Most of you will be new to our humble horror website. We’re approaching our second full week of being online, and slowly but surely crawling up the arduous mountain that is the Google rankings system. Our small team has been hard at work behind the scenes ironing out the kinks and plotting our crusade for world domination. In short, we’re a group of sleep-deprived, caffeine-addled madmen — and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Meanwhile, our head honcho, Lawrie Brewster, has been hard at work raising funds for In the Grip of Terror, Amicus Productions’ first film in over 40 years. We’re happy to announce that the Kickstarter campaign reached its initial target in under 24 hours; however, conquering the stretch goal will ensure that our British horror studio has a place to call home as we move into the future. You can find out more about the project by visiting the Kickstarter page, and we’ll be eternally grateful if you can help us cross the finish line.
Of course, those of you who are reading this will be freelance writers who are interested in making a few quid rather than parting with your hard-earned sterling. We’ve received a few emails and messages from folks who are interested in contributing to the site, so we felt it was time to delve into our plans and be transparent about the pitching process.
What is Amicus Horror?
Amicus Horror is the editorial arm of the newly resurrected Amicus Productions. While both entities are inextricably linked, this is our outlet for celebrating, dissecting, and promoting the art we consume through news, reviews, editorials, interviews, and even the odd list. We’ll keep you updated with the latest developments from the studio as well, but all horror has a home here.
We cover horror in all its forms, with an emphasis on championing classic, British, and independent fare. As our website blossoms, you’ll also find that we’re fans of Gothic glamour, classic literature, and delving into the creative process of our favourite artists. We have big plans for Amicus Horror, and we hope you stay for the ride.
Of course, some of these sensibilities aren’t reflected on the site yet. We’re new, and the content we’ve published thus far has been mostly modest. That said, Lawrie’s And Now the Screaming Starts! retrospective is a riveting encapsulation of the bread-and-butter content that will define this site. Give it a read, as it’s jolly good and will help future freelancers gauge what we’re all about.
Which brings us to…
Can I pitch to Amicus Horror?
The short answer — eventually.
Amicus Horror aims to become a home for the best horror journalism and analysis on the internet. As such, we’ll be looking to commission people who are smarter, more interesting, and more talented than our humble editors. That shouldn’t be difficult, mind you, but you get the idea.
As it stands, we are still applying the finishing touches to our budgetary and editorial strategies for the coming months. Yes, that means all contributors will be paid for their work, but spaces on our editorial calendar will be limited as we’re a self-funded independent outlet with a limited budget. We’ll have to reject some pitches that we love, but never let that discourage you from ever trying again.
We’ll put out the call for pitches soon, but we still want to hear from you before then. The purpose of this whole exercise is to start building a rapport with freelancers we feel will be a good fit for our site. If you want to be one of them, keep reading.
What is Amicus Horror looking for?
Think of Amicus Horror as the intersection between a classic horror magazine and a broadsheet newspaper. A Bentley with bloodstains in the back. Without sounding too pretentious, we want to stimulate our readers’ minds while still being entertaining. What’s more, we want to celebrate Gothic glamour, similar to how it was in the old days.
We’ll have more details about our content strategy in the near future, but here are a few generalisations to give you a basic idea of our areas of interest.
– Informative long-form features that tell a story about the chosen subject
– Interviews with interesting people working in horror film and literature
And here are a few topics that really tickle our fancies…
– Gothic horror
– Independent horror
– British horror
– Golden Age horror
– Amicus Productions (funnily enough)
– Hammer Films
– Tigon Studios
– Hex Studios
– Spooky folklore and mythology
– Sword and sorcery
Of course, our content won’t be limited to the above topics, but it will be a big part of our strategy at times.
What isn’t Amicus Horror looking for?
We welcome editorial content, but we seek articles that do not prioritise the author’s personal political views. Our focus is on objective discussion, analysis, and reviews of films, literature, and artwork within the horror genre.
Similarly, we aren’t looking for personal essays. We encourage you to bring your own voice and anecdotes to your work, but they shouldn’t be the entire thesis. We’ll occasionally make an exception to this rule if you’re a notable figure or have a mind-blowing pitch.
So, what now then?
Great question.
We’re in the initial stages of gathering a pool of future freelancers who share our interests. Sometime, in the very, very near future, we’ll send out an email with more specific details about our rates, editorial plans, and whatnot. And then we will invite you to send your pitches to us.
In the meantime, email kieran@amicushorror.co.uk with some clips of your writing and information about your horror interests. Feel free to say hello and tell us a wee bit about yourself as well. We don’t want a CV, but if you have any noteworthy accomplishments you’d like to share, by all means, do so.
