In The Mood Magazine is a Film   journal about the things we like to watch.

Magazine: Submissions are currently CLOSED. Please follow us on Instagram or Substack for future updates.

Newsletter: Submissions for our monthly paid Substack are always OPEN. We especially welcome seasonal and/or timely pieces about new releases.

What we publish

We’re looking for writers with a distinctive voice, who aren't afraid of getting personal, and who are curious about why we watch what we watch.

We appreciate thoughtful analysis but also a playful tone; we want intelligent pieces that aren't too full of themselves. We don't think of ourselves as an authority, but a confidante.

🎬 We publish the following about film, TV, pop culture, and moving image media—click for some examples we love:

• Personal essays, non-academic essays

• Conversations, roundtable discussions, interviews

• Poetry

• Round-ups, lists

• Experimental pieces, fan fiction, spec scripts

• Games, questionnaires

• Visual art, comics

• First-person, on-the-ground pieces about going to movies or working behind the scenes

• Film diaries

• Anniversary pieces (but try to think beyond just "this movie is still great!")

• Works on other moving image media, e.g. music videos, celebrities, commercials, filming locations, interesting areas of the film industry

❌ Things to avoid: 

• Straight up reviews

• Excessive plot summary

• Academic or overly formal tone

• Flat-out pans (if something is bad, tell us why that's interesting!)

• We generally focus on media made post-1970

• Clickbait/hot takes

Before submitting, please explore our past issues and newsletter to get a sense of what we publish and ensure we haven't covered your film yet.

Submissions are welcome from anywhere in the world, and we accept simultaneous submissions. Unless we have solicited your work, all submissions must be previously unpublished. We do not accept AI-generated content.

How to submit

‍We strongly prefer completed pieces (max 1,000 words), but we understand that writing on spec is not a realistic prospect for many writers. With that in mind, we still accept pitches.

‍👇 Please include:‍

• Completed piece (max 1,000 words—doesn't need to be perfectly polished!)
  ‍OR if you’re pitching: a short paragraph about your piece (topic, format)

• Why you think this is a good fit for In The Mood

• If pitching: 1-2 writing samples (they don’t need to be published)

• Short bio or link to your website

Send submissions & queries to:

inthemoodmagazine@gmail.com‍

What happens after I submit?

We review all submissions at the end of our submission period, after which you’ll receive a response from us with our publication decision. Usually this is within 10 days of the submission deadline.

If your piece is accepted, it will go through an editing process.

Please keep in mind that a rejection is not necessarily a reflection on the quality of your work. We get a large number of submissions and only have a very limited number of spots per issue, which unfortunately means we have to pass on many great submissions.

As a volunteer-run magazine, we pay a modest honorarium of $30 CAD per piece, sent upon publication (with the exception of Issue 16, which will be funded by the Toronto Arts Council). We acknowledge that this is not a market rate, and won't be doable for some writers.

Thanks for submitting to In The Mood, we look forward to reading your work! 😈