Authors — Scott Macaulay

SLAMDANCE VIDEO: KEITH MILLER ON “WELCOME TO PINE HILL”

I was riveted by Keith Miller’s Welcome to Pine Hill when I first encountered it last year in the IFP’s Narrative Lab. The story of former drug dealer attempting to go straight while battling health challenges, it features a scene that is among the most gripping I’ve seen in any film recently. A man, played by Miller, walks his dog late at night and… well, I’ll let Miller explain. Here, Miller discusses the origins of that scene, working with the man he met that night, Shannon Harper, and the influences on the film, who include Andrei Tarkovsky. (I’d also throw […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 22, 2012
WRITER/DIRECTOR CRAIG ZOBEL ON “COMPLIANCE”

Following the adventures of two mismatched salesman hawking vanity recording deals for a small Southern recording label, Craig Zobel’s 2007 Sundance picture Great World of Sound is a beautifully crafted debut feature, emotionally rich and with a sagacious perspective on America’s escalating obsession with fame. And in the months following its release, the banter between the two men, and the hapless vocalists aiming for an America’s Got Talent-style brass ring by way of a cheaply-produced studio single, must have made the film seem like a comedy to those who missed its lacerating moral critique. That’s because, as Zobel notes below, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 21, 2012
Ira Glass On The Strange Life Of The Producer

When Mike Birbiglia asked This American Life‘s Ira Glass to produce his first feature, Sleepwalk with Me, premiering here at Sundance, Glass thought it sounded like it might be fun. “I’d read a couple of scripts, look at a couple of rough cuts,” he remembers thinking. Glass’s presumption was far from the truth… very far. In this short interview, shot before Sundance while Glass was in the sound studio with Birbiglia, he ponders — hilariously — the job of the producer.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 21, 2012
13 FILMS PREMIERE DIGITALLY VIA SUNDANCE ARTIST SERVICES

Conflict-of-interest note: As most of you know, I produce films in addition to editing Filmmaker. Others on our team do as well. “By filmmakers, for filmmakers,” our marketing tagline has long been, and I like to think that our experience gives the magazine insight as well as strong bullshit detector. Being aware of my multiple hats, however, I generally exclude projects I produce from the magazine and site. That’s why you’ve never read about films like Off the Black, Saving Face and Raising Victor Vargas in Filmmaker. (Sorry, directors!) But when it comes to the following story of interest to […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2012
JAMIE STUART PROMOS CINELAN AND GE’S NEW FOCUS FORWARD

Sundance seems a little incomplete for me without Jamie Stuart, who is shooting this year for Cinelan and GE’s new Focus Forward initiative. Led by Cinelan co-founders Morgan Spurlock and Karol Martesko-Fenster (Filmmaker‘s founding publsiher), the program brings 30 new three-minute short films to festivals internationally. So, to get my Stuart Sundance fix I’ll post this piece he shot for the organization, which is premiering its first five films here at the festival. Jamie may be lensing for this new short-form doc producer, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a photo gallery of snow-capped peaks, shuttle busses lumbering down Park, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2012
AT SUNDANCE, YOU CAN TAKE THIS MAGAZINE AND…

After you get your condo keys, stock up at Albertson’s, and pick up your badge, you’ll also want to grab the new issue of Filmmaker Magazine once you get to Sundance. Oh, wait, you do that every year? Well, this year especially don’t forget to stuff that Filmmaker in your bag because you’ll need it to get the most out of Bear 71, a piece showing at the festival as part of its always-exciting New Frontiers section. About Bear 71 from the Sundance catalog: Jeremy Mendes and Leanne Allison’s poignant interactive documentary about a bear in the Canadian Rockies illuminates […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 19, 2012
12 SUNDANCE FILMS I’M EXCITED TO SEE

Five years after finishing his wonderfully wacked-out debut, The Guataealan Handshake, Todd Rohal, frustrated by the time it was taking to set up a new movie, jumpstarted a micro-budget comedy about a priest. Called The Catechism Cataclysm, the movie was made for $50,000, and it got into Sundance, playing in last year’s midnight section. IFC bought the film for its Midnight label, releasing it to a scant $897 on a single screen. Rohal didn’t sweat it; the movie did what it needed to do for him (read Megan Holloway’s consideration here), and he went on to his next film. And […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 18, 2012
INTERNET SITES GO DARK TO PROTEST SOPA, PIPA LEGISLATION

Grass roots opposition from the anti-censorship left and the anti-regulation right, the lobbying muscle of a startled tech industry, and a nuanced and surprisingly critical response from Obama administration have drastically altered the momentum of the anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA as they march through Congress. Still, sites as diverse as Boing Boing, Wikipedia and Google are all continuing their efforts to alert the public to the dangerous elements of these bills, which, in their attempt to thwart pirating of intellectual property, dangerously tamper with internet architecture and loosen free speech protections. Wikipedia and Boing Boing go dark today while […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 18, 2012
SCORSESE’S “HUGO,” MASHED AND REMIXED

This video, apparently shot by an audience member watching Martin Scorsese’s Hugo at the Regal Union Square 14, is simply jaw dropping. For the last 20 minutes of the film, technological gremlins and an absent projectionist conspired to give the movie magic of Scorsese and Melies a 21st century twist. And this is after the film broke twice, making the entire run time three-and-a-half hours. Indeed, this is a viewing experience you won’t get at home. (For more, Gothamist has the story.)
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 17, 2012
Editor’s Letter

The first thing I did after finally reading Patti Smith’s Just Kids this past summer was to get on YouTube to find the earliest clips of her I could. I wanted to sense the charisma she must have put out when she was young. It’s not like she’s not still charismatic, but it’s just that, like with every famous person, her charisma is now congealed with the aura of her fame. I wanted to see what she seemed like before she was “Patti Smith,” the woman who made Horses and Easter. Before she was that rock-and roll-icon, Smith was, as […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 17, 2012

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