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White Light Advertising announces strategic partnership with Caryn Kaufman and welcomes Rebekah Harriman

 

STAFF REPORTS

White Light has formed a strategic partnership with Caryn S. Kaufman, Strategic Communications Consultant, and has hired Rebekah Harriman as an Account Director.

 

Harriman comes to White Light following her work with the City of Bridgeport as a grants writer.  In her role with the City, she authored funding proposals netting the City and Bridgeport organizations over $27 million in funding. 

 

Meet the Cinema Guys

By ROB SULLIVAN

At the top of the web site www.cinemaguys.com is a photo of the Community Theatre located in the heart of downtown Fairfield.That is symbolic, as it shows where these guys hearts are: at the movies and in Fairfield County.

Greg Coppola and Jean-Pierre Salazar have teamed up to form the movie review website, what they describe as a local alternative to popular film review websites such as “Rotten Tomatoes.

“We’re different, we tell it like it is,” said Coppola, at a recent interview at the Merritt Canteen. “We’re not trying to be Joe Critic. We want to appeal to the Westportguy who is going out to the movies and doesn’t want to waste $10 on a bad film, or the family in Weston that is trying to decide the best movie around for both the kids and the parents.”

Coppola, a Bridgeport resident, and Salazar, who hails from Stamford, watch the majority of films they review at the Fairfield Cinemas, Black Rock Cinemas and other Fairfield County venues. They typically review three or movies per weekend and post their reviews immediately.

Those reviews are mostly authored by Salazar and are basically straightforward and well-written. Each review contains a brief synopsis of the flick, the reviewer’s impressions, a verdict and a final score.

“We both love going to movies, so it’s a labor of love for us,” explained Salazar, who is also the site’s webmaster. “And we try to turn around our reviews as quickly as possible.”

Coppola handles the website’s audio reviews, which allows visitors to the site to hear and see Coppola’s take on the film in a manner he believes is appealing for a general audience.

“We have a very dynamic website, but I believe these video reviews make the site even more dynamic,” explained Coppola. “I try to be as animated and descriptive as possible. I think it’s really boring to watch a critic just sit behind a desk talking. Very boring. And most of my video commentaries are only about five minutes long.”

One might think that one of the drawbacks to watching that many movies a week is having to sit through the numerous awful flicks that are out there. Not so, said Coppola.

“I love it when movies are so bad they make you laugh,” he said. “Those movies are fun to sit through. Bad films are fun.”

According to Coppola, the website has drawn hits from a wide geographical area, including hits from Russia and Norway. The website generally garners 75 to 100 hits per week.

“We rely on word of mouth, just like movies do,” noted Coppola. “The word spreads and you need content, then you need better content. Just like anything else, if you don’t make the adjustments then you get left behind.”

For Coppola, who is a youth program instructor at the Norwalk YMCA, and Salazar, a web developer for a Greenwich company, the site serves as both as a chance to indulge their hobby and an opportunity to helm a thriving business.

“We’re certainly trying to expand and grow,” Coppola said. “We have about four or five advertisers per page, and we’re trying to get other advertisers. Certainly, if we are going to make money it will have to come through advertisers.”

Salazar added, “It’s gone very well so far and I think it’s because we are very user friendly. Our opinions are our own. We both like movies and I think that shows in the reviews and commentary and throughout the website.”