Spring Hil Reservoir. 10OCT2018 Copyright Lloyd Marken.
CHER! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Shakespeare Double Bill at Spring Hil Reservoir. 10OCT2018 Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At the Queensland Maritime Museum to see Act/React’s ‘Kiss of the Vampire Squad’. This was performed on HMAS Diamantina as part of the Anywhere Theatre Festival 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Warm-up act for Cher 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The Purple Cinema at New Farm Cinemas the night I went to them for the first time to see Valerian 08AUG2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinemas after seeing ‘Wonder Wheel’ 04DEC2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
CHER! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At Brunsick Heads 07OCT2017 for the Byron Bay Film Festival 2017 to see the excellent film The Go-Betweens: Right Here. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Outside Metro Arts night of seeing Lord of the Thrones in 2017.
At Chermisde for ‘Godzilla II: King of the Monsters’ 29MAY2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Outside Crete Street Theatre following the great Beenleigh Theatre Production of ‘Lord of the Flies’ 19JAN2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Hedda by the Queensland Theatre company 15NOV2018.. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
After Hellboy at Chermside cinemas10APR2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
‘Uncle Vanya’ 18AUG2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Blue Room Cinebar for the first time to attend a critics’ screening of ‘The Breaker Upperers’ 03JUL2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Director of ‘Celeste’ Ben Hackworth talking about his film with BIFF Artistic Director Amanda Slack-Smith. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Shakespeare Double Bill at Spring Hil Reservoir. 10OCT2018 Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinemas December 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Italian Film Festival Opening Night 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
CHER! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
BIFF 2018! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Byron Bay 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
BCF 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
BCF 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Brisbane Comedy Festival 2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The opportunity Scenestr gives writers and how that flows onto the rest of the print industry is extraordinary. I hope to be working for them for a long time yet.
Of the 100 posts published, 10% were reviews of stand-up comedians and their shows, 29% were theatre reviews, 28% were film reviews, 32% were interviews and 1% were reviews of Cher concerts.
The first time on assignment at Brisbane Powerhouse for ‘The Soldier’s Wife’ 10JUN2017 as part of the Queensland Cabaret Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
If you’re been along with me for part of the journey I hope you have enjoyed the ride, I thank you for your support and I hope to continue with you by my side. Two years ago this milestone seemed very distant if even possible and it has been one of the great joys of my life to have had this happen to me at 36 when I was feeling that life was kind of passing me by. I feel very grateful to my editors for their support and knowledge and to all our readers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
-Lloyd Marken
Karen arriving at the 2017 Bryon Bay Film Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
About to see Bad Moms 2 in 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen in City Hall for Tom Gleeson during the 2018 Brisbane Comedy Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen about to see ‘What Rhymes WIth Cars and Girls’ in 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At BRISFEST 2018 for ‘Ode to Man’. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At the Spring Hill Reservoir to check out some Shakespeare in 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Year’s Eve I was scrambling to get a submission in for HEAVY Magazine which I have been contributor for since April 2017. I’m not always able to be as prolific as I would like but a chance to contribute as one of their film reviewers to a recap of the year’s films was too good to miss out on. Similar to how I feel honoured to contribute to end of year countdowns for X-Press magazine. I’ll of course be putting together my annual Favourite Films of the Year later on in 2019 but this will give you an idea of who is in the running at the moment for a Top 10 entry. You can find the post here https://heavymag.com.au/a-re-cap-of-the-films-of-2018/
I hope you enjoy and feel free to comment or give any social media love.
Heavy is an independent magazine and website that is all about the music and specifically heavy music and supporting the Australian music scene in general. Fortunately for me they do cover film as well and I have been fortunate to have a few things published there.
My sister and I on her wedding day. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Five years on from my very first post and how time flies. I’m very grateful for my blogging community which has grown my confidence and given me an outlet I desperately needed in my life. As is customary I am doing a quick recap at the end of the year. In 2018 a lot of old posts proved more popular than my new posts. The new posts for the most part act as links to where I am published elsewhere occasionally offering some behind the scenes info in a more informal manner. I will only be listing posts published this year.
America is still No.1 in terms of readership, Australia has retaken No.2 from the UK and Canada remains in fourth place as always. Cracking the Top 5 this year is India with newcomer Hong Kong making a strong showing in the latter half of 2018 and reaching No. 6. Germany which had a grip on N.5 for most of the year slips to No. 7 and Japan, New Zealand and Malaysia leave the Top 10. In No. 8 France returns to the Top 10, the Philippines makes if for the first time in No. 9 and holding on to a Top 10 position is Indonesia as the country with the tenth most views. Overall there were less views from the U.K. and Canada but more views from the rest of the Top 10 countries with all 10 cracking triple digits in number of views. Which I guess makes for a more diverse readership.
Top 10 Most Views by Country
The United States of America 9,519 Views
Australia 1,898 Views
The United Kingdom 1,714 Views
Canada 685 Views
India 361 Views
Hong Kong SAR China 200 Views
Germany 188 Views
France 113 Views
Philippines 108 Views
Indonesia 106 Views
Out of the 108 posts published for the year the following 25 got the most views. In 2015 the blog started to grow with 1,609 views, 333 visitors, 23 Likes and 30 comments. In 2016 the blog received 5,673 views, 3,206 visitors, 546 Likes and 751 comments. In 2017 this grew to 16,767 views (more than a third of which were for The Founder Review), 11,891 visitors, 1,240 Likes and 1,707 comments. In 2018 much to my surprise we stayed steady at 16,706 views and 12,185 visitors with the site receiving 1,091 likes and 1,046 comments. There has been a slight downtick in liking and commenting of posts which makes sense since my focus is less intense on growing my blogging community and some fellow bloggers have given the game away. One thing about the results strongly supports an idea I have of where to put my energies next. Overall I just want to say again how much it means to me to have my core group and how much I appreciate anybody who reads and enjoys the blog.
Karen and I with the cast of Aladdin. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
It has been very nice to see some of the posts that were enjoyed the most were ones that were very personal including about travelling to attend my sister’s wedding overseas and recollections of the Brisbane International Film Festival. I’m also glad that everybody seems to enjoy my list for the best films of the year and look forward to doing another one for 2018 around Oscar time. Also blogging about my first cover story for Scenestr has proven the most popular post on my blog for 2018 which is very gratifying. It was a lot of fun and a real privilege to do the interview with Jascha Boyce.
For Your Consideration
So here is the point where I urge you to consider some of the posts I’m most proud of. Most are already listed and have proven popular like my Rocket Man posts and review of Cher’s concert. I would ask you to consider my review for the movie First Man over at Scenestr which is perhaps my favourite of the film reviews I wrote this year. Any of the Scenestr cover stories I would highly recommend which included a profile on Chuck Norris, an interview with outgoing Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director Ali McGregor, with SNL star and stand-up Michael Che and with Jascha Boyce.
Well that’s it for another year so thank you so much to everybody who reads my humble blog and I would like to take this moment to thank my fellow bloggers for their continued support Pete, Cindy, GP, Don, Vinnie, Jay, Sean, Paul, Allen, John K, Michael, Jet, Eddie, Alex, Paol, Jordon, John R, SJS, DB, Emma, Jersey Dreaming, Robin, Eric and anybody else who takes the time to read these posts. It would be helluva lot less fun without you all.
-Lloyd Marken
Rosie and I on Opening Night of BIFF 2018 on assignment for Scenestr magazine. Copyright of BIFF from their 2018 Facebook site.
It’s almost been a year since I got published with X-Press magazine for the first time contributing to the best of the year lists for 2017. I count myself very lucky to feature on the list for 2018. While it includes my thoughts on Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool which was in the 2018 so far list from earlier in the year but it’s still published post and I’m still counting it towards my tally. My work with X-Press has included screeners and two preview screenings in Brisbane and I look forward to contributing in 2019 with them. This post can also act as an entry point for you to read the words of the other great writers who contribute reviews to X-Press Magazine. You can find it here http://xpressmag.com.au/x-press-top-20-films-of-2018/
This list has got me thinking about how my own Top 10 for 2018 is shaping up. Please note my Top 10 to feature here on this blog next year around Oscar time will go off films released in 2018 in the U.S. This list done by X-Press Magazine was based on films that were released in Australia in 2018 and do include some films from 2017. Heck I reviewed a delightful 2016 film from France for this year.
X-Press Magazine was established in 1985 and at one point was Australia’s highest circulating free weekly entertainment publication with over 40,000 copies reaching 1,0000 outlets every week. On the 24th May, 2016 Issue 1527 hit stands. Like many publications of its ilk X-Press Magazine is now foremost an online magazine engaged globally and making the most of the possibilities that new digital technology offers. It’s roots though are tied to its home city, love of local artists and productions and music which it supports wholeheartedly. Perth a capital city most isolated from all the other capitals is continuing to grow and develop culturally and artistically with its own identity and talent. X-Press has always been there to capture this growth and will continue to do so.
This is my fifth Top 5 for Heavy and my seventh Countdown. With the release of new season of Game of Thrones last year I went all out with a Top 10 Countdown where each piece averaged over 500 words and was published separately counting down to the telecast of the first episode. It was a lot of work that I was happy to do but can’t maintain as a side gig with all the other work I do. A Top 5 of Tom Hank’s best films followed which was a lot shorter and I decided doing something akin to that format was sustainable. It also appeared to be really popular. When it came time to do another Top 5 on Stranger Things Season 2 I found there was too much to choose from and decided to do a Top 10 instead. Top 5s have continued though with Thor: Ragnarok, Star Trek: Discovery, Blade Runner 2049 and now A Top 5 of the Best Things about the Rocky film series which you can find here https://heavymag.com.au/top-5-best-things-about-the-rocky-movies/
It’s been a while since I’ve published with Heavy magazine due to other commitments and time constraints but it is always a pleasure and I hope you enjoy. Feel free to comment on the site of what would be your picks. I look forward to doing a few more in the near future.
Heavy is an independent magazine and website that is all about the music and specifically heavy music and supporting the Australian music scene in general. Fortunately for me they do cover film as well and I have been fortunate to have a few things published there.
X-Press Magazine have released a list of the best films given an Australian 2018 release so far as voted by critics of the mag. It is with particular pride and humble gratitude that I have been asked to contribute and that some of my words have been used for three films mentioned. Some of those listed will be films that were released in 2017 elsewhere most prominently Stateside.
You can read the entire list here http://xpressmag.com.au/top-10-films-of-2018-so-far/ which includes great stuff from my fellow writers. Having already written about some of these films with my own Top 10 for 2017 it was a lot of fun to find a new way to discuss these films yet again with original words.
X-Press Magazine was established in 1985 and at one point was Australia’s highest circulating free weekly entertainment publication with over 40,000 copies reaching 1,0000 outlets every week. On the 24th May, 2016 Issue 1527 hit stands. Like many publications of its ilk X-Press Magazine is now foremost an online magazine engaged globally and making the most of the possibilities that new digital technology offers. It’s roots though are tied to its home city, love of local artists and productions and music which it supports wholeheartedly. Perth a capital city most isolated from all the other capitals is continuing to grow and develop culturally and artistically with its own identity and talent. X-Press has always been there to capture this growth and will continue to do so.
Chuck Norris is coming to Supernova Comic Con & Gaming this month in Perth and Sydney and to celebrate Scenestr did a retrospective on the career of one Carlos Ray Norris. This was the Cover Story for the June edition of the Western Australian print issue and I was lucky enough to get the gig. This is my fifth cover story following on from my interviews with circus performer Jascha Boyce interview (WA DEC2017), Q&A with EDM legend Opiuo (QLD JAN2018), SNL superstar comedian Michael Che (WA FEB2018) and Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director Ali McGregor (SA MAY2018). I’m very grateful for the opportunity to have done these cover stories.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr. is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Celebrating 25 years in 2018 of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland every month. The feature on Chuck Norris is the cover story for this month’s Western Australian magazine featuring on pages 10 and 11. You can read a digital version of the printed Western Australia edition here http://scenestr.com.au/read/WA/2018/15-WA/scenestr-WA-15.html#p=11
After seeing Raw starting a tradition of Grilled Burgers while on assignment. Copyright Lloyd Marken
I probably wanted to be more Steven Spielberg than Roger Ebert growing up. Maybe Mel Gibson or Harrison Ford perhaps. But whenever I thought about film critics it just sounded like the best every day job you could have if you didn’t get to be a movie star. In 2004 in my final year of uni I had a film review published and it kind of made a dream come true but despite a few follow up efforts nothing really came of it. 2017 is many years on from 2004 so you can understand that when Scenestr published a film review of mine it was not something I took for granted. Suddenly things were possible, I set goals but remained scared this had been a fluke or I’d be found out. Since though I’ve submitted successfully to five publications, seen countless shows and films and interviewed some remarkable individuals. So I thought I would take stock because in April last year the idea of being published 100 times seemed very far away.
I’ve been published 9 times with Perth based X-Press Magazine recently, 8 times with Buzz Magazine where I mostly get to write about blockbusters, 25 times with Heavy Magazine, once with FilmInk magazine and I’m counting the review with Utopia from all those years ago. Rounding out the 100 is the 56 times (20 interviews, 16 reviews of theatre shows, 15 film reviews and 5 stand-up performances) I have been published with Scenestr magazine produced by the incredible team at Eyeball Media Enterprises.
This would maybe be the part where I tell you what some of the highlights were for me but they were all highlights so instead I’d like put it out to you gentle reader. Was there a review or an interview that you read over the past year that you still remember and think was kinda cool? It’s a tricky question I know, of those I regularly follow I couldn’t tell you their favourite posts. I liked when you got married or talked about Warren Zevon or waxed lyrical about Meg Ryan or said the Girl from Ipanema was a good song and quoted Frasier or wrote about your girl or hung shit on a bad teen comedy or relayed the sad facts of a long ago war. But maybe your memory is better than mine so who knows but I’d be interested to hear what you think.
As for me I just count myself very lucky to get this side gig and have it continue and that you here in my small blogging community continue to support me. It means a lot.
-Lloyd Marken
Karen and I with the cast of Aladdin. Copyright Lloyd Marken
I’m lucky enough to have another Top 5 published at Heavy Magazine highlighting the work of cinematographer Roger Deakins. Deakins on the occasion of his 14th Oscar nomination won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography this week for Blade Runner 2049. I felt the film was one of the best of last year and was happy to see Deakins win following such incredible work over the past four decades which includes Sid & Nancy, The Shawshank Redemption, Jarhead, No Country For Old Men, Skyfall and Sicario. You can check out some of the iconic looks of the film here https://heavymag.com.au/top-5-blade-runner-2049-iconic-images/ Feel free to leave a comment or share and I hope you enjoy.
Heavy is an independent magazine and website that is all about the music and specifically heavy music and supporting the Australian music scene in general. Fortunately for me they do cover film as well and I have been fortunate to have a few things published there.
I was a student at the Queensland University of Technology 2003-2004. I graduated with a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Creative Writing). Having knocked off a year of electives from previous study at Griffith University I went from kind of a ‘first year’ mode in 2003 to ‘shit we’re about to graduate mode’ in 2004. I was not a good student but in my last semester I tried to seek out some opportunities, I did a work elective where I wrote the newspaper for the Brisbane Writer’s Festival with a small group of fellow students, I submitted a short story to be published in a book of student’s collections ( I was rejected and received feedback that included “a patchwork of movie cheese”), I volunteered at the Brisbane International Film Festival and submitted reviews to a film website that were rejected, and I submitted a film review to the student guild magazine Utopia.
Coming out of a lecture one day with one of my friends we walked past a tray of the latest Utopia. As I was leafing through it, he mentioned “I’m in it, you’re in it too.” I became very excited, repeating back to him “I’m in it?!”. I couldn’t tell if he was taking the piss or not as I scrambled to find where. I’ll never forget when I saw my byline. It just looked so damn beautiful. I hadn’t been notified by the Utopia staff. I confirmed later you got paid for submissions. In my last year I was over at Kelvin Grove campus but the offices for the magazine were over at Gardens Point. After the semester had ended I finally went into Gardens Point and picked up a cheque for $15.00. I was a university student then and while it wouldn’t go far every $15.00 helped. I never cashed the cheque. I wanted it as a memory of the first time somebody paid me for my writing. This in my mind made me a writer. It certainly is one of those things in life where only you can take what it means to you, away from you.
I submitted another story to Utopia but they didn’t publish it. The following year I walked around to every film studio and producer in Brisbane and dropped off my resume. I only heard back from two to say they weren’t hiring but wished me the best of luck. I had one interview with one film production company which I really enjoyed but I didn’t get the job. In 2006 I went back to university. In 2007 I was a gopher on a film set and in 2008 I met my wife. Life got away but I started blogging, and more so when I did my Graduate Certificate in 2015, and buoyed by the community I found online and engaged with I submitted reviews to film websites I followed. Only a couple and I never heard back.
I decided to try somewhere more local last year and submitted to Scenestr which had been Scene magazine when I was at university. The editor there liked my review and on the 23rd of February, 2017 my review for Hidden Figures was published on their website and they put me on the e-mail list of their freelance contributors. In the year since I’ve become a regular contributor to Scenestr (44 – 15 interviews, 13 film reviews, 13 theatre reviews, 3 stand-up reviews), Heavy (22), Buzz (8) and X-Press (5). I’ve also had one of my reviews published with FilmInk. That’s 80 published pieces in the past year. It is not how I make my living, that I must be clear about, but it allows me to pretend I’m a writer, film critic, an interviewer. Because for small pockets of time it is what I do and I work hard at it and I do get compensated for it. So I guess I’m a writer no matter how much money I make. I’m a writer again just like I was when that film review got published in the guild magazine over a decade ago and I’m very grateful to be able to say that. 81 and counting.
I’m lucky enough to have another Top 5 published at Heavy Magazine highlighting the work of cinematographer Roger Deakins. Deakins on the occasion of his 14th Oscar nomination won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography this week for Blade Runner 2049. I felt the film was one of the best of last year and was happy to see Deakins win following such incredible work over the past four decades which includes Sid & Nancy, The Shawshank Redemption, Jarhead, No Country For Old Men, Skyfall and Sicario. You can check out some of the iconic looks of the film here 
