Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Sundance Trailer Watch: Michael Madsen’s The Visit
Michael Madsen’s “documentary from outer space” is at the top of our viewing list at Sundance this year. As it is described by production company NGF: THE VISIT is a documentary with comedy elements, and a philosophical exploration of our fear of strangers through the ultimate threat to our self-image: The discovery of Alien Intelligent Life. In Vienna lies the UN-city, with its late 1970’s architecture and its extra-territorial status not unlike a giant spacecraft that has landed in the middle of the civilized world. Inside this impressive institution representing our belief in humanity, resides the UN Office of Outer […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 14, 2015 -
Watch: De Niro and DiCaprio Compete for a Scorsese Payday
While it may not be as consciously constructed as that of Quentin Tarantino’s, the film meta-world of Martin Scorsese would seem to at some point demand the pairing of his two most durable leading men, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. That time is now, apparently, as the two men appear in a short branded content film for the $3.2 billion City of Dreams casino in Manila Bay, Philippines. It may not be what we wanted, but it shouldn’t pass by unnoticed. The trailer for the film, The Audition, is posted above. Both actors have been reported to have received […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 14, 2015 -
Brief Thoughts on Pitching Articles to Editors at Sites Like Filmmaker
A bit of synergy as two things crossed my screen this morning: a query from a prospective writer and this article from Paul Bradshaw and the Online Journalism blog. Taken together they got me thinking about pitching, new writers and Filmmaker. The query was from a perfectly polite, well-spoken individual who self-identifies as a “blogger” and a “geek” and who sincerely wants to write for us. Absent from the email were a) any link to any previously published work; b) any sort of biographical information denoting the person’s specific expertise or area of interest; c) any specific suggestions of work […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 12, 2015 -
Five Questions for She Does Podcast’s Elaine Sheldon and Sarah Ginsburg
Premiering on Wednesday, January 14 is She Does, a podcast focusing on the creative lives of women working in the media created by filmmakers Elaine Sheldon and Sarah Ginsburg. As the podcast’s mission statement explains, “Going beyond their current career status, we explore each woman’s past to understand how their personality, background and philosophy informs their work.” Interestingly, the podcast is not discipline-specific, including not just filmmakers but technologists, designers, journalists, musicians and more. In addition — and impressively, given the purely independent, DIY nature of this series — Sheldon and Ginsburg are bringing an artistic polish to She Does, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 12, 2015 -
Producers, Rework Your Budgets: SAG-AFTRA Ups Low-Budget Contracts 25%
For low-budget filmmakers, the cost of hiring SAG actors has just gotten higher. Yesterday, as reported by Deadline, the SAG-AFTRA national board of directors approved a new contract paying actors working under three low-budget agreements a 25% raise. The ultra-low-budget agreement, for films under $200,000 dollars, such as Dan Mirvish’s Between Us (pictured above), now requires producers to pay actors $125 a day, up from $100. The modified low-budget agreement now has a daily minimum of $335 and weekly rate of $1,166 (up from $268 and $933, respectively). And the low-budget contract, covering films less than $2.5 million sees rates […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 11, 2015 -
Fox Searchlight Acquires Noah Baumbach’s Sundance-Bound Mistress America
Fox Searchlight has struck early, acquiring Noah Baumbach’s highly anticipated Mistress America two weeks before its premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. As described in the press release, “In Mistress America, Tracy (Lola Kirke) is a lonely college freshman in New York, having neither the exciting university experience nor the glamorous metropolitan lifestyle she envisioned. But when she is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister, Brooke (Greta Gerwig) – a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town – she is rescued from her disappointment and seduced by Brooke’s alluringly mad schemes.” The film is written by Baumbach […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 9, 2015 -
Creative Capital Announces 2015 Moving Image and Visual Arts Awardees
Creative Capital, the granting and artist support organization, announced today its 2015 awardees in the categories of Moving Image and Visual Arts. Out of 3,700 submitted proposals, 46 projects were funded with the 50 supported artists ranging in age from 28 to 80. More than half our women, and and more than half identify as non-European American. Among the grantees are a number of artists who will be recognized by the Filmmaker readership. Here are just a few of them. Veteran director Michael Almereyda receives his first Creative Capital grant for a series of short films based on Italian folktales. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 7, 2015 -
Boyhood Wins Heterodox Award, Paris is Burning Honored with Legacy Award at Cinema Eye Honor’s Inaugural Honors Lunch
In a new annual lunchtime ceremony, Cinema Eye Honors awarded today the Filmmaker-sponsored Heterodox Award to Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and feted Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning with its Legacy Award. Linklater as well as Livingston and her collaborators were all on hand to accept their awards at midtown’s Etcetera Etcetera. Of the divide between documentary and fiction, Linklater, who was on hand to accept the award, said, “I don’t even call it ‘a blurry line’… I’ve never really drawn a particular line between documentary and fiction.” Continuing, he said, “[Boyhood] is not a documentary but it’s certainly a document. It’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 6, 2015 -
Trailer Watch (Red Band): Giuseppe Makes a Movie
Via Cinelicious, Adam Rifkin’s documentary on DIY filmmaker Giuseppe Andrews, Giuseppe Makes a Movie, gets a New York theatrical run this month at the Anthology Film Archives via Cinelicious, the distributor who recently opened Josephine Decker’s films. Check out the trailer above. Wrote Lauren Wissot when she intro’d an interview with Rifkin here at Filmmaker: A veteran of both Hollywood and indie film, Adam Rifkin, on the other hand, is a name familiar to any fan of the 1999 cult comedy Detroit Rock City, which Rifkin directed, and which starred Andrews alongside Edward Furlong. Now Rifkin and Andrews have teamed up again […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 6, 2015 -
Martell Harding on His Award-Winning Scarface Redux Entry
Winning the prize for the best entry in the Borscht Film Festival’s Scarface Redux contest was Florida International University student Martell Harding, whose “Shootout” is 11 intense seconds of action-figure mayhem. Borscht’s crowdsourced remake of Brian DePalma’s modern neo-classic, Scarface Redux consists of, in the vein of Star Wars Uncut, homemade clips reinterpreting the film in a variety of styles and genres. And while Borscht 9 is over, the project is continuing, with some clips yet to be covered. Meanwhile, though, the competition aspect of the project is over, with Harding’s the winning clip. The filmmaker, who is studying Communication […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 6, 2015
