JOEY MAGIDSON
Editor-in-Chief
Joey is the owner and editor-in-chief of Awards Radar. For nearly a decade and a half, he served as a writer at The Awards Circuit (even back when it was still called The Oscar Igloo). A member of the Critics Choice Association and a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, his work has been quoted on FYC award screeners, in press materials, trailers, and more. Seeing over 300 films a year, he arguably spends more time with movies than anything else (though the Jets and the Mets come close), but he wouldn’t have it any other way. Joey is proud to bring you Awards Radar, with an incredible staff and content you won’t find anywhere else! @JoeyMagidson
CREATIVE TEAM
STEVEN PRUSAKOWSKI
TV Editor/ TV & Film Critic / CMO
Steven Prusakowski has been a cinephile as far back as he can remember, literally. At the age of ten, while other kids his age were sleeping, he was up into the late hours of the night watching the Oscars. Since then, his passion for film, television, and awards has only grown. For over a decade he has reviewed and written about entertainment, through publications including Screen Radar and Awards Circuit. He has conducted celebrity and red carpet interviews with some of the industry’s biggest names. He is a graduate of RIT film program. You can find him on Twitter going by @FilmSnork – we don’t know why, but he seems to be sticking to it.
Email: filmsnork@gmail.com
MAX JOSEPH
Writer & Web Designer
Max was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Max can be described as a lover of all films, and of cinema itself. He loves interacting and engaging with people who feel the same way. Currently, you can see his work on his YouTube channel, as well as at the Emmy nominated program, What’s Trending. Outside of the film world, Max is also a professional actor who has worked at many theaters across the country. In 2016, he made his Off-Broadway debut at New World Stages in the world premiere of Mad Libs Live!, where he can be heard on the Original Cast Recording. He is also a lover of Cleveland sports.
YouTube • Instagram • Twitter • Letterboxd • Website • All Social
STAFF MEMBERS:
ABE FRIEDTANZER
Senior TV Writer
Abe Friedtanzer is a film and TV enthusiast who spent most of the past fifteen years in New York City. He has been the editor of MoviesWithAbe.com and TVwithAbe.com since 2007, and has been predicting the Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes, and SAG Awards since he was allowed to stay up late enough to watch them. He has attended numerous film festivals including Sundance and SXSW, and was on a series of road trips across the United States with his wife, Arielle, which he hopes to resume when travel is safe again. You can also find him at YouTube.com/MoviesWithAbe and Instagram.com/MoviesWithAbe.
ROBERT HAMER
Writer
Formerly an associate writer for recently-retired Award Circuit, Robert Hamer is a U.S. Navy veteran and current Connecticut suburbanite middle manager and UConn post-graduate student who spends his time obsessing over movies and pop politics. He is returning to film and awards season commentary to return to a sense of normalcy in these plague-ridden times of rising fascism and late-stage capitalist dystopia. Join him, won’t you, in these unorthodox attempts at cinematic therapy?
MYLES HUGHES
Writer
Myles Hughes has been writing about the film industry on and off for over a decade, starting with The Oscar Igloo when he was just 18 before transitioning over to The Awards Circuit. More recently, he has served as a part-time horror and tv writer for 25 Years Later. In addition to covering the industry, Myles is also an independent filmmaker himself. His latest short, “American Exorcist”, is currently in the early stages of its festival run. He resides in Jacksonville, Florida, but don’t hold that against him.
MATT PASSANTINO
Writer
Matthew has been writing about movies for nine years, covering reviews, awards season and festivals, including Sundance, Toronto and Tribeca. His movie preferences range from the smallest independent film to the biggest blockbuster. All of his reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes or on Twitter @MattPassantino, where he is usually talking about Oscar grievances from years past.
SHANE SLATER
Writer
Shane Slater is a passionate cinephile whose love for cinema led him to creating his blog Film Actually in 2009. Since then, he was a Staff Writer for AwardsCircuit.com, where he primarily covered non-English and documentary films. Based in Kingston, Jamaica, he relishes the film festival experience, having covered TIFF, NYFF and PAFF-LA among others. He is a proud member of the African-American Film Critics Association.
CHRIS JAMES
Writer
Chris James has loved movies ever since he ran away screaming from “The Lion King” and watched “Pretty Woman” when he was too young. His love for film and desire to tell off rude saleswomen in Beverly Hills led him to Los Angeles where he earned two degrees from Loyola Marymount University in Screenwriting and Marketing. Currently, Chris works as a Digital Marketing Specialist at Fandango doing the thing he knows how to do best – sell movie tickets. He also was a writer at Awards Circuit for four years, eventually moving up to the Assistant TV Editor role. Currently, you can find his writings at Awards Radar, The Film Experience and the Awards Circuit archives. He also runs a podcast called “The People vs. Oscar” which pits the yearly highest grossing movie against that year’s Oscar Best Picture winner. Chris is also a member of the following critics groups: The Hollywood Film Critics, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, Online Film Critics Society and the Online Film and Television Association. He is also Rotten Tomatoes certified.
KENDALL TINSTONWriter
Not working directly as a film critic, but working in another aspect of the film industry, Kendall Tinston is excited for this new challenge! Kendall’s love of horror movies and being scared began when she saw Child’s Play at a very young age and was too scared to walk past a comic book store that had a Chucky doll on display. Since then, she’s been seeking out the scariest movies, with the best twists, and messiest blood splatters. Some of her horror favorites include: Halloween, Cabin in the Woods, the Conjuring, It, the Strangers, and many more. When she’s not binge watching horror movies, she is also spending time with her cat Badger, attempting to write her own horror screenplay, exploring new breweries or wineries, playing ukulele, and watching New Jersey Devils hockey. One movie not in the horror genre that Kendall can watch over and over is Moulin Rouge, as she loves Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor almost as much as she does musicals. Kendall hopes to one daywrite a screenplay that she can see made into a movie, if not a short film.
CASEY TINSTON
Writer
Casey is a middle and high school English teacher with a passion for literature. She believes in using film as a tool for literary analysis in the English classroom, and the power of film as literature. She is also a film fan in general, and appreciates strong screenwriting.
BRADLEY WEIR
Writer
Based in the UK and a film graduate at the University of Gloucestershire, my passion for all things awards has stemmed from an early age. From writing reviews for my local city’s film festival website, to appearing on a video for GoldDerby at the tender age of 16 (where I boldly and incorrectly predicted Bryan Cranston to win an Academy Award for “Trumbo”) my love of all things in the industry has only grown stronger the more I write. Having written for AwardsCircuit in the early parts of 2020, I’m excited to be part of the team here at AwardsRadar and hope you will all join us as we share our enthusiasm with you.