Movies were always my first love but I’d been a technology reporter for almost a decade before I broke into entertainment in a serious way. I never imagined it at the beginning of my career, but tech actually gave me an edge as a movie and entertainment reporter.

I not only joined the throngs of other stringers going to junkets to interview great directors, actors and writers, my experience with computers, software and devices gave me a unique grasp of behind-the-scenes tools and skills.

I talked to puppeteers and engineers about the renaissance in animatronic robots. I tracked down and spoke to the writer/director of the first movie with completely CGI animated backgrounds (and have the distinction of being the first reporter he spoke to since the initial release, so burnt was he by its handling and so appreciative of my approach).

I’ve talked to editors, VFX animators and stunt people about the field’s inherent dangers and how the industry occasionally lets them down.

And when publicists and gatekeepers have blocked me from the people or material I need, I’ve gone ahead and written the story from my own knowledge or gone straight to the source.

One other thing. As a longtime film reporter I’ve also been a critic for several publications, but you’ll only find a handful of movie reviews on this site. The first reason is because there are hundreds of them going years back in my files, and the second is because if they were all here I’d be doubling up. Since 2001 I’ve maintained filmism.net, which contains movie reviews of every film I’ve ever seen on an ongoing basis, and that includes all my professional reviews.