I’m blogging from Paris where, the other night, I had dinner with two Palme d’Or-winning French producer friends. “What did you think of the Mark Gill article?” one wanted to know. Yes, Gill’s speech is dinner conversation across the Atlantic. In fact, the producer had printed it out and circulated it among her staff. I’ve commented before on the Gill piece, which I mostly agree with. Now we’re seeing a second wave of responses to the article, and one must-read for indies is by writer/director John August, who blogs about the release of his Sundance film The Nines and relates […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2008At Stream, Jamie Stuart muses on the possibilities of theatrical for one’s first feature. An excerpt: More and more independent producers and distributors with years of experience are trying to convince indie filmmakers that theatrical distribution isn’t that important. This isn’t because these people in the know dislike the theatrical experience. It’s because they understand that the costs of going theatrical are becoming a legitimate burden, and that the real revenue streams lie in the ancillary markets, especially for small movies. Unfortunately, the thing that most filmmakers understand — and this has nothing to do with advocating the communal experience […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2008Artforum reports that filmmaker Bruce Conner has died. Here is their notice: Bruce Conner, a San Francisco–based artist known for his assemblages, films, drawings, and interdisciplinary works, passed away Monday afternoon. Conner moved to San Francisco in 1957 and quickly found his place within the city’s vibrant Beat community. His gauzy assemblages of scraps salvaged from abandoned buildings, nylon stockings, doll parts, and other found materials gained him art-world attention, as did A Movie (1958), an avant-garde film that juxtaposed footage from B movies, newsreels, soft-core pornography, and other fragments, all set to a musical score. (In 1991, A Movie […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2008Ryan Nakashima reports in the AP on a Lehman Brothers report that downgrades the entertainment industry because of what it sees as lower profits in the age of digital distribution. An excerpt: “Shifts from physical to digital will disrupt the marginal economics of the TV and movie businesses, just as it did for music,” analyst Anthony DiClemente said during a conference call. DiClemente argued that the average profit the companies see from new DVDs, including higher-priced Blu-ray discs, is $10.59. Selling the same movie through Apple Inc.’s iTunes online music and video store nets them $9.29, 12 percent less, he […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2008i was saddened to read today that writer and poet Tom Disch committed suicide in his New York apartment on July 4th. I’ve always been a big fan of Disch’s classic intellectual science-fiction novels of the 1970s: the amazing Camp Concentration, 334, and On Wings of Song, as well as his great collections of short fiction, Getting into Death and Fundamental Disch. Following my teenage years, when I read a lot of science fiction, Disch was one of the few writers, along with J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and Stanislaw Lem, who retained a space on my bookshelf. I met […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 7, 2008Here’s part two of Diann Borshay Liem’s report from the Sundance Documentary Edit Lab. (For those who missed Part One, you can read it here.) It’s Day 5 at the Sundance Doc Edit/Story Lab. For me, the lab started where our film ends. During our first work day, editor/advisor Mary Lampson shared a personal story about duality and living a false life. We laughed, I cried. Scott (our assistant editor) cued up “Getting to Know You” and Vivien and I danced around our edit trailer. Amazingly, through this odd process we uncovered what I think will be the ending to […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 4, 2008Over at Indiewire Anthony Kaufman writes about Ballast director Lance Hammer’s decision to withdraw from a planned distribution deal with IFC to self-distribute via his own Alluvial Film Company along with Required Viewing. From the piece: “IFC is a really good company,” Hammer told indieWIRE last week. “The problem is the larger issue that’s plaguing every filmmaker right now: The distributors don’t really offer any money. That’s not that big of a deal if they would allow you to have control of your project, but they don’t.” If the current art-house climate isn’t challenging enough, Hammer’s decision highlights the harsh […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 3, 2008You may have noticed that there hasn’t been a ton of blogging here lately, and that’s because we’ve been working hard on the Summer issue of Filmmaker. It’s our “25 New Faces” issue, and the workload on that one is particularly heavy because we look at a ton of work before making our selections. Anyway, the issue shipped to the printer today, so we’ll try to get back into the swing of regular blog postings. I’m also going to take this opportunity to announce a special subscription offer. If you subscribe online here during the next 48 hours for our […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 1, 2008Remember that Phil Dick-ian John Carpenter movie, They Live? In it, a special pair of sunglasses allows you to see the world as it really is, with all of the government’s subliminal messages exposed. I thought of that film while reading this blog post at Seeking Alpha entitled “How Video is Going to Take Over the World.” It summarizes a Forrester research reporter claiming that we are entering an age of “Omnivideo,” in which video playback will occur on multiple surfaces all throughout our daily life. From the post, quoting Forrester: “Once video becomes this easy to produce, deliver, store, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 23, 2008I’ve posted before about Hammer to Nail, the website launched this year in which Michael Tully, Mike Ryan and others are posting opinionated, passionate and politically informed reviews and commentary on independent films and the indie film scene. Today I received an email from producer Ted Hope, who announces more content at Hammer to Nail, where he, Ryan, Tully and Corbin Day will try to make sense of today’s paradigm-shifting independent business. So, if you haven’t already, add Hammer to Nail to your list of bookmarks. And, below, is the entirety of Hope’s email: I was on a panel at […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 23, 2008