Hey everyone, it’s magazine founder and co-editor Alfie here! I started writing this editorial last month to coincide with our first birthday but external life stuff plopped itself into my lap, or rather, slapped me repeatedly around the face and I’ve had to, reluctantly, prioritise non-magazine stuff. 2024 has been a year.
Let’s jump back in time, for a moment, to the 3rd of November 2023 when we officially launched Read The Room Magazine online. That’s an entire year ago. Check us out! It’s certainly an achievement, and I’d say some celebratory cake is in order.
Our launch issue was a bit smaller than planned due to delays for the big feature we were working on, but we ended up publishing a lovely collection of articles including this brilliant submission from Thomas when he attended a BFI screening of Time and got to ask co-writer Helen Black some questions. Another highlight was A PA in the life where magazine co-editor Helena gave us some amazing insight into the behind the scenes world of television production.
A pretty good start I’d say.
Read The Room: The Origin Story
(You must read this title as if you’re announcing a blockbuster movie)
Being a Fan and The Quest for Knowledge: My name is Alfie, and I am a fan. I’ve participated in numerous music and arts related fan communities over the years. It’s largely been a lot of fun, and I’ve made some lifelong friends in the process. One of my favourite units during my media degree was the study of fandoms. I got to analyse fan behaviour and apply various academic theories. I, unsurprisingly, discovered that fandoms are curious beasts and often defy logic. I do have a love/hate relationship with fandoms though and go through cycles of being super involved to significantly stepping back. As much as the communities can be thrilling places to be, they can also be very overwhelming. Also, I have ADHD.
At an individual level, being a fan has always been linked to my own creativity and a passion for the people behind the art. I’m always curious to know more. Not in a “going through my favourite artist’s trash outside their house” kind of way or anything. That’s weird, don’t do that. Interviews were, and still are, my go-to knowledge source. As a young teen, I’d collect music magazines and loved any interview that was a bit unusual or raw.
The Zine Scene: Back in 2004 I created a music webzine called Funky Mofo with my best friend (now wife, awww yeah). We both loved printed indie music zines, wifey having published one in Paris when she was younger) so it didn’t take much to convince each other that starting an online zine would be fun. As music fans, it was a fantastic way to get to speak with some of our favourite musicians on a more, I guess, personable or human level. We weren’t there for gossip or even particularly interested in the usual press promo spiel. We were genuinely curious about their work and there was no pressure on the artists to “perform” for us. This resulted in some incredible interviews and even friendships too.
Funky Mofo morphed into Cat On The Wall - Music and Culture Webzine in 2007, which was a much larger beast with multiple contributors. We even won an award for our writing! It grew way too big for us and stopped being fun. So, in 2013, we handed it over to one of our talented young writers and called it a day.
The itch to start another zine, however, had been lurking in the back of my mind since then… I just needed an excuse.
Jodie Whittaker Made Us Do It (sort of): I’ll get this out in the open right now. Nearly all of the core RTR team are Jodie Whittaker fans - which is how most of us know each other. Which is why she keeps turning up in features. We are not ashamed. I’ve followed Jodie’s career, on and off, since The Last Will and Testament of Billy Two-Sheds (2006). I thought it was a reference to a Monty Python sketch. It was about allotments. Still, over the years I grew to admire her work as an actor more and more until she took on the leading role of one of my favourite shows since childhood, Doctor Who… curiosity and admiration levels rocketed because, as it turns out, not only is Jodie very, very good at her job, she’s also an excellent person too.
To say we were excited about Whittaker’s projects post-Doctor Who would be an understatement. Jodie threw herself straight into several productions and we were treated to two new shows almost back to back. One Night (Easy Tiger/Paramount+ - available on Netflix, Apple TV) and Time (BBC), both of which couldn’t be further from the joyous lightness of her run on Doctor Who.
For reasons unknown, the promo and press for One Night were exasperating and considerably lacking, in comparison to Time. There were so many unanswered questions. It felt like the drought of informed coverage surrounding the show was just the tip of the iceberg in how women with complex issues and life experiences are represented on screen. That the show also normalised an established married lesbian couple seemed to largely go under the radar. Why wasn’t there a fanfare about the fact the show included so, so many women in the crew? Fans were annoyed and vocalised their frustration online.
This was my lightbulb moment and opportunity to scratch that zine-shaped itch. I suggested that if we wanted better press, maybe we should do it ourselves… Also, I have ADHD.
Little interesting fact nugget: the magazine name comes from a remark I made when reading a review of One Night in which the journalist wildly missed the point of the show. I flapped my hands at my computer screen barking “read the bloody room, mate”. Thus the magazine name was born.
Common Threads and Bigger Issues: A few DMs were pinged back and forth with friends on social media. In a matter of days I had a small team of international volunteers eager to help get the magazine going. Helena Emmanuel quickly and very naturally took on the role of co-editor, something I am eternally grateful for.
We were very much in agreement that the magazine shouldn’t just be a Jodie Whittaker fan club publication (no offence, Jodes). It needed a bigger purpose. With a mutual passion for and lived experiences of working and studying in the arts and with many of us having a disability, neurodivergence or mental health issues, we decided that our focus should be on women, LGBTQIA+ and marginalised voices within arts and culture. More than anything, all those things represented us as a team. I also wanted to explore and expand my own journalistic experience by writing more local community based features, so we ensured the “culture” element could have a wide scope.
We set to work on what would become a massive One Night feature with 16 of the 19 cast and crew we contacted agreeing to an interview (we gave ourselves a buffer zone, optimistically thinking we’d have, maybe, 5 positive responses out of the 19). The organisation and hard work that went into the feature was impressive considering how fresh we were. I’m proud of the team and very chuffed that so many from the show took a gamble with us.
Growth and Learning: Good Things Take Time
At Read The Room, we are all volunteers. The dream is to become a printed magazine and co-operative where staff are paid a living wage. At the moment, that’s way in the future. Optimistically, our online readership is growing, and even when we’re not posting regularly, we’re still getting lots of unique visitors from all over the world.
As founder and co-editor, I oversee everything and I haven’t always been able to organise or motivate contributors as I feel I should have. This year has been one “it couldn’t possibly get any worse” life and health event after another, and the ridiculously high expectations I had on myself meant I ended up being incredibly frustrated with the progress of the magazine. A big lesson has been to let go, reduce the pressure and not worry about the frequency of publishing. It’s quality over quantity.
We also pay out of pocket to run the magazine and appreciate any support we get on ko-fi - we haven’t been able to keep up with the membership exclusives and I’m really sorry. We’ll have to rethink our strategy for that, maybe look at making some RTR merch.
Over the summer, we moved from a large set team format to submissions-based which, again, took some of the pressure away from our contributors. Right now, we don’t get a lot of submissions but that’s ok. We’re in no rush. Also, I have ADHD.
A Year of Achievements: So Many Highlights
Even though some months were a little quiet, we’ve published some brilliant and interesting work. Let’s take a look back at some of the highlights! Roll the clips!
We’ve got Helena's immense contribution to the One Night feature. She helped organise interviews, got up in the middle of the night to conduct some of the interviews (thanks to Australian time zones) and edited pretty much everything… epic work. Helena also got Mariana on board for an excellent series of Station 19 (Disney/ABC) episode reviews.
Alongside myself and Helena, Candice put in a massive shift for the One Night feature which earned her the role of assistant editor. She has gained a lot of confidence in her writing this year and provided us with what are easily some of our most popular posts with her look at the French TV show Ici Tout Commence. Her interview with Aaricia Lemaire is ace.
Beatrice, another regular contributor, gave us an excellent rundown of the Women X Festival and a fascinating interview with director Kristiene Clarke.
Then there’s Amber’s lovely feature on youth mental health where she speaks to Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust chair Justine Haworth.
Shoutout to my wifey, Céline, who got roped into a few interview and editing duties when my mental health was being wobbly. The middle of the night Tina Bursill interview with Helena will never be forgotten.
Our RTR Recommends feature gave us the opportunity to have lots of guest contributors and is something we’ll definitely continue!
On a personal note, I feel I’ve published some of the best work I’ve ever done as a journalist so far. I’ve certainly grown as a writer since my zine days. One of my first interviews for the magazine was with One Night showrunner Emily Ballou. I was lip-quivering nervous having not interviewed anyone in a good 10 years or so, but Helena was with me via the magic of zoom, so the nervousness was shared. It was a pleasure.
Other personal highlights include my interview feature with the folks at Eastthorpe Hall, getting to have a laugh with comedian Lucie Isle and speaking with social documentary photographers from Glasgow and Leeds for my piece on community activism for Palestine.
Thanks to Read The Room, I’ve had opportunities I didn’t think possible and made meaningful connections that have truly enriched my life. It’s a labour of love that I hope continues to grow and thrive. Oh, by the way, did I mention I have ADHD?
Words: Alfie Whitby (they/them)
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