Podcast appearances and mentions of col needham

We're back in the French Riviera for a very special episode, as Girls On Film returns to the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. This year, host Anna Smith welcomed guests to the second Girls On Film Cannes Do at The Members Club. This glamorous networking event on the beach brought together filmmakers, critics, and creatives celebrating the power of women in cinema. In this episode, you'll hear reflections from our community on what Girls On Film means to them. Later on in the episode Anna reunites with film journalist Wendy Ide who reflects on this year's films, which she says have been of a consistently high standard. Wendy shares her standout picks from the festival, from the fiercely divisive Die, My Love, a visceral exploration of the raw edges of motherhood and mental unravelling, to Sound of Falling, a haunting meditation on how trauma echoes through time and place. She also dives into Sirât, an allegorical road movie, in which gender and disability are refreshingly incidental, not defining. Plus other titles that are already generating serious awards buzz. And finally, we're joined by Liza van der Smissen and Nicole Lieberman, founders of the Female Film Club. This trailblazing global network uplifts women in the industry through practical workshops, seminars and a thriving, supportive community. They share the story behind their mission and how they're helping to reshape the future of film, one powerful connection at a time. They also unveil an exciting new opportunity: a £10,000 investment in a short film, designed to give back to their talented global community. To enter from 16th June onwards, filmmakers must join their networking space. If you're looking to join a space that champions and supports women in film, don't miss out – click this link to join the Female Film Club: [link: https://female-film-club.mn.co/users/onboarding/choose_plan?plan_id=1818474&bundle_token=aca8b4a8f139016aca1a9fdc680a97a8&utm_source=manual] We would also like to thank our incredible sponsors for all their support: Col Needham and Karen Needham at IMDb: [link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18211920/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_girls%2520on%2520film] Clare Bateman-King at Lilac Grove Entertainment: [https://lilacgrove.com/] JoJo Dye at JJD Consultancy: [link: https://jjdconsultancy.com/] Jane Owen at Jane Owen PR: [https://janeowenpr.com/] The House of Oria: [https://www.thehouseoforia.com/] Sunny Pal at Astella: [https://www.instagram.com/astellajewellery/?hl=en] HLA Agency: [https://hlaagency.co.uk/] Films mentioned in this episode: Die, My Love, Lynne Ramsay Eleanor the Great, Scarlett Johansson The History of Sound, Oliver Hermanus Mastermind, Kelly Reichardt My Father's Shadow, Akinola Davies Pillion, Harry Lighton Romería, Carla Simón Sirât, Oliver Laxe Sorry Baby, Eva Victor Sound of Falling, Mascha Schilinski The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonça Filho Sign up to the Girls On Film newsletter below: http://eepurl.com/iEKaM-/ or email girlsonfilmsocial@gmail.com to be signed up. Become a patron of Girls On Film on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/girlsonfilmpodcast Follow us on socials: www.instagram.com/girlsonfilm_podcast/ www.facebook.com/girlsonfilmpodcast www.twitter.com/GirlsOnFilm_Pod www.twitter.com/annasmithjourno Watch Girls On Film on the BFI's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX…L89QKZsN5Tgr3vn7z Girls On Film is an HLA production. Host: Anna Smith Executive Producer: Hedda Lornie Archbold, who also produced this episode Audio Editor: Benjamin Cook Intern: Hattie Morris Principal Partners: Vanessa Smith and Peter Brewer © HLA Agency

Zoë Kravitz joins Anna Smith to discuss her directorial debut, Blink Twice, while Anna also reports from the 2024 Edinburgh International Film Festival, where she speaks with Daisy-May Hudson about her feature debut, Lollipop. First up, Anna welcomes actor turned writer, director and producer Zoë Kravitz, best known for her roles in ‘The Batman' and in TV series ‘Big Little Lies' and ‘High Fidelity', onto the podcast. With Anna, Zoë discusses the feminist messaging in her slick thriller ‘Blink Twice'. She talks about casting the wonderful Naomi Ackie as Frida, a cocktail waitress who catches the eye of tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) and is transported to his private island for sundrenched luxury, or so she thinks… Zoë also tells Anna about the writing process behind ‘Blink Twice', originally titled ‘Pussy Island', reveals her relief at turning up to set as the director without having to worry about what she looks like, and describes her approach to capturing women on camera to produce a disturbing and believable depiction of gender and power among the megarich. Next up, Anna reports from Edinburgh International Film Festival, where Girls On Film partners on the festival's Closing Night sçreening of the powerful feminist music documentary, ‘Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands'. Anna catches up with first-time feature director Daisy-May Hudson whose film ‘Lollipop' is a heartbreaking but hopeful depiction of a mother (Posy Sterling) who battles to regain custody of her children after coming out of prison. Daisy-May speaks about the fierce maternal love of her protagonist Molly, what happens when children are required to parent, as well as the challenges faced by a first time director. Plus: karaoke as a symbol of working class joy! Anna also hears from Karen Needham and Col Needham from the IMDb, plus director of the BFI's filmmaking fund Mia Bays and costume designer Rachael Fleming about their highlights from the EIFF 2024. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes of Girls On Film as we move into autumn and host Anna Smith heads to Sea Change Film Festival 2024. Find out about their festival, dedicated to women in film at https://screenargyll.co.uk/sea-change-2024/ Films mentioned in this episode: Timestalker - Alice Lowe Xibalba Monster - Manuela Irene Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands - Blair Young, Carla J Easton Blink Twice - Zoë Kravitz Rosemary's Baby - Roman Polanski To Kill A Wolf - Kesley Taylor Sunlight - Nina Conti Lollipop - Daisy-May Hudson Blink Twice was released in the UK by Warner Bros. Pictures on 23rd August, 2024 Lollipop had is world premiere at the 77th edition of Edinburgh International Film Festival (on August 20th) Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands will hit UK cinemas from 18th October and Glasgow girl band Sophisticated Boom Boom will reform for one night only at a special screening of the film in Glasgow on the night of the release. For more information visit sinceyesterdayfilm.com Sign up to the Girls On Film newsletter below: http://eepurl.com/iEKaM-/ or email girlsonfilmsocial@gmail.com to be signed up. Become a patron of Girls On Film on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/girlsonfilmpodcast Follow us on socials: www.instagram.com/girlsonfilm_podcast/ www.facebook.com/girlsonfilmpodcast www.twitter.com/GirlsOnFilm_Pod www.twitter.com/annasmithjourno Watch Girls On Film on the BFI's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX…L89QKZsN5Tgr3vn7z Girls On Film is an HLA production. Host: Anna Smith Executive Producer: Hedda Lornie Archbold Producer: Charlotte Matheson Intern: Jade Evans Audio editor: Benjamin Cook House band: MX Tyrants © HLA Agency

Ep 176: Cannes Film Festival 2024, we review Bird, Megalopolis, The Girl With the Needle, and more This episode of Girls On Film comes from Cannes, where Anna Smith speaks to Jane Crowther and Wendy Mitchell about their Film Festival highlights. Anna hosts the very first Girls On Film party at The Members Club, and speaks to some of the guests about their work at the festival and which films they've enjoyed. First up, Anna takes us through the soundscape of Cannes and walks the red carpet for Emilia Perez. Anna joins the Women in Film and TV yacht party, to hear CEO Katie Bailiff's speech, before heading to MUBI's beach party. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. Then Anna invites film journalists Jane Crowther and Wendy Mitchell to discuss the films they've seen in Cannes so far, which include Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Megalopolis, The Girl With the Needle and On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, as well as Andrea Arnold's Bird, Wild Diamond, and feminist comedy horror The Balconettes. Jane talks about her new role as editor-in-chief of Hollywood Authentic, a new luxury, glossy magazine, and Wendy discusses her portfolio of projects including the upcoming Sundance London, and San Sebastian Film Festivals. Wendy and Anna are both on the Palm Dog judging panel for Best Canine on screen, so naturally the conversation turns to the various dogs in films at Cannes. They also discuss the impact of #MeToo and Time's Up, and recent changes at the Cannes Film Festival, including the arrival of signs stating that harassment won't be tolerated. Finally, we join Anna at The Members Club for Girls On Film's own Cannes party. We hear from a few of the guests, who include Akua Gyamfi of The British Blacklist and Dame Heather Rabbats of Time's Up, who talk about the launch of their new initiative around appropriate hair and makeup for diverse requirements on set. Anna also speaks to Nicole Weis of IFC Films, producer and comedienne Ronni Ancona, director Rachel Ramsay, and The Girl With the Needle co-writer Line Langebek Knudsen, and our wonderful supporter, IMDb founder Col Needham. With special thanks to our sponsors for the party, Rebecca Hawkes at Elstree Studios, HLA Agency, Col Needham at IMDb, and JoJo Dye at JJD Consulting. And with gratitude to our lovely partners for this episode, Vanessa Smith and Peter Brewer, for their continuing support of the podcast. Films mentioned in this episode: Anatomy of a Fall The Balconettes Bird, Andrea Arnold Black Dog Emilia Perez Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga The Girl With the Needle Megalopolis On Becoming a Guinea Fowl Saltburn Santosh The Second Act The Surfer When the Light Breaks Wild Diamond Sign up to the Girls On Film newsletter below: http://eepurl.com/iEKaM-/ or email girlsonfilmsocial@gmail.com to be signed up Become a patron of Girls On Film on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/girlsonfilmpodcast Follow us on socials: www.instagram.com/girlsonfilm_podcast/ www.facebook.com/girlsonfilmpodcast www.twitter.com/GirlsOnFilm_Pod www.twitter.com/annasmithjourno Watch Girls On Film on the BFI's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX…L89QKZsN5Tgr3vn7z Girls On Film is an HLA production. Host: Anna Smith Executive Producer: Hedda Lornie Archbold Producer: Charlotte Matheson Intern: Jade Evans Audio editor: Nic Wassell House band: MX Tyrants © HLA Agency

Col Needham is the visionary founder and CEO of IMDb, the world's most comprehensive and trusted source for movie, TV, and celebrity content. With a passion for film and an unwavering commitment to providing invaluable information to movie enthusiasts worldwide, Col has played a pivotal role in shaping IMDb into the go-to platform for entertainment data. His innovative leadership has not only revolutionized the way people discover and explore their favorite movies and shows but has also solidified IMDb's status as an indispensable resource in the entertainment industry. In this episode, we delve into Col Needham's journey, insights, and the fascinating story behind IMDb's evolution into the iconic platform it is today.*CHA-CHING! Customers are rushing to your store. Do you have a point-of-sale system you can trust or is it (ahem) a real P.O.S.? You need Shopify for retail.Shopify POS is your command center for your retail store. From accepting payments to managing inventory, Shopify has EVERYTHING you need to sell in person. Get hardware that fits your business. Take payments by smartphone, transform your tablet into a point-of-sale system, or use Shopify's POS Go mobile device for a battle-tested solution.Plus, Shopify's award-winning help is there to support your success every step of the way.Do retail right with Shopify. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at www.shopify.com/founderhour. Once again, go to www.shopify.com/founderhour to take your retail business to the next level today.*The Founder Hour is brought to you by Outer. Outer makes the world's most beautiful, comfortable, innovative, and high-quality outdoor furniture - ALL from sustainable materials - and is the ONLY outdoor furniture with a patented built-in cover to make protecting it effortless. From teak chairs to fire pit tables, everything Outer makes has the look and feel of what you'd expect at a 5-star resort, for less than you'd pay at a big box store for something that won't last.For a limited time, get 10% off at www.liveouter.com/thefounderhour. Terms and conditions apply.

In this episode of Girls On Film we give you a flavour of the third Girls On Film Awards, our annual celebration of women in film which this year took place at our new home, Regent Street Cinema in London. We launched the awards to celebrate excellence in women-focused films, and to honour women and non-binary filmmakers. Girls On Film provides an inclusive platform for the voices of diverse women and people of marginalised genders, and we have a mission: to bring about industry-wide change, and to work toward equal representation of women in the film industry: on screen, and behind the camera. As the saying goes: “if she can see it, she can be it”, and that's why shining a light on the great work women are making can make a real difference. Girls On Film host Anna Smith and co-founder Hedda Lornie Archbold hosted the awards together, and were joined by a stellar group of presenters to give out the awards, including Monica Dolan, Ronni Ancona, Sarah Gavron, Mia Bays, Col Needham, Mark Kermode, Nitin Sawhney and more. The mics didn't pick up all the sound as well as we'd hoped – but the pod conveys the great atmosphere in the room. We hope you enjoy the awards! For a full list of the nominees and winners, you can find the press release on the HLA Website: https://hlaagency.co.uk/category/projects/girls-on-film-awards/ Contributors to this episode include: Ronni Ancona Anthony Andrews Teanne Andrews Blair Barnette Mia Bays Suzie Davies Charlotte Dirickx Monica Dolan Jacqueline Durran Melanie Iredale Ayo Edebiri Kathryn Ferguson Jo Fernihough Kerry Fox Sarah Gavron Sarah Greenwood Priya Kansara Mark Kermode Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch Molly Manning Walker Nida Manzoor Col Needham William Oldroyd Rose Ryan Nitin Sawhney D. Smith Katie Spencer Holly Waddington Paris Zarcilla Films and television series mentioned in this episode are: ALL OF US STRANGERS AMERICAN FICTION ANATOMY OF A FALL ANOTHER BODY BARBIE THE BEAR BOTTOMS BRICK LANE EILEEN THE ETERNAL MEMORY FAIR PLAY THE FALLING FILMSTARS DON'T DIE IN LIVERPOOL HOW TO HAVE SEX JOY RIDE KOKOMO CITY LADY MACBETH MR BATES AND THE POST OFFICE NOTHING COMPARES NYAD PAST LIVES POLITE SOCIETY POOR THINGS THE POWER PREVENGE PRIDE PRISCILLA RAGING GRACE RETURN TO SEOUL ROCKS RYE LANE SALTBURN SCRAPPER SUFFRAGETTE TILL TYPIST ARTIST PIRATE KING W1A YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE THE ZONE OF INTEREST Become a patron of Girls On Film on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/girlsonfilmpodcast Follow us on socials: www.instagram.com/girlsonfilm_podcast/ www.facebook.com/girlsonfilmpodcast www.twitter.com/GirlsOnFilm_Pod www.twitter.com/annasmithjourno Subscribe to our newsletter by emailing girlsonfilmsocial@gmail.com Watch Girls On Film on the BFI's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX…L89QKZsN5Tgr3vn7z Girls On Film is an HLA production. Host: Anna Smith Executive and Show Producer: Hedda Lornie Archbold Awards Producers: Hedda Lornie Archbold, Charlotte Matheson, Lydia Scott and Anna Smith Audio editor: Benjamin Cook House band: MX Tyrants © HLA Agency

Col Needham is a British computer engineer known as the founder and CEO of IMDb. IMDb grew from a personal database of movie information that Col created as a teenager. Col published the first version of IMDb online in October 1990, incorporated in 1996, and is now the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV, and celebrity content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Col Needham is the Founder and CEO of IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for information on movies, TV shows and celebrities. Col created IMDb from a personal database of movie information which he created as a teenager, combined data collected on the Internet in the late 1980s and 1990s. This year marks the 25th Anniversary of Amazon's acquisition of IMDb in 1998, one of Amazon‘s first-ever acquisitions.

Col Needham is the Founder and CEO of IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for information on movies, TV shows and celebrities. Col created IMDb from a personal database of movie information which he created as a teenager, combined data collected on the Internet in the late 1980s and 1990s. This year marks the 25th Anniversary of Amazon's acquisition of IMDb in 1998, one of Amazon‘s first-ever acquisitions.

Did you know that IMDb was one of the first 100 websites EVER? Yeah it's mad, and it's still going - and it's always in the top 50 most visited sites in the world. Welcome to the mad world of IMDb Founder Col Needham, the movie buff you want to take to the pub to ask him all the trivia and best-of questions you can imagine. But this is also a great business story. IMDb was one of the first ever acquisitions from Amazon, making Col one of Amazon's earliest employees. He got to work alongside Jeff Bezos and in this episode we draw on his extraordinary insights. -- What would make the show better? Please tell us hello@secretleaders.com Sponsor links: vorboss.com/secretleaders scoreapp.com/secretleaders personio.com/secretleaders vanta.com/secretleaders

IMDb Founder and CEO Col Needham is the latest guest on Hollywood at Home, a podcast hosted by The Creative Coalition's CEO Robin Bronk. In this episode, Needham takes us through his journey in transitioning from a computer engineer to CEO, when he was able to quit his day job to work on IMDb full-time, his first experience with film as a child, and much more.

The Girls On Film Awards are back for a second year, and you are warmly invited to join the audience! This second in a three-part episode was recorded at The Garden Cinema in London on 23 February 2023, with an intimate audience of nominees, film critics and industry supporters. Hosts Anna Smith and Hedda Archbold reveal the winners of the following categories: Best Cinematographer - for which our media partner is British Cinematographer magazine Best Ensemble Acting sponsored by Netflix The Girls On Film Ally Award sponsored by IMDb Best Feature Film sponsored by EON Productions We hear from stars including Sheila Atim (The Woman King) and presenters including Afi Okaidja (Rocks), Kerry Fox, Tricia Tuttle and Col Needham. Other films mentioned in this episode, and where to watch them: Aftersun - streaming on MUBI now Ali & Ava - Netflix and on demand Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Disney+ and on demand Causeway - Apple TV+ Corsage - streaming on MUBI and on demand Elvis - digital on demand Everything Everywhere All At Once - Prime Video and on demand Gangubai Kathiawadi - Netflix Grandkids - coming soon Mother and Son - currently unavailable Nanny - Prime Video Nezouh - currently unavailable Nope - on demand The Power of the Dog - Netflix The Quiet Girl - BFI Player and on demand She Said - on demand Till - on demand including Amazon, Sky Store and Apple TV Triangle of Sadness - on demand The Woman King - on demand Women Talking - still in cinemas The Wonder - Netflix Listen out for the next part of the awards ceremony coming soon! Become a patron of Girls On Film on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/girlsonfilmpodcast Follow us on socials: www.instagram.com/girlsonfilm_podcast/ www.facebook.com/girlsonfilmpodcast www.twitter.com/GirlsOnFilm_Pod www.twitter.com/annasmithjourno Watch Girls On Film on the BFI's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX…L89QKZsN5Tgr3vn7z Girls On Film is an HLA production. Host: Anna Smith. Executive Producer: Hedda Archbold Audio Producer: Michelle Tofi Intern: Eleanor Hardy House band: MX Tyrants This episode is in partnership with Vanessa Smith and Peter Brewer. With special thanks to The Garden Cinema for hosting the awards, to our category sponsors EON Productions, IMDb, Intimacy on Set, and Netflix, to our reception sponsor Head Gear Films, and to our media partners, British Cinematographer magazine, Deadline, Scala and Time Out.

Col Needham set up his first business at the age of 14 designing and selling games software for computers. But his real love, since the age of 5, has always been film. Col started logging every movie he'd seen in a paper diary which he eventually set up as a database, along with other like-minded film fans. Although it began and remains a personal passion, IMDB is now a multi million pound business, which was one of Amazon's first acquisitions. Col has remained CEO and founder, and he's now seen 15,000 films - all logged religiously in IMDB. He talks to Evan Davis about the journey from passion to profit. GUEST Col Needham, CEO and Founder, IMDB PRESENTER: Evan Davis PRODUCER: Julie Ball EDITOR: Simon Watts SOUND: Graham Puddifoot PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATORS: Siobhan Reed and Helena Warwick-Cross

In this episode, we speak to Col Needham, the CEO of IMDb, about the origins and evolution of the much-loved Internet Movie Database website, most commonly known as IMDb.

In a special episode of "Movies That Changed My Life", IMDb's Founder and CEO Col Needham joins Ian de Borja to discuss and rank their Top Movies of 2021.Hosted by Ian de BorjaFind additional content about Movies That Changed My Life at IMDb.com/podcasts.Follow IMDb on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube

In a special episode of "Movies That Changed My Life", IMDb's Founder and CEO Col Needham joins Ian de Borja to discuss and rank their Top Movies and TV Shows of 2020. Keep an eye out for Season 2 of "Movies That Changed My Life", dropping early 2021.Hosted by Ian de BorjaFind additional content about Movies That Changed My Life at IMDb.com/podcasts.Follow IMDb on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube

Justin Chjang, Damon Wise, Emma Jones and Col Needham discuss Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood" and "Bong Joon Ho's "Parasite" around Jason Solomons

Founder and CEO of IMDb Interview starts at 14:54 and ends at 52:50 “In 1990, if you'd have said to me ‘You know the service that you've just launched, one day you'll be able to interact with that by voice with a device that's this big in your kitchen.' I'd be like, ‘Really?' Now it's kind of like an everyday experience.” News Fire HD 10 tablet on sale for $100 - a price cut of $50 Kindle Voyage - $130 on Amazon's Woot site ($90 off) “Open road Integrated Media Shows 36% YoY Revenue Growth in January 2019” - press release March 26, 2019 Association of American Publishers stats for January 2019 Tech Tips reMarkable tablet ($599) versus Rocketbook ($30) versus MobiScribe ($214) Kindle for Mac update (1.25.2) Kindle sort by unread and read coming (Good E-Reader) Interview with Col Needham IMDb “Behind the Scenes at IMDb” by Elias Wolfberg at Amazon's Day One blog - February 28, 2018 Next Week's Guest Michael J. Sullivan, author of the Riyria fantasy series. Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Perspective" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD. Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads! Right-click here and then click "Save Link As..." to download the audio to your computer, phone, or MP3 player.

The founder of IMDB is one of the members of the International Jury at the Torino Film Festival. The right occasion for us to learn about the birth of IMDb, and more. The post Col Needham #TFF36 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

The founder of IMDB is one of the members of the International Jury at the Torino Film Festival. The right occasion for us to learn about the birth of IMDb, and more. The post Col Needham #TFF36 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

The founder of IMDB is one of the members of the International Jury at the Torino Film Festival. The right occasion for us to learn about the birth of IMDb, and more. The post Col Needham #TFF36 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

The founder of IMDB is one of the members of the International Jury at the Torino Film Festival. The right occasion for us to learn about the birth of IMDb, and more. The post Col Needham #TFF36 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

The founder of IMDB is one of the members of the International Jury at the Torino Film Festival. The right occasion for us to learn about the birth of IMDb, and more. The post Col Needham #TFF36 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

The founder of IMDB is one of the members of the International Jury at the Torino Film Festival. The right occasion for us to learn about the birth of IMDb, and more. The post Col Needham #TFF36 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

This week, Rob and Geoff sit down with the man who turned his love of film into one of the web's most influential sites, Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Founder and CEO, Col Needham. IMDb is the most popular film site on the web, and in many senses, it's changed the way we watch films. The three chat about IMDB's origin story (5:25), the early days of the 'World Wide Web' (7:10), the site's evolution over the past 20 years (9:15), how IMDB has empowered a generation of industry insiders (14:05), how their data has influenced the way that movies are made (16:00), and how the site has helped to democratize the film industry (18:45).

IMDb will soon close and erase their 18 year old message boards. Media coverage of this announcement has generally followed a similar theme: Trolls forced them to close. Blame the trolls. They were unstoppable. But that perspective is completely dismissive of the community profession, and the tools and strategies we have at our disposal. Trolls don’t force us to close communities. But apathy definitely does. Timo Tolonen, head of community at giffgaff, a community-first mobile phone service provider, joins the show for an in-depth discussion on the announcement and resulting impact. Plus: The value that exists within the IMDb message board archives Why quick community closures harm your most loyal members How giffgaff restructured its community team to focus on specialization Big Quotes “Trolls don’t force companies to close communities. Apathy is what leads to communities being closed.” -@patrickokeefe “I feel like moves like [IMDb closing their message boards] implicitly endorse the narrative of comment sections and communities being inherently worthless due to a minority, and that we are somehow powerless against those forces.” -@TimoTolonen “IMDb is the definitive movie site, so it stands to reason that there are posts [in their message boards] that were written by wannabe filmmakers, who are now winning Oscars. Or there are posts there by people who were no-name actors, who are now stars. It’s not uncommon. There are old hip-hop forums people talk about where that rapper, who’s now a big deal, was on there, or that producer who’s now a hitmaker was on there. So, culturally, IMDb is very significant to film, especially film from the ’90s on and the discussion and critique of film. To wholesale clear that out, it just feels like there’s a lack of appreciation for the significance.” -@patrickokeefe “[IMDb talks about] moving those people [from their message boards] over to social media – their Twitter account, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, Tumblr. Aside from serving slightly different audiences at the moment, my concern [is] that they haven’t learned quite the right lesson out of all of this. It’s not a question of platform. It’s about how you manage that platform and what you do with your engaged people. It’s not so much about where you have them. It’s about what you do with them.” -@TimoTolonen “If a community’s doing something or has become something, it’s the fault of the community manager, effectively. Either you were rewarding or recognizing the wrong behaviors or something else happened along the line. It doesn’t just happen overnight, and it also doesn’t mean that you’re stuck there. You can make changes. You can take ownership of the platform and the people on it. It’s a lot of hard work and it’s not easy, necessarily, and the solutions aren’t always readily apparent, but you’re never beholden to the direction you’re heading in at that moment.” -@TimoTolonen “When it comes to closing a massive, 18-year-old community, I feel like you have to give people more than two weeks to connect elsewhere. You don’t have to keep the boards open for that long, but at least create a carve out so that people with a certain number of posts … can connect to other people that they have this strong connection to through your site. Some vacations are two weeks long. So, what? A decade-plus user of IMDb goes on vacation, comes back, and sees they are cut off from the friends they made years ago? That’s sad.” -@patrickokeefe “The guy who came up with the idea for giffgaff, Gav Thompson, he had sort of an epiphany one night when he was looking for help fixing his motorcycle. He’d gotten a quote from a BMW garage, and they told him that’s it’s going to cost an arm and a leg to adjust his suspension. He was like, ‘Well, I’m not having that. I’m just going to ask some random people online,’ and he did so at midnight after a couple of drinks. What happened was, he immediately got some responses and not only did he get responses, he got this overwhelming amount of support from members on that community with pictures and everything else. He got a better level of service for free, from the comfort of his own home, and that kind of gave him the idea of, ‘Okay, how about we translate this model into mobile?’ That’s where the concept of giffgaff came from. When launching, I wasn’t there for the early days, but the whole point was that in order for this business to work, it needed to have a community at the heart of it. It needed to be the core of it.” -@TimoTolonen "[After we won the uSwitch Best Network Customer Service] award from last year, we sent it to our members, and they've been passing it from one member to the other for a bit now. ... Usually, when we have awards ceremonies for member support or, in this case, it was a customer support services, we tend to take members there to accept the awards on our behalf, because effectively, they're the reason we're winning." -@TimoTolonen “You have somebody on Twitter, and they’re doing amazing stuff. They really love Twitter because of their own personal connection to it, or the format or something about it that really resonates with them. Then, you see somebody on the forum using that platform the way it’s intended for long form content. … You can tell they love it as much as that person loves Twitter. Those two people, if they got into a room together without platform, in real life, they would have so much in common, and so much to talk about. They would get on like a house on fire. The only reason they don’t is because the forum user never wants to use Twitter, and the Twitter user doesn’t want to use the forum, and the twain shall never meet.” -@TimoTolonen About Timo Tolonen Timo Tolonen is a people and project manager from the video games industry who saw the light and made the very sensible leap into community some 6 years ago and hasn’t looked back since. He is currently the head of community at giffgaff, a mobile phone provider in the UK that believes that together with their members anything is possible. Related Links Timo on Twitter IMDb IMDb’s announcement about their message board closure giffgaff, the United Kingdom-based mobile phone carrier, where Timo is head of community IMDb’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube profiles Patrick’s Twitter thread about the IMDb message board closure Timo’s responses on Twitter giffgaff Community NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments by Elizabeth Jensen of NPR We’re Getting Rid of Comments on VICE.com by Jonathan Smith of VICE One of the Worst Comments Sections on the Internet is Shutting Down by Sarah Perez of TechCrunch IMDb Kills Its Message Boards and Nothing of Value Was Lost by Bryan Menegus of Gizmodo IMDb’s Message Boards IMDb’s Get Satisfaction Hearst, publisher of Cosmopolitan Internet Archive, home of the Wayback Machine, which archives webpages MovieForums.com, managed by Chris Bowyer Community Signal episode with Chris Bowyer MovieForums.com’s IMDb alumni thread Col Needham, IMDb founder Col Needham discussing IMDb’s technology scaling efforts Col Needham discussing the “old boards software” and future community efforts at IMDb Comment on IMDb Facebook about the message boards being closed after 2 decades As a Conservative Twitter Users Sleeps, His Account is Hard at Work by Craig Timberg of the Washington Post O2, a think tank from which giffgaff launched from Gav Thompson, founder of giffgaff, who had the idea for the company after receiving help for his motorcycle in an online forum uSwitch, a UK-based price comparison tool uSwitch Mobile Awards, where giffgaff has won the Best Network Customer Service award for two consecutive years giffgaff Payback, the company’s program to financially incentivize community participation giffgaff Reaches 1 Million Customers, Starts Selling Handsets by Telecom.paper giffgaff Labs, the company’s ideation platform giffgaff’s community knowledge base Run By You, giffgaff’s community award program Community Signal episode with Brad Williams, who Patrick met in the SitePoint Forums Transcript View transcript on our website Your Thoughts If you have any thoughts on this episode that you’d like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be grateful if you spread the word. Thank you for listening to Community Signal.

Can a movie watching hobby be turned into a serious business that too a multimillion dollar business. Col Needham did this with one of the world’s top entertainment website IMDB.com and sold to Amazon. Let us check out how he did it.

Composer Alexandre Desplat on doing the lonely job that he loves. Plus, the founder of IMDB.

VICTORY THEATER"Victory Theater" was the 1942 summer replacement series for "Lux Radio Theater" and was sponsored by the United States Government.THIS EPISODE:THE PHILADELPHIA STORYPhiladelphia heiress Tracy Lord throws out her playboy husband C.K. Dexter Haven shortly after their marriage. Two years later, Tracy is about to marry respectable George Kittredge whilst Dexter has been working for "Spy" magazine. Dexter arrives at the Lord's mansion the day before the wedding with writer Mike Connor and photographer Liz Imbrie, determined to spoil things. Written by Col Needham {col@imdb.com} Cast:Cary Grant as C.K. Dexter Haven , Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Lord , James Stewart as Macaulay Connor,  Ruth Hussey as Elizabeth Imbrie,  John Howard as George Kittredge, Roland Young as Uncle Willie.