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by The Trades Staff Published: September 29, 2000
History of Rotten Tomatoes The Trades: Who is Rotten Tomatoes? Tell us about yourself. Senh V. Duong: (Straight from the Rotten Tomatoes web site) Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com) a premier entertainment site based in Emeryville, California, provides users with a unique way to look at movies and movie reviews through its trademark Tomatometer(TM). Founded on August 19, 1998 by Senh Duong, Rotten Tomatoes provides movie lovers of all backgrounds quick and easy information on the latest movies hitting the theaters. With its distinctively irreverent but fun attitude, Rotten Tomatoes has received industry recognition and accolades from the likes of Roger Ebert and The New Yorker magazine. Trades: When did Rotten Tomatoes start? Senh: August 18, 1998. Trades: Why did you create Rotten Tomatoes? Senh: To help users make a decision on what to watch in theaters and on video by letting users see at a glance what the nation's critics think about each movie. Imagine you're looking at a movie ad on a newspaper, but instead of just a couple of positive blurbs from critics, you have over 50 positive AND NEGATIVE blurbs. And you can read the full review by clicking on any of those blurbs. We also include for each movie a Tomatometer rating, which measures the percentage of positive reviews to the total number of reviews. At a glance, you can instantly tell whether a movie is liked or disliked. Running Rotten Tomatoes Trades: As many people know, running such a large and popular web site can be very time consuming. RT seems to have quite a large staff. How many people work at RT? Senh: Thirteen. Three maintain the site, and the others are involved in building technology, making money, and building business relationships. Trades: Is RT your "day job" or just a hobby? Senh: It started as a hobby, but it's been my day job for the last year. Trades: Do you plan on expanding your site in any way during the next 6 months/year? Redesigning your site? Senh: A redesign is coming up soon. Because we've been adding so many features to the site since we've started, it's gotten a little bloated. We're simplifying and staying in focus. Trades: How do you go about selecting movie reviews to add to RT? Senh: We've been trying to cover the the entire spectrum of mainstream critics and online critics. As long as reviews are professionally written and doesn't contain profanity, and they're submitted to us by Friday morning, we'll use them. Trades: Has anyone objected to being linked or framed by RT? Senh: Few, but many objected NOT BEING LINKED TO. We drive a lot of traffic to sites that we linked to. Trades: Can content sites make money? Senh: It's tough. That's why when we first started, we would rather aggregate other people's content than to create our own. Since we've started, other mainstream movie sites have followed a similar model. The Competition Trades: Certainly there has been some animosity between online entertainment sites in recent months. Are you ever in contact with any of the other entertainment sites (AICN, Dark Horizons, CHUD, Cinescape, Corona, etc.)? Senh: I've been in contact with everyone of them, but because most of what we do is drive traffic to other sites, they don't consider us a competitor. Our focus is very different from the sites that you've mentioned. Our focus is helping people make decisions on what to watch; the sites that you've mentioned are focused on inside scoops and gossip. Fame and Access Trades: Has RT given you access to some Hollywood and entertainment insiders you wouldn't have known otherwise? Senh: Because of the nature of our site, we have contacts with many mainstream and online critics. Writers, executives, stars, and publicists write us occasionally if one of their movies gets splattered with rotten tomatoes. Trades: Has RT made you famous? Do you ever appear on television or radio programs as an "authority" on certain topics? Have you ever been contacted by the news media for your opinion? Senh: I don't think I'm famous like Harry Knowles is; in fact, I don't think I'm famous at all. And it's probably due to the way we run our sites. His site is more editorial-based so his personality and views play a big part on his site. Everyone associates Harry Knowles with AICN. On our site, we don't have much of a voice; our voice is probably the collective opinions of critics. We run our site more like a company (well, at least we try to). Trades: Have you met any celebrities because of RT? If so, who? Senh: Not really. I've met Roger Ebert at a film festival, but it was more because he just happens to be there. Even so, he didn't recognize me until I mentioned Rotten Tomatoes. Senh, who? Trades: What is the best opportunity RT has afforded you? Senh: The opportunity to work on a subject I really enjoy (movies) and to learn how to run a business with other people's money. |
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