Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Editor’s Letter
I was talking to someone about moderating panels and events, and I said the only secret is this: you have to assume the role of the audience member. You have to assume that if you’re bored by what the panelists are saying, your audience is probably bored as well and you should ask another question. But if you’re interested, they probably are too. I was really interested in what director Doug Liman had to say at Emerging Visions, a new RBC-sponsored partnership between IFP and the Film Society of Lincoln Center that was held just before we went to press […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 23, 2012 -
What if You Could Crowdfund a Filmmaker, Not a Film?
Here’s something I’ve always wondered: why are film investments always focused on the film, not the filmmaker? In other words, why don’t investors taking a chance on a first-time filmmaker get more than just the usually non-existent returns from that debut feature? Often what hits after the debut of a first feature is not the film but the filmmaker. The movie gets bought for a modest amount and usually underperforms, often leaving the investors with some degree of loss. But, after that film, the filmmaker is, well, a filmmaker, and in a position to move on to bigger and more […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 23, 2012 -
“I Need to Feel When I Make a Film That I’m Not the Same Person Who Made the One Before”: Director Leos Carax on Holy Motors
“The social web can’t exist until you are your real self online,” said Sheryl Sandberg on Charlie Rose last year. “I have to be ‘me’, and you have to be ‘Charlie Rose,’” the Facebook COO told the talk show host. “It’s me” — that single line appearing late in Leos Carax’s Holy Motors unexpectedly devastated me at the film’s Cannes premiere, and perhaps its memory is what’s causing me to recall Sandberg’s statement, which is certainly in line with similar comments by her boss, Mark Zuckerberg. In an age in which online platforms offer the possibility for anyone to craft for themselves a variety […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 22, 2012 -
Can Hackathons Save Independent Film?
Technology, collaboration and the rewards of spontaneous thinking — hackathons harness all three in events that are equal parts meet-up and late-night college term-paper deadline marathon. These multi-day crash sessions are popular in the tech world, gathering strategists, designers and developers to produce everything from fleshed-out concepts to fully designed apps. But does the hackathon format have anything to offer film? Can the problems of independent film — challenges of audience-building, discovery, and monetization — find their solutions in such accelerated brainstorming? Bond Influence and Strategy sought to find out this past weekend with Hacking Film, New York’s first film-centric […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 17, 2012 -
IFP to Run New “Made in NY” DUMBO-Based Media Center
UPDATE: The IFP has created this page to answer questions about the new Media Center. The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) will develop and operate a new Brooklyn-based “Made in New York” Media Center, spanning both traditional and new media practices, set to open this coming Spring. The announcement was made an outdoor press conference at 20 Jay Street in DUMBO, the site of the center. Said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, “New York City stands at the forefront of the media and entertainment industries. The ‘Made in NY’ Media Center will allow us to continue to evolve and meet new […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 11, 2012 -
Trailer Watch: Django Unchained
Here’s the just-released second trailer for Quentin Taratino’s upcoming Django Unchained.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 10, 2012 -
Music Video: “Magic Chords,” by Sharon Van Etten, Directed by Rick Alverson
Rick Alverson, director of the forthcoming The Comedy, directed this music video for Sharon Van Etten. NSFW warning: contains nudity!
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 10, 2012 -
Dreams from a Petrified Head Director Dan Ouellette
Dan Ouellette has had a long career in the New York independent film community, starting with his work as a production designer for Hal Hartley in 1990 with Trust and then, in 1992, with Simple Men. He’s also an accomplished visual artist (examples of which can be seen at his Neurotica Divine site) and has directed stylish music videos for the bands Android Lust and The Birthday Massacre. Dan is also, full disclosure, an old friend who I’ve also worked with professionally many times. (Films he’s production designed that Robin O’Hara and I produced include What Happened Was…, Saving Face, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 10, 2012 -
Lindsay Lohan and James Deen in Paul Schrader and Bret Easton Ellis’s The Canyons
We sent the Fall issue of Filmmaker magazine to the printer last night, and in my Editor’s Letter I riffed on Paul Schrader, who appeared in both our first issue of the magazine as well as its tenth anniversary. The issue you’ll receive in the mail and see on newsstands shortly is our 20th Anniversary issue, and while it doesn’t contain an interview with Schrader, I wrote that it might just as well have. That’s because, once more, he’s reinventing himself, completing a journey that led him from ’70s Hollywood screenwriter to DIY independent filmmaker. That said, the trailer for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 9, 2012 -
Ted Hope Greets The San Francisco Film Society
The San Francisco Film Society has posted the welcome address of its new Executive Director, Ted Hope. Hope talks about why he took the job, and how running the Film Society is a continuation of the passion that fueled his producing of over 70 individual films. He also discusses the challenges facing cinema today. Watch below. San Francisco Film Society E.D. Ted Hope from k9sound on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 9, 2012
