Authors — Scott Macaulay
-
SOPA, PRO AND CON
I’ve linked to several articles critical of the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is being debated in Congress this week, and wrote about it in today’s newsletter. Today’s markup hearings were absolutely fascinating, and it was amusing to hear the plight of the low-budget independent filmmaker cited at one point by a pro-SOPA congressman. As you’ve heard from me arguments against the legislation in its current form, I thought I should perhaps link to the other side of the discussion. And then I found this “truth annotated” version of Viacom’s spot lobbying for SOPA. Here, then, in one handy clip […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 16, 2011 -
THE PGA RESPONDS TO KARIN CHIEN’S OPEN LETTER
On Monday we published producer Karin Chien’s open letter to the Producers Guild of America about the exclusion of her feature, Circumstance, from awards eligibility due to it being filmed in the Farsi language. Here is their response Producers Guild of America response to Karin Chien’s open letter: We appreciate the passion and commitment behind responses such as Karin Chien’s, who has every reason to be proud of her work and the acclaim her film is receiving. Unfortunately, the Producers Guild has not recognized foreign language films as eligible for its awards because of the unique position the Guild holds […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 15, 2011 -
“MARCEL THE SHELL” MAKES HIS NETWORK DEBUT
Congrats to 25 New Face filmmakers Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate for busting onto Brian Williams’ NBC show, accompanied, of course, by their wonderful creation, Marcel the Shell. Here’s the spot. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2011 -
LOUIS C.K. OFFERS $5 DOWNLOAD, ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON REDDIT
As one of Filmmaker‘s “Best of 2011” posts, Dan Schoenbrun hailed Louie as one of the year’s best TV shows. And now, as the year closes, the comedian has launched one of the year’s best DIY distribution and marketing efforts. As John Biggs wrote at Techcrunch, Louis CK is offering his Live at the Beacon Theater concert film for $5 as a DRM-free download or stream. And while the Hollywood studios are currently fighting piracy by borrowing a page from the firewalls of authoritarian regimes (see the SOPA legislation currently before Congress), C.K. is taking a more human approach. He […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 13, 2011 -
An Open letter To The Producers Guild Of America From Producer Karin Chien
The following is an open letter producer Karin Chien (Circumstance, The Exploding Girl) is addressing to the Producers Guild of America. An Open Letter to the Producers Guild of America. Recently, a film I produced with Melissa Lee and Maryam Keshavarz, CIRCUMSTANCE, was submitted for the Producer’s Guild of America’s awards consideration. CIRCUMSTANCE is a hard film to categorize: it’s a story of teenage love and personal freedom set in Iran, filmed in Beirut, edited in Chile, finished in France, and financed primarily by U.S. sources. And the film is in Farsi. We knew we were a long shot to […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 12, 2011 -
KICKSTARTER: JANE WEINER’S “RICKY ON LEACOCK”
“In 1972, Ricky put a Super 8 synch-sound camera in my hand and said, ‘If you want to become a filmmaker, you have to shoot,’” writes filmmaker Jane Weiner on the Kickstarter page for her project, Ricky on Leacock. “Turning my lens on him, I was suddenly transported into another universe: What began as a filmic conversation developed into a filmic adventure that traces the roots of Leacock’s cinematic quest and his role in documentary-making over the last century.” Four decades later, and less than a year after Leacock passed away, Weiner is finishing her documentary on the legendary filmmaker […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 11, 2011 -
CAM ARCHER LAUNCHES CRIME DOC ON KICKSTARTER
Boundary-busting filmmaker Cam Archer — one of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces and director of, most recently, Shit Year — is making his first doc, Criminal Thoughts. He talks about it and his career in an unguarded video for Kickstarter. In the video, Archer is up-front about the exploratory nature of his project, which appeals to me. As more and more Kickstarter campaigns seem like pre-buys for existing products/projects, Cam’s appeal to us to assist him during his creative process is striking. From the page: CRIMINAL THOUGHTS, my first feature length documentary, will be an exciting, creative departure for me. in […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 9, 2011 -
“IDIOT” VICTORY LAP
Congrats to Filmmaker contributor Jamie Stuart, whose short film, “Idiot with a Tripod,” appears on Time Magazine’s end-of-2011 “Best of Everything” — #3 in the list of “Top Ten Creative Videos.” Wrote Time’s Craig Duff: Many New Yorkers who were away for the holidays last year (like me) watched the weather reports the day after Christmas and wondered if the blizzard bearing down on the city would strand us in other states (it did). As the snow began to fall that day outside his Queens apartment, Jamie Stuart thought of legendary filmmaker Dziga Vertov. He grabbed a video-capable DLSR camera […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 8, 2011 -
THE DESIRE TO MAKE THINGS
Brooklyn-based Joel Bukiewicz studied writing and had a hard time selling his fiction. He took a break from writing and found that he still had the desire to create, and that desire turned into a business, Cut Brooklyn. Bukiewicz makes hand-crafted knives, and he is profiled at Made by Hand, a site which brings “a cinematic eye to real-people content for the web while telling inspiring stories.” Made by Hand / No 2 The Knife Maker from Made by Hand on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 5, 2011 -
Zach Wigon’s Top 20 Films of 2011
Throughout the month of December, Filmmaker‘s writers will be commenting on their favorite films of the year as well as business, tech, and cultural trends. To kick off, here’s Zack Wigon’s Top 20 Films of 2011. 1. Shame. Shame is unquestionably the real deal when it comes to the easily-melodramatic territory of the Addiction Film – the words “searing” and “raw” come to mind without irony – but what makes it the best film of 2011 is the fact that Steve McQueen seems hell-bent on upending everything we know about how stories are supposed to be told in cinema. For […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 5, 2011
