Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Jamie Stuart’s New Short Both Ends
Jamie Stuart, familiar to Filmmaker readers for his various short-form work for this site over the years (and familiar to many more for his Idiot with a Tripod short last year), got his hands on a Canon EOS-C300 recently. To test it out he made a short film, Both Ends, starring Lauren Currie Lewis as a chameleon-like party girl having the worst day of her life. The film was shot in one long 16-hour day in locations spanning three boroughs. The primary lenses used were Canon’s 16-35mm f/2.8 and 24-70mm f/2.8. It was edited on Premiere Pro CS5. Grading was […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 19, 2012 -
TRAILER WATCH: RIDLEY SCOTT’S “PROMETHEUS”
This is the Hollywood trailer of the moment. I particularly love the music fake-out — starting with the typically ostentatious “epic score” and, after a moment of silence, phasing into something more modern and frightening.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 18, 2012 -
Columbia U. Launches Screenplay Revision Workshop
Becoming a good writer is not just about writing well — it’s about rewriting well. I know plenty of promising writers who positively fail at that essential skill. They are unable to move beyond their first drafts, to process feedback, and to shape their own raw material into production-worthy scripts. This summer a resource for the self-aware among this set is being offered by Columbia University. Columbia’s Film School chair Ira Deutchman recently announced the Screenplay Revision Workshop, which is open to all. From Ira’s blog at Tribeca: In all my years in the film business and my travels around […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 17, 2012 -
Crowdfunding Bill Stalls in the Senate
The JOBS (Jumpstart our Business Startups) Act, which passed the House last week, has stalled in the Senate over criticism by Democrats over some of its provisions, including those related to crowdfunding, the strategy being used today by many independent filmmakers. Currently, it is illegal to use crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to solicit actual investments. Monies pledged on these platforms are donations usually lacking any tax benefit or further income possiblity for the funder. (Or, increasingly, they are pre-buys for a specific goods or services.) The JOBS Act aims to change that, allowing businesses, including filmmakers, to solicit […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 16, 2012 -
10 Tips On Producing And Financing From SXSW
Troublemaker Studio’s Aaron Kaufman hosted a panel titled “Making it Happen: Financing an Independent Film” at SXSW this year, gathering together fellow execs Katie McNeill (V.P. of Production, Electric City Entertainment, the new venture between producers Lynette Howell and Jamie Patricof) and Garrick Dion, Senior Vice President of Development at Bold Films, and a co-producer of Drive (pictured). (Troublemaker, of course, is the production company of Robert Rodriguez.) The three offered thoughts on how to develop and put together projects able to financed in today’s independent film marketplace as well as tips on keeping that development on track. Here are […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2012 -
MORGAN SPURLOCK’S MUSTACHE
Our friends at the National Film Society hit SXSW this week and nabbed this interview with director Morgan Spurlock. Discussion topics include mustaches, Ryan Gosling, Das Racist and more. (And if you think these guys at the National Film Society are a bit silly here, just remember one thing: they’re now PBS hosts!)
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 14, 2012 -
Ten Tips on Shooting Low-Budget Movies from SXSW
At SXSW a panel titled “The Great Cinematography Shootout” gathered a group of directors and cinematographers to discuss independent film lensing in an age of proliferating formats and lower-cost, high-quality cameras, like the Canon 5D. The directors of photography were Jody Lee Lipes (Girls, Tiny Furniture, and also the director of Opus Jazz), James Laxton (Medicine for Melancholy, Leave Me Like You Found Me), Clay Lifford (Gayby, and also the director of such films as Wuss and Earthling), PJ Raval (Trouble the Water, Sunset Stories, and also the director of Trinidad); and filmmaker, editor and d.p. David Lowery (Pioneer, and, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 14, 2012 -
“GIMME THE LOOT,” “BEWARE OF MR. BAKER” WIN TOP PRIZES AT SXSW
Gimme the Loot (pictured), Adam Leon’s entirely winning story of two young graffiti artists discovering their own relationship as they seek to tag Shea Stadium (er… Citi Field), picked up the top Narrative Jury Prize at tonight’s SXSW awards ceremony. The Documentary Jury prize went to Beware of Mr. Baker, Jay Bulger’s portrait of famed rock drummer Ginger Baker. The jury gave Special Recognitions for three outstanding performances in dramatic features: Jamie Chung’s starring role in Eden; Nico Stone’s in Booster; and Besedka Johnson’s debut in Starlet. The 85-year-old Johnson, who plays a bitter widower forming an unlikely friendship with […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 14, 2012 -
Kate Lyn Sheil Discusses Acting at SXSW
With a focused, intense, and somewhat mysterious screen persona, actress Kate Lyn Sheil has stood out in a number of recent independent films, including Silver Bullets by Joe Swanberg and Sophia Takal’s Green. At SXSW this year she arrives with four titles, including Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine and Bob Byington’s Somebody Up There Likes Me. Here I talk with Sheil about how she got into acting, being a movie fan, her influences and the particular pleasures of independent film.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 10, 2012 -
“ZONA” AUTHOR GEOFF DYER HOSTS WEEKEND OF NYC TARKOVSKY EVENTS
I’m halfway through Zona, Geoff Dyer’s book-length consideration of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker but wanted to post now to alert Dyer/Tarkovsky fans to a weekend of great events. In Zona, Dyer critiques Stalker in what feels like real-time, explicating each scene and then allowing his mind to free associate and wander, filling up the book’s many footnotes with fascinatingly digressive asides. I’ll have some thoughts on the book in the next print edition, but take note now of this weekend of appearances in support of the book. If I wasn’t in Austin I’d be at some of these. Friday, March 9—NYC […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 9, 2012
