Based in Kansas City, Dan Lybarger has been a freelance writer and film critic for more than 20 years with his articles appearing recently in publications such as the Huffington Post (Link) and numerous others. We asked him a few questions about his career, and he provided some wonderful responses.

Name: Dan Lybarger ([email protected])
Title Freelance/Technical Writer & Critic
How do you make your living?
I make most of my money writing computer instructions. That’s a challenge because computers have always come easily to me, and I have to remember my readers don’t want to be sitting at a monitor. The trick is to figure out how to tell them just what they need to know so they can get on with their lives.
As for my work as a critic, journalist and blogger, that occasionally makes money and interests more people. People perk up when I tell them what I do for a side gig; they’re not as interested in what I do during the day.
How long have you been in your current position?
I’ve actually been a semi-professional professional critic for one year longer than I’ve been a technical writer. I wrote reviews in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Forum in 1991 and started full time work in late 1992.
How did you get into your chosen field?
In college, I saw had a bright computer professor named Emilio Ramos who was cussing out a manual. If he found your book inadequate (this was a former NASA guy), imagine the frustration the ordinary end user would have with it. I figured I couldn’t do any worse than whoever wrote that book for Sperry Computers.
As for film criticism, that started when I was six. The teacher showed us a Lassie movie, and I raised a stink because she ended the movie with Lassie being stuck in a pit. I informed her that Lassie always gets out of whatever mess she gets into, and that this must therefore be a substandard Lassie movie. I doubt I used those words.
She had to take me out of the class to explain that there was another reel she was going to play the next day where Lassie got out. I was satisfied.
At 22 or 23, I was reading the reviews that ran in the UALR Forum and thought I could do a better job. Their critic was a Saudi computer major who knew little about movies and had issues with English. I simply walked into the office and printed out a review I had written on my own, and it was published the following week.
I went “pro” when Philip Martin, an editor from Little Rock’s Spectrum Weekly and I met in the same bar and talked films. The paper’s offices were above the watering hole. He’d seen me do a really bad Bob Dylan impersonation, but it won the UALR version of an America’s Funniest People audition. Needless to say, I didn’t make nationals, but I won a Robert Cray cassette and met a great job lead.
Previous jobs?
I cleaned my father’s old car wash in Paola, tutored in a computer lab, worked as phone jockey for Sallie Mae and even served as a census taker. In that job, a farmer threatened to shoot me because he had some sort of objection to the Constitutionally-mandated census. He was more interested in me leaving his property than in explaining his concerns. I had no desire to be target practice.
Major awards/honors?
Simply being able to stay in the game is an honor. That said, an interview I conducted with William Shatner about his 1962 movie The Intruder, which was about violence surrounding school desegregation, earned me a nomination for the Rondo Hatton Horror Awards. I didn’t win, but because I made no effort to get a nomination, I’m still tickled I got the nod. Incidentally, it was my first national magazine cover story.
Has your chosen field changed over the years?
It has changed dramatically. When I wrote reviews for the now defunct Spectrum Weekly in Little Rock, I hand delivered them on a diskette to the office. At Pitch, I faxed them in, and then came e-mail. As a result, there were several people at the latter paper who had no idea who I was until the annual parties. Many probably wished they didn’t know after having met me.
I’ve been through several outlets that have folded under my feet like TMI Weekly in Topeka, which was a wonderful place to write for, but like so many outlets had problems making money. Print was dying when I started in the business, so I’m happy whenever I still find a paying gig.
At the same time, the changes in technology have opened up opportunities for me. I can write for faraway places in New York, California or some other part of the country.
Hometown Born in Topeka, Grew up in Paola. Paola is the hometown of Emmy-winning writer Steve Pepoon and Danney Carey, the drummer for Tool.
Marital Status (Children?)
Single, but with a girlfriend (Carmen). There are no children I’m aware of.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Getting to talk with people whose work or actions I really admire. It was a real treat to get to talk with Pentagon Papers whistle blower Daniel Ellsberg and with former CIA agent Robert Baer. These guys are on different ends of the spectrum, but I learned a lot from each man. I’m an extroverted guy, so getting to meet people is often a treat, even if their names aren’t familiar to me.
Because I’m a crummy athlete, movies were something I could do that didn’t involve pushing my clumsy body farther than it wanted to go. Getting to see a great one and tell the world about it is certainly a treat. I also love introducing people to movies, books, TV shows, music or other things that they’ll fall in love with. As humans, we’re on this planet for a short time, so settling for mediocrity in movies shouldn’t be an option. Unlike other consumer options, movies cost the same regardless of quality, so it’s one area where settling for second best shouldn’t happen.
Least rewarding?
Hustling to sell an article can be frustrating, but the real pain for me is transcription. I’m a decent typist but getting down hours worth of conversation is a pain. Some of the writers I know at the Star just take notes, but my handwriting is sloppy and slow. That’s why my professors at Ottawa University demanded that I take computer classes. It’s gratifying that I still passed my classes when they could actually read what I wrote.
Also, if you’ve seen Battlefield Earth, you begin to think the Almighty hates you.
Did you ever consider another career?
Yes. Film criticism is probably less steady and less lucrative than acting. And the latter is one of the rarest jobs around. I often compare film criticism and writing in general to being a chariot driver.
Because chariots depend on the horses completely for both power and steering (the wheels are on stationary axles), it’s a formidable skill for the driver to develop. That doesn’t mean that anybody’s going to pay you to do it. This is why I consider myself fortunate because few people get paid in this racket. I often write for free.
I love to play piano, guitar and harmonica, but my singing voice makes Bob Dylan sound like Placido Domingo. Pray you never hear the songs I recorded.
I also wanted to give up film criticism after watching Powder, Jeepers Creepers 2 and Showgirls.
Do you have a mentor?
I’ve had several over the years. Philip Martin and Anne Clancy at Spectrum Weekly in Little Rock. Mr. Martin is now looking over my work for The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Thanks to Facebook, it’s been fun getting to know him again.
At Pitch, Bruce Rodgers and Jon Niccum did a great job of guiding me. I still write for Bruce at KCActive.com, and Jon also got to test his patience with me at the Lawrence Journal-World.
At the Star, Bob Butler was incredibly helpful, and it’s a shame he’s no longer there. I grew up reading his reviews, and it probably would have crushed me if he turned out to be a jerk. Sharon Hoffman is an amazing copy editor, and David Frese has actually bought magazines simply because something I’ve written got printed in them.
Through work, I got to meet Loey Lockerby who has been my greatest friend. We probably get along because we both have names no one can spell or pronounce.
What is the strangest thing you have come across in your job?
I’ve had quite a few, but a 1999 junket I took to Los Angeles was the oddest. I am about the only person I know who has broken toes simply by walking across my hotel room. That same trip, I had to sit at a roundtable with Martin Lawrence and his entourage of two tall, intimidating body guards and two women, one of whom came in with a bandage over her eye. For some reason, none us wanted to ask him about the time he ran into traffic waving a pistol.
On the plus side, I got to meet Dave Chapelle, and he posed for my first published photo.
Educational background?
Paola High School, B.A. Magna Cum Laude Ottawa University (Ottawa, KS, not the capital city of our friendly northern neighbors), M.A. University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
What is your favorite thing to do in Kansas City?
Kansas City is an unusually good city for movies. We have more screens per person than most larger cities and some thriving specialty houses. I’m also fond of the barbecue (as my waistline indicates), and I like to sit back and drink hot tea at the Black Dog Coffeehouse.
What do you do in your free time? Hobbies? With two jobs, I don’t get much of that, but I do like to play piano and guitar and spend quality time with Carmencita. I also like walking. With two sedentary jobs, it’s essential.
“People might be surprised to know that you …”
I once (and only once) drove a forklift. It wasn’t pretty.
What is your favorite TV show?
The Daily Show, The Twilight Zone, Portlandia. I really miss out on a lot of TV because I’m usually enduring cruddy films and am rarely home during the day.
Who was the biggest celebrity you ever interviewed? Explain.
That would probably be Charlton Heston, and I’ve also talked with Billy Crystal, Sir Michael Caine, Cate Blanchett (who opened the door for me during a junket), Faye Dunnaway, Mel Brooks.
Who is the most interesting person you have interviewed or met?
That would have to be Agnieszka Holland. She’s a Polish film and TV director who’s done everything from Treme, The Wire, Europa Europa and the forthcoming In Darkness. She’s had quite a life. She’s survived the Prague Spring in 1968, spent time as a political prisoner and has raised a daughter, Kasia Adamik, who is a talented filmmaker, too. She’s a blast to talk with, and I don’t review her movies anymore because we’ve become friends.
Who do you follow on Twitter?
You’ll laugh at this: Yoko Ono. But I also like following Stephen Colbert, Albert Brooks, John Hodgman, Michelle Goldberg, UMKC’s William K. Black, Roger Ebert
Add any questions I should have asked…
These seemed adequate. I apologize for taking so long and being so verbose. Anne Clancy, a former editor, once told me, “Dan, it’s always easier for me to cut than to add.” I should add you caught me at a break.