Authors — Scott Macaulay

A CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT OUR DIRECTOR INTERVIEWS COLUMN

Back in March, 2007, with his talk with Color Me Kubrick‘s Brian Cook, Nick Dawson inaugurated a new column here at Filmmakermagazine.com: the Director Interviews. Over the course of two-and-a-half years, he infallibly spun out thoughtful and provocative discussions with directors ranging from emerging American indies to big-name international auteurs to everyone in between. Viewing the bulk of each week’s releases before honing in on one person to speak with, Dawson brought dedication, scholarship and personality to a column that was always, first and foremost, simply a great read. Earlier this year Dawson published his first book, Being Hal Ashby: […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 4, 2009
SCHOOL’S OUT: ASTRA TAYLOR ON THE UNSCHOOLED LIFE

Filmmaker Astra Taylor (Examined Life) gave the debut Artist Talk for the Walker Art Center’s “Raising Creative Kids” series. The series is described as an initiative “designed to make the Walker a destination and resource for families and parents wanting to creatively engage their children.” Here’s their description of the talk: Raised by independent-thinking bohemian parents, Taylor was unschooled until age 13. Join the filmmaker as she shares her personal experiences of growing up home-schooled without a curriculum or schedule, and how it has shaped her educational philosophy and development as an artist. And, it is embedded below:
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 4, 2009
TOASTING THE MEDIA MELTDOWN

Producer Gill Holland forwarded me a link to this provocative interview by Eric Garland, whose company Big Champagne reports on filesharing activity for its customers — the major studios and broadcast networks. A lot of people talk about the relationship between what’s happened to the music business and what’s happening to the film business, but Garland effectively points out not only the similarities but also, promisingly, the differences. That said, he is not predicting that the mainstream film business will be able to maintain its revenue figures in a time of migrating audiences and technological change. An excerpt from the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 29, 2009
ATTENTION PRODUCERS! THE IFP/ROTTERDAM LAB FELLOWSHIP DEADLINE NOV. 13

Young producers should seriously think about applying for the IFP/Rotterdam Lab Fellowship. I go to Rotterdam every year, and for U.S.-based producers it’s a great place to learn the ins and outs of the global market for arthouse and specialty film. The deadline for this year’s program is Friday, November 13. The official word is below. Through its No Borders’ partnership with CineMart, IFP will select and provide travel assistance to two American producers to participate in the 2010 Rotterdam Lab Fellowship. The Rotterdam Lab is a four-day training workshop which runs concurrently with the CineMart Co-Production Market. Designed to […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 28, 2009
THE LATEST IN OUR FIRST-PERSON DIY STORIES: STRONGMAN’s ZACHARY LEVY

You may have noticed that I’ve been posting in our Web Exclusives a number of first-person pieces by filmmakers discussing their distribution saga. We have already had producer Jake Abraham on distributing his film, Lovely by Surprise, and then writer/director Rob Perez on making the transition from studio distribution to DIY distribution with his nobody. The latest in our informal series is from Zachary Levy, director of the documentary Strongman. His piece, “Making our DIY Moment Matter,” is a refreshingly thoughtful take on what the trend towards alternative distribution should mean for our filmmaking. Check it out, and look for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 27, 2009
SEE PETER SOLLETT’S NEW EPISODE OF THE BURG

Here’s the new episode of The Burg, directed by Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist). Visit the show’s site for more, including previous episodes and behind-the-scenes clips.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 27, 2009
U CAN LEARN ABOUT THE NEW

Saturday, November 7, in Los Angeles Peter Broderick and Scott Kirsner are teaming up for “Distribution U,” a “one-day crash course on the new rules of marketing and distribution.” From their announcement: This one-day course will reveal the techniques successful filmmakers are using to: • Design customized distribution strategies• Harness the Internet and social media to launch their projects• Reach core audiences directly• Maximize revenue from multiple distribution channels• Build a fan base to support your future work This course is designed for independent filmmakers and artists determined to get their work seen widely and earn a real living in […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 27, 2009
GMX CONTENT EXCHANGE OPEN FOR BUSINESS

I met with an online distributor a few months ago who told me about GMX, the Global Media Exchange, saying he thought it was going to revolutionize the film sales business. In short, he described it as an eBay for media content, where film buyers (broadcasters, distributors, etc.) can connect and transact with sellers (studios, production companies, independent producers) within a sophisticated interface set up to deal with the complicated terms of international film licensing agreements. GMX recently launched with over 4,000 titles from such companies as “NBC Universal Global Networks France, London-based ContentFilm’s Fireworks International, U.K.-based On Demand Group, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 22, 2009
THE BURG RETURNS WITH A NEW EPISODE

A couple of weeks ago I tweeted about a Brooklyn party I attended for the web production company Dinosaur Diorama and the launch of the latest episode of their hit web series, The Burg. The first new episode in two years, it’s titled “Change,” and is directed by Peter Sollett, of Raising Victor Vargas and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Here’s the teaser, and we’ll post the link when it premieres next week.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 22, 2009
THE LIGHT WARS HEAT UP WITH THE CANON 1D MARK IV

Gizmodo today reports on Canon’s new 1D Mark IV DSLR camera and links to an incredible nighttime ambient light video shot on it. First, the specs. From the video part of the Canon press release quoted at Gizmodo: The EOS-1D Mark IV, EOS HD Video PowerhouseOver the past year, Canon’s EOS HD Video technology has changed the way users capture 1080p HD video and opened new doors for multimedia journalists and Hollywood cinematographers alike with full manual exposure control, selectable frame rates, and interchangeable lenses on some of the largest and most sensitive image sensors on the market. Canon continues […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2009

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Cookie	Duration	Description
cfmrk_cic		Used by Cloudflare to route user traffic for this Site.
sparrow_id		Installed by Cloudflare. Used to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not store any personal identifiable information.

Cookie	Duration	Description
OAGEO		Installed by the Revive Ad Server. Used to cache geolocation (session, deleted when closing the browser)
OAID		Installed by the Revive Ad Server to distinguish users.