Interview: JoBlo of JoBlo.com

JoBlo.com is the ultimate movie website. It features news, reviews, interviews, and a whole helluva lot more. I first stumbled upon JoBlo.com nearly six years ago. It was just beginning to explode. Of course, I was immediately hooked and spent far too much time on the message boards debating whether or not Freddy Krueger could beat up Jason Voorhees. The site started as a hobby for Berge Garabedian (a.k.a. JoBlo). Today, it attracts thousands of unique visitors on a daily basis. It has even won the accolades of celebrities (Steven Spielberg is quoted as saying that he's a fan). I got the opportunity shoot off a dozen or so questions in JoBlo's general direction. Here's what he had to say for himself...

Dom Coccaro: I want to start off by discussing the size of JoBlo.com. It started with a staff of one almost eight years ago. I just browsed your staff list and wow! That's a lot of people. Has delegating certain tasks made things simpler or more complicated?

JoBlo: Good question, as you would think that it would make things "simpler," but overall, it has complicated matters slightly as well, as we now have between 20-25 "employees" (most everyone is part-time, like freelancers) and most everyone has a personality of their own, with their quirks, working habits, etc... Overall, it has definitely made my own life easier, as I can now concentrate on the 300+ emails I get every day and the corresponding responsibilities that come with those requests, delegations, etc..., but it's not entirely ideal either, since people tend to come and go at times, so the hiring process has to be real exact.

DC: You recently hired a journalist, Tim Goernert, to review most of the films currently in theaters. I know you had a health setback that forced you to make this decision (that's right, I don't pull punches - I'm the Barbara Walters of freelance writer geeks!). What is your prognosis? How soon will it be before you can tackle the bulk of these reviews yourself?