Movie Critic Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Movie Critic resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Movie critics have one of the most interesting jobs in the world—they get paid to watch movies! And while some critics love to analyze films on an intellectual level, others prefer to focus on the emotional experience of watching a film. Some critics are known for being positive in their reviews, while others are more apt to call it like they see it.
Regardless of your style, there are many different types of jobs available for movie critics. Some critics work for large publications like The New York Times or The Washington Post, where they write reviews for print or online publications. Others work for smaller outlets like local newspapers or niche websites. Some critics freelance or work in PR or marketing. And some even become filmmakers themselves.
Here are some tips plus an example to help you write a great movie critic resume that will land you an interview with your dream company.
How to Write a Movie Critic Resume
Here’s how to write a movie critic resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most effective way to showcase your experience and qualifications. But rather than simply listing your responsibilities, you can make your resume more interesting by using bullet points to describe the results of your work.
For example, rather than saying you “wrote movie reviews for website,” you could say that you “wrote 20+ movie reviews each week for website with 10,000+ daily visitors, resulting in a 20% increase in website traffic over six-month period.”
The second bullet point paints a clearer picture of what exactly you did and how it impacted the company. And it provides a quantifiable result—a 20% increase in website traffic.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you submit your resume for a movie critic role, it’s likely that it will be scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. This software looks for certain terms related to the job, like “cinema” or “film,” in order to determine whether your skills and experience match the job opening. If your resume lacks the right keywords, your application might not make it past the initial screening.
To increase your chances of getting an interview, use this list of common movie critic keywords to add relevant terms to your resume:
- Movie Reviews
- Journalism
- Writing
- Feature Writing
- Entertainment
- News Writing
- Editing
- Broadcast Journalism
- Storytelling
- Copy Editing
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Blogging
- Creative Writing
- Adobe Photoshop
- Video Production
- Press Releases
- Film
- Television
- Final Cut Pro
- Screenwriting
- Video Editing
- Short Films
- Film Production
- Documentaries
- Final Draft
- Screenwriting Software
- Television Writing
- Movie Industry
- Social Media
- Story Development
Showcase Your Technical Skills
As a movie critic, you need to be proficient in a number of software programs and systems in order to do your job effectively. This might include video editing software, social media platforms, and movie review databases. Additionally, you need to be able to use technology to communicate with other members of the movie industry, including directors, producers, and actors.
Some of the programs and systems that movie critics are typically expected to be proficient in include: Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, Pro Tools, and Sibelius. Additionally, movie critics need to have a solid understanding of big data concepts and platforms like Hadoop, Hive, and Spark.