Seriously, for about two years now when my teenagers wish to discuss movies or potential screen plays they always ask, "well can you ask Too Close To The Source, glad you think that Dad but what does TCTTS think about it"

That is what TCTTS stand for

Ha, that is absolutely how I feel sometimes.

And that's awesome, MROD92, if not somewhat mind blowing that your kids actually care what I think. Hopefully they enjoy the site!

Oh, they're pumped about your site too!!!
Gig 'Em

So I see your most recent Twitter updates you put out. Question: I assume when the website goes live that each tweet will be linked to a synopsis? I have no idea what any of these movies are about!

Yeah, sorry for the Twitter info dumb all at once today. That was all of last week's updates I needed to get out before doing this week's releases with the pictures in the next couple of days. I was so busy with data entry last week, I didn't have time to do the social media stuff.

Each tweet won't be linked to a synopsis, but rather each tweet will have a link to its respective category on the site. So a tweet with a Theatrical release date will go to the Theatrical page, a tweet with a Retail date will go to the Retail page, and so on. And then you can find the title on its respective page, and either use it's IMDb link, watch its trailer, or go to its Rotten Tomato page. Again, the idea for the site is to be more of a filter. I'm not providing any synopses or cast info or anything like that (at least initially, while it's only me running this thing). Instead, I'm basically pointing the user in the direction of those things, while providing the basic release info.

Also, I've been thinking, and while the site will be ready to go by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, I'm debating holding off until Tuesday, December 2 for the official launch. Hollywood basically shuts down the week of Thanksgiving, no one's going to be at their desks, and there won't be much news anyway, so it may be counter productive to launch the week before Thanksgiving, and then basically hit a brick wall a couple days later. I'm still deciding, but it may be best to just launch the second everyone's back, and basically have all of December to build any momentum.

i see. as long as there is more info to be had!

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I've been thinking, and while the site will be ready to go by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, I'm debating holding off until Tuesday, December 2 for the official launch. Hollywood basically shuts down the week of Thanksgiving, no one's going to be at their desks, and there won't be much news anyway, so it may be counter productive to launch the week before Thanksgiving, and then basically hit a brick wall a couple days later. I'm still deciding, but it may be best to just launch the second everyone's back, and basically have all of December to build any momentum.

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Could be a good time though to work out any kinks or problems that arise. Trust me, there will probably be a few.

Oh, I'm sure there will be. At this point, though, I'm more worried about momentum. If industry types aren't at their desks - and everyone else is on vacation - the site won't have near as much potential to spread. I'm not counting on it going viral or anything like that, but to release it next week, then have Hollywood basically shut down three or four days later just doesn't feel right.

My plan for working out out the kinks is to take all of December getting feedback, then have my "final" designs/functionality + any fixes/requests implemented as soon as possible in the new year. To have anything "fixed" in the meantime would cost a lot more money, anyway. Outside of the initial contract period, which ends when the site goes live, anything done to the site by the programmers is like $250/hour. So I think I could save a little money by basically just having a new contract for the implementation the final designs/functionality, and work any bug fixes into that.

That said, we've seriously tested the hell out of this thing. We've spent months organizing every listing in every category by every selection, and every last issue has been addressed. With thousands of users, though, I'm sure another bug or two will present itself, but it won't be anything that can't wait to be fixed until Jan/Feb.

Is tomorrow still the big day?

Unfortunately, no. Thanksgiving was way busier than expected, and I just couldn't find the time to finish the listings. I hate to keep pushing the date back over and over again, but when you guys see the sheer amount of listings/links, you'll understand. It's taking me FOREVER, and I'm about ready to pull my hair out. That said, it WILL be debuting next week. I'm currently on a flight home, and I've scheduled out exactly how long it'll take me to do what's left, working all day everyday for the next few days. The site itself is 100% complete, I just have to finish February through April of this year across three categories, a few more TV listings, and some future theatrical listings. I'm super close...

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Unfortunately, no. Thanksgiving was way busier than expected, and I just couldn't find the time to finish the listings. I hate to keep pushing the date back over and over again, but when you guys see the sheer amount of listings/links, you'll understand. It's taking me FOREVER, and I'm about ready to pull my hair out. That said, it WILL be debuting next week. I'm currently on a flight home, and I've scheduled out exactly how long it'll take me to do what's left, working all day everyday for the next few days. The site itself is 100% complete, I just have to finish February through April of this year across three categories, a few more TV listings, and some future theatrical listings. I'm super close...

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Thanks for the update.

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when you guys see the sheer amount of listings/links, you'll understand

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This makes me curious. Do you think the workload for this site is something that you can sustain? Keeping it updated will be key, obviously.

Keeping it updated is the easiest part, hands down. On average, there are only like 15-30 updates per week. That's usually less than five a day, which is nothing. If a studio announces a new release date - whether it be Theatrical, Retail, or whatever - updating an existing entry takes about 20 seconds. And adding a new one from scratch - without having to track down a Rotten Tomato link, trailer link, runtime or rating - is super easy as well (since those particular units only pertain to imminent movies). Doing that five times a day is a piece of cake. All said and done, factoring in other maintenance issues, it's only going to take me about an hour a day to run this site.

It's the initial info dump that's excruciating. I'm having to find the title, date, studio, genre, runtime, rating, IMDb link, Rotten Tomato link, and official YouTube trailer for every single movie released from January 2014 through December 2020, and then copy the pertinent entries to the Direct-to-Home and Retail categories as well, the vast majority of which differ in dates from category to category. Same goes for every "cinematic" cable TV episode from January 2014 through the end of 2015, minus the Rotten Tomato score, rating and runtime. In Theatrical, there are roughly 10 movies released per week, if not more, factoring in limited releases. And in TV, there are roughly the same amount of episodes per week, if not a few less. Either way, there are literally thousands of titles listed across all the various categories, each with multiple units of info I have to scavenge for, and all of them have to be entered in by me and me alone. Every last one has to be perfectly sorted going back 11 months and/or sorted/predicted properly into the future over the next six years, along with having to factor in dozens of other issues. It's a massive, mind numbing undertaking, one that I won't ever have to do again once I'm finished with the current snapshot. These initial listings at launch ARE the site, and then all I have to do going forward is just keep the listings updated, which, again, is so incredibly easy in comparison.

This week?

So this week I can tell people I know THE TCTTS?

I will

Talked to the programmers on Wednesday. They wanted to activate the url by the end of the week so we could have a few days to test it out "live" before officially making the launch announcement this week. But as of today, the url still isn't active, and I haven't talked to them since (been super busy myself), so I assume it'll be up in a couple of days. When/if it is, PLEASE DO NOT POST THE LINK ANYWHERE ELSE, EMAIL IT, OR TELL ANYONE YET. I'm going to officially announce the launch on Monday, December 15 (at which time I'll start a new thread with the announcement), and I'm going to be working right up until then. In the meantime, when the site is activated, there will still be incomplete info/listings across all categories, and I don't want it to "leak out" before everything is 100% complete across the board.

So, in short, I'll let you guys know when the url is active hopefully here in the next two or three days, but please DO NOT advertise it in any way until I give the go head with the official launch announcement on the 15th.

Thanks!

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So this week I can tell people I know THE TCTTS?

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Ha. I really hope this hasn't been built up too much. I'm super satisfied with the final product, but I want to reiterate how insanely simple and straightforward the site is. It's ridiculously complicated on the back end, but the presentation on the front end is as clean and stripped down as can be. I think it'll eventually be fairly popular, but as of now, I just have no idea how people are going to react to the straightforwardness of it. It's literally just listings, and that's it. Granted, you can do a sh*t ton within the listings, and they're all aggregated like never before, but I'm going to be really, really curious as to how people respond to the "bluntness" of it all, for lack of a better word.

Whoa. Just noticed this thread was started a year ago this coming Tuesday. If the url happens to be activated then, that'll be crazy.

Damn, didn't realize I posted on pg1 of this.

As long time supporters of your project, will you be giving us all free premium membership for a limited time?!?!

Absolutely. By viewing this post, you have all just received free premium membership for life. Congratulations!

Hell yeah! What does that get us? A date with scar Jo?

Sure. Right after I get my date with her.

I'm really looking forward to the site, TC.

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I'm really looking forward to the site, TC.

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Sure. Right after I get my date with her.

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will hold you to that

Good luck