Pitch Us

Thanks so much for your interest in Certified Forgotten!

As an independent horror publication, we want to provide prospective writers with as much transparency as possible. We don’t believe anyone should write for free – in fact, we started our site to provide another outlet for paid film criticism for experienced and emerging horror writers. So before we tell you how to pitch us, let’s set some expectations.

• Our rate is $75 per article.
• Contributors will have an average of 3-4 weeks between acceptance and the due date.
• Contributors must provide a brief bio as well as their Letterboxd profile (if available).
• Finished articles should be between 1,000 and 1,200 words.

Those are the requirements of writing for the site. But now comes the million dollar seventy-five dollar question: what kind of article should you pitch us? If you have followed the growth of Certified Forgotten these past few years, you may have heard us joke about our preference for extremely obscure titles. It’s not a joke. Certified Forgotten is a home for long-form essays on forgotten horror cinema – especially forgotten cinema from the digital era.

Below is our four-step guide to pitching us a perfect horror essay.

• Pitch articles on individual movies. Sometimes we hear from authors that want to explore trends in cinema – such as vampirism in cinema or a particular form of on-camera representation – or rehash entire decades of cinema in a single article. But as writers who grew up reading long-form essays on individual movies, we want to give our contributors the space to dig deep into a movie they love. If we love your article, there’s always room to write about the others, too.
• Avoid established films and filmmakers. Listen, no disrespect, but unless you have an otherworldly pitch, we are probably going to reject your pitch on Wes Craven or Tobe Hooper. With only a handful of spots available in our editorial calendar each month, we make a point of prioritizing films that would not normally get a moment in the spotlight.
• Surprise us with films we’ve never heard of before. Some of our favorite pitches are the ones that spotlight films that flew completely under our radars. If you care deeply about an obscure film like Don’t Go in the Woods or Be My Cat: A Film for Annie, odds are your pitch will catch our eye.
• Prioritize movies from 2000–2020. Yes, we publish articles on movies from every period in horror history, but we are most interested in horror movies from the last two decades. While the move to digital made it easier than ever to both shoot and release films, that also means we have only just begun to create our 21st Century canon.

Also, don’t take offense if we do not respond to your pitch right away. Our editorial calendar only includes room for a handful of pitches each month – if we’re in the middle of a successful round of pitches, we may book our calendar out two-to-three months in advance. Sometimes we may not respond for weeks, but we typically try to respond to every pitch we receive (even if it’s a rejection).

Still have questions about writing for the site? Reach out to our team at [email protected], and we will get back to you as soon we can. We look forward to seeing what you come up with.