Authors — Scott Macaulay

SPARROW SONGS LAUNCHES KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

I was happy to see Adam Daniel Mezei on his new PMD for Hire blog respond to the work of the Sparrow Songs team of Alex Jablonski and Michael Totten from this year’s “25 New Faces” list. Like me, he found something special in the tone and execution of these monthly short documentary pieces. (Check out Mezei’s post for detailed musings on five of the episodes.) Now, Jablonski and Totten are launching a Kickstarter campaign to allow them to cover the expenses of the project and to shoot three particularly ambitious final episodes. Check out their work on their own […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 2, 2010
NEW BREED L.A. #5: “MAKING PEOPLE NOTICE”

Here’s part five of the New Breed Los Angeles series looking at the creative filmmaking process through the eyes of several filmmakers attending this year’s Los Angeles Film Fest. Today’s episode focuses on the time-honored question of how to get people to notice your work. Speaking are Marwencol director Jeff Malmberg and The New Year director Brett Haley. NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 5 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 2, 2010
FILMMAKER FLASHBACK: FALL, 1992

As Filmmaker approaches its 18th birthday, I thought I’d fill the dog days of August with a series of posts taking you through our history. For the next few weeks I’ll be revisiting an issue a day, pointing towards significant pieces from our archive and commenting on interesting correspondences between independent film’s past and its present day. Of course I’ll start with our debut issue: Fall, 1992. Filmmaker was actually the spawn of two magazines, The Off-Hollywood Report and Montage. The OHR was the IFP’s publication, Montage was published by IFP/West (then IFP/Los Angeles and now Film Independent). The original […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 2, 2010
NEW BREED L.A. #4: “ELEMENTS OF CASTING”

“Elements of Casting” is the title of the fourth New Breed video from the Los Angeles Film Festival. Look for two more next week, on Monday and Thursday. NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 4 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 29, 2010
BIG NEWS FOR DOC MAKERS: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GRANTS DMCA EXEMPTIONS

Big news from the Library of Congress today. In their three-year annual review of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, restrictions on documentary makers related to the fair use of copyrighted materials were significantly eased. Attorney Michael C. Donaldson, who assembled the coalition lobbying for these changes and provided pro bono counsel, commented, “Documentary filmmakers have been freed of the high price extracted by rights holders, or the high price of possible criminal prosecution, when they need to reach public domain material or material to be used pursuant to fair use. All they have to do is follow a few simple […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 26, 2010
NEW BREED L.A. #3: “PLANNING FOR DISCOVERIES”

Here’s the latest in the New Breed series of videos with filmmakers at the Los Angeles Film Festival. This one is called “Planning for Discoveries.” The previous episodes were “Nothing You Have to Have” and “Engineering Serendipity”. Episodes go up Monday and Thursday until all seven are live on the site. NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 3 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 26, 2010
TODAY IS CALL TIME FOR “LIFE IN A DAY”

In New York City at least, it is unbearably horrible outside. Whatever you do you will be suffering. So why not shoot some footage for Sundance’s “Life in a Day” project? Today, July 24, is the day during which you must shoot, and you have a few days after to send it in. You will definitely be in good company. Joe Berlinger, Marianna Palka, Peter Sollett, Caleb Deschanel, So Yong Kim, and Brad and Todd Barnes have all agreed to participate. Here’s Sundance’s John Cooper with more details. And before shooting, go here for more guidelines, the questions you must […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 24, 2010
TWO PREMIERES: reRUN and “AUDREY THE TRAIN WRECK”

Any new New York independent movie theater, one showing not mini-major studio moveovers but recently premiered festival films that don’t have formal distribution, is cause for celebration. But we at Filmmaker are hailing the new reRun for one other reason: it’s in our building. That’s right, after a long day solving the crises of the current indie scene, we can head downstairs and enjoy not only movies but pretzels filled with garlic mashed potatoes, popcorn with duck fat, and microbrews. That’s right, you can eat and drink inside this theater, which is down the hall from reBar. (Menu preview courtesy […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 22, 2010
FLIPBOARD: FIRST TAKE

I’m finding Flipboard, a new app/web reader that launched this week, kind of cool, but I can’t tell how much I really like it yet. What Flipboard does is create on your iPad a “personal magazine,” displaying an aggregation of different feeds and channels in a design-y format. What makes it more than an aestheticized RSS reader is that it pulls in social as well, turning your Facebook and Twitter feeds into channels that you read like flipbooks. So, open the Flipboard version of your Facebook and the cover image might be a collage of Japanese movie posters that a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 22, 2010
NEW BREED L.A. #2: “ENGINEERING SERENDIPITY”

Here’s the second of the New Breed videos on the creative process filmed this year by Sabi Pictures at the Los Angeles Film Festival and presented by Filmmaker and the Workbook Project. Appearing in this episode are filmmaker Julius Onah (one of our “25 New Faces”), filmmaker Jeff Malmberg, actress Trieste Kelly Dunn (another “25 New Face”), director Brett Haley and producer Ted Hope. NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 2 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 22, 2010

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