This week’s guest blogger is a child of the 80′s, self proclaimed geek, and avid Goonies fan. It gives me great pleasure to introduce Dave Sztypuljak – founder and editor extraordinaire of HeyUGuys.co.uk – England’s most popular independent resource for all things film
Mike:
Hi Dave – it’s marvelous speaking to you.
Dave:
Hi Mike!
Mike:
Dave who are the guys at HeyUGuys?
Dave:
The blog was founded by Jon Lyus and myself in November 2008 and is now entering its 2nd year. The name is a reference to “The Goonies” because we both love the film and originally thought we’d be posting only about 80′s movies. About two days after we started I think we realized the scope was too narrow and we wanted to write about film in general. BTW we nearly called the blog 88MPH – probably a less esoteric reference…
Mike:
I’ll admit the “Hey you guys!” eluded me but I’d have caught on to the 88MPH. How did Jon and you connect?
Dave:
Mike:
You know Dave, in preparation for this interview I spent a fair amount of time researching film blogs.
It seems to me as if there are very few serious film blogs outside the US. Am I wrong?
Dave:
Actually, Mike you’re absolutely right. We’re pretty unique insofar as we’re a non-American, English language, film blog. Honestly I think it’s given us an advantage in terms of exclusive content and audience.
Mike:
Do you feel cutoff?
Dave:
On the contrary! I feel unique…
Seriously though, being situated in England as we are, has provided us with some amazing opportunities that were very important for building HeyUGuys as a brand.
Mike:
Do tell…
Dave:
About seven months ago we realized Ridley Scott was filming the new Robin Hood movie, with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, in a wood near Farnham in Surrey. Farnham is only about 20 minutes drive from where I live, so one day we headed down there to visit and film the set. We didn’t quite realize it at the time but we’d created an amazing asset for ourselves – original and exclusive content that none of the “big” channels had. The post achieved popularity quickly and was linked to from everywhere.
The Tron poster we posted before anyone else is another example of a scoop that got us a fair deal of attention:
Dave Sztypuljak posted this Tron poster originally on December 9, 2009
Mike:
How has the success of HeyUguys affected your lives?
Dave:
Its funny really. The first time we received validation we were being picked up by the mainstream media it was such a surprise I thought it was a hoax!
We got invited to the Star Trek premier by Sky News. One day I opened my inbox and the invitation was just waiting there for me. We got full VIP treatment. Throughout the premier I was waiting for someone to grab me, tell me the whole thing was a mistake, and kick me out the door.
Mike:
From my experience as long as you keep a smooth face and act as if you belong these things go smoothly. Seems you can even gate crash the Whitehouse nowadays as long as you keep your cool.
Dave:
Believe me, when the second premier invitation came in both Jon and I were already far more suave about the whole thing, although we still get very excited!
Mike:
So now that you’re all cool with being a film blogger what are the plans for the future?
Dave:
I’ve recently quit my “day job” to work for HeyUguys full time. The plan for 2010 is to make the blog profitable enough to sustain itself and us. I’d be happy to live my life watching films, mingling with celebrities and writing about it.
Mike:
Sounds like a plan to me. Good luck Dave and thanks for talking to me and for supporting Headup!
Dave:
It’s my pleasure. I actually like what Headup is doing quite a bit, so much so that I’ve been chatting to some blogger friends getting them to try it out.
