Authors — Scott Macaulay
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YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD IS YOUR CREW
Designer Troy Farmer was hanging out on his Brooklyn block one day recently when he and his friend were approached by a stranger. The stranger wondered, would Farmer like to be part of a film crew? “Our initial reaction was ‘No way, dude, we’ve got no time to do that at all, we’re way too busy, never never never,’” Farmer remembers on his blog. “Though we then realized that’s a tough point to argue when you’re sitting on your stoop drinking wine. So we reluctantly agreed to go to this planning meeting, thinking, at most, we could help out with […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 13, 2012 -
TED HOPE HIRED AS NEW S.F. FILM SOCIETY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Big news: New York independent film producing veteran Ted Hope has been hired as the San Francisco Film Society’s new Executive Director. Co-founder, with James Schamus, of the seminal Gotham indie production company Good Machine, producer of dozens of films, including Dark Horse, Adventureland, In the Bedroom, The Savages and American Splendor, and, in recent years, a prolific blogger and industry critic, Hope will take the reins of a 55-year-old organization that not only mounts a large and respected annual festival but also engages in outreach, education and funding programs for filmmakers. From the press release: “Ted Hope is the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 9, 2012 -
FACTORY 25 ACQUIRES SOPHIA TAKAL’S “GREEN” FOR WORLD DISTRIBUTION
On of our favorite independent films of 2011, Sophia Takal’s debut feature, Green, has been acquired for distribution by Factory 25. Factory 25 will debut the film theatrically next month, with runs planned at reRun Theater in Brooklyn, Chicago’s Facets and other venues, will release the film digitally and on VOD platforms in November and will issue a DVD next Spring. Writer/director/actor Takal was selected as one of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces of 2011, and Green scored a Filmmaker-sponsored “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” Gotham nomination. Here’s the lede of my “25 New Face” profile of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 9, 2012 -
MUSIC VIDEO WATCH: ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS, TOM WAITS
It’s rare that one week brings not one but two ambitiously cinematic, outside-the-box music videos. The first is “Cut the World,” from Antony and the Johnsons and directed by Nabil. Starring Willem Dafoe, Carice Van Houten and Marina Abramovic, it starts out like a bittersweet tale of office longing… and then turns into something else. From Tom Waits and ’80s music video superstar director Matt Mahurin is “Hell Broke Luce,” which Waits describes as picturing “an enlightened drill sergeant yelling the hard truths of war to a brand new batch of recruits. The video grew from the gnawing image of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 8, 2012 -
25 NEW FACE FILMMAKER JOHN MARINGOUIN NEEDS OUR SUPPORT
Back when we selected filmmaker John Maringouin for our 25 New Faces list in 2006, we knew he had crazy, gonzo talent. His father-son reunion pic, Running Scared is, as I wrote at the time, “a true epic in the fucked-up family doc genre.” Three years after Running Scared, Maringouin made an even bigger impact with Big River Man, a hilarious and heartfelt tale of adventure and human endurance. But now, as I sadly learned in an email from filmmaker Stephen Kijak, Maringouin is fighting his own medical battle and he needs our support. I’ll let Kijak explain: My friend, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 7, 2012 -
An Independent Filmmaker Confronts Piracy
Producer Matt Compton says he knew the feature he produced — a “thinking man’s horror film,” Midnight Son, directed by Scott Leberecht — would eventually be pirated. “I always knew the film would end up on the torrent sites,” he writes in an email, “and that there would be nothing I could do about it. If the major studios can’t stop piracy, surely an indie producer such as myself can do nothing.” But he wasn’t prepared for his film to show up three weeks before the film was commercially available, when whatever word-of-mouth to be gained by the filesharing couldn’t […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 6, 2012 -
The Cult Appeal of the Creative Capital Retreat
“Creative Capital is a cult,” said Phillip Andrew Lewis at the end of his presentation at the art funder’s semi-annual retreat this past weekend at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. “But it’s a good cult.” Lewis’s was both a good line and an appropriate capper to his presentation, which shocked right from the outset. The installation artist began his talk by saying he had been held captive as a child for two years within a radical drug treatment program sponsored by the U.S. government. “I consider my work a form of deprogramming,” he told the stunned audience. For the record, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 2, 2012 -
HEAR BOB DYLAN’S NEW SONG… COURTESY OF CINEMAX
A musician’s gotta monetize himself… Bob Dylan’s new album comes out September 11, but he’s just released a song from it — as score for a Cinemax promo for its new series, Strike Back. Hear it below. (Hat tip: Talking Points Memo.)
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 1, 2012 -
Wong Fu Productions on Why Filmmakers Should Embrace YouTube
Our friends at the National Film Society sent over this video interview with the filmmakers who go by the name of Wong Fu Productions. If you don’t know them, what’s wrong with you? They have 1.2 million subscribers and over 190 million views. Here, they give us tips on audience building and navigating the waters of the video sharing giant.
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 31, 2012 -
DRUNK PODCASTING AT CREATIVE CAPITAL
The above scene at the Creative Capital retreat this weekend brought back a lot of memories. The arts funding organization’s semi-annual retreat was held at Williams College in Williamstown Massachusetts, and on the final evening the outdoor barbecue got drizzled out. So, it was moved indoors, and afterwards the cafeteria space became a party space, where artist grantees and consultants danced to Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love.” A level up, Cinemad’s Mike Plante set up his microphones and recorded a podcast. The ’80s music, the party, and radio — it was like one of my own evenings in college, where I’d […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 31, 2012
