Authors — Scott Macaulay

THE ORPHANAGE SHUTS DOWN

Slash Film passes on the sad news today that The Orphanage, the San Francisco-based special effects house that worked on such films as Iron Man and Superman Returns but was also known to indies for their so-called “Magic Bullet” tape-to-film process back in the early days of digital cinema, has closed its doors, an apparent victim of the economic downturn. Co-founder Stu Maschwitz is also the author of the excellent Pro Lost blog, which I’ve linked to here before. From his most recent post: Today I had the heart-wrenching task of joining my co-founders Scott Stewart and Jonathan Rothbart in […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 5, 2009
LUX INTERIOR, R.I.P.

1946 – 2009.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 4, 2009
TICK, TICK, TICK… NOT

Commercial mortgages, CDOs, the derivatives market — there are a lot of ticking time bombs present in American society right now. Something that is not, however, such an impending explosive is the type of scenario regularly featured on shows like 24 — interrogations that promote torture as a tool to keep America safe. Don’t believe me? Then check out this video by a group of army interrogators who preach the message that “Jack Bauer is a great fantasy hero… and [the real world] doesn’t work that way.” In addition to the interrogators, the video includes comments from the producers of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2009
HEY, WE’RE RECESSION PROOF… AREN’T WE?

Yes, the economy is tanking, but, hey, we’re in the entertainment business! Escapism rules in downturn. People want to go out and forget the troubles, and the price of a movie ticket is just… Reality check: Nick Wingfield and Piu-Wing Tam argue in The Wall Street Journal that the economically distressed are not heading out to the movies — they’re staying home and surfing the ‘net. From the piece: It’s been decades since Americans had this much time on their hands and — thanks to the Web — never have there been so many opportunities to burn it. In November, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2009
YOUTUBE CAST-OFF’S, READ THIS!

Via Boing Boing comes this link to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is jumping into the fray to help those who, like Kevin Lee recently, have found their clips taken down by the user-generated video giant. (For the record, Lee’s account was reinstated, although I believe individual videos remain pulled.) From the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Fair use has always been at risk on YouTube, thanks to abusive DMCA takedown notices sent by copyright owners (sometimes carelessly, sometimes not). But in the past several weeks, two things have made things much worse for those who want to sing a song, post […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2009
I AGREE WITH HARRY…

It’s a workplace incident that occurred eight months ago. None of us were there and we have no idea what happened before or after. It’s BS to post it. Have I witnessed similar? Sure… but I don’t post it here.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2009
DON’T BE A JERK

That’s the message of Heidi Van Lier at her recently posted “Indie Film Q&A” over at Film Independent. She’s right. An excerpt: Last week, in Park City, I watched several talented directors quickly ruin their opportunities right before my eyes. I wanted to use this as a chance to explain something VERY IMPORTANT to the festival process, and indie film as a whole, which is… DON’T BE AN A-HOLE. Sure this is much less important in the studio world, as that is more about who makes the most cash in the end, but in the indie world, where there isn’t […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 2, 2009
SXSW ANNOUNCES LINE-UP!

The SXSW Film Festival, unspooling in Austin, Texas from March 13 – 21, has just announced its line-up. Without further adieu… NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITIONThis year’s 8 films were selected from 737 submissions. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are: Artois the GoatDirector: Kyle Bogart. Writer: Cliff and Kyle BogartLab technician Virgil Gurdies embarks on an epic quest to craft the greatest goat cheese the world has ever known and reclaim the heart of his beloved Angie. Cast: Mark Scheibmeir, Sydney Andrews, Stephen Taylor Fry, Dan Braverman (World Premiere) Bomber Director/Writer: Paul CotterA bittersweet comedy about love, family and dropping bombs […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 1, 2009
MEDICINE OPENING NOT MELANCHOLY

Congrats to director Barry Jenkins and stars Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins — their film, Medicine for Melancholy, featured on the cover of the new Filmmaker, scored the #1 spot on the Indiewire per-screen average chart this weekend. Writes Peter Knegt, “IFC Films’ one-screen debut of Barry Jenkins’ Medicine For Melancholy narrowly led all per-theater-averages this weekend, according to estimates provided this afternoon by Rentrak. Its $14,700 haul from New York’s IFC Center became the best opening for a 2009 limited release so far, and beat out Laurent Cantet’s The Class in its first week of release outside of December’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 1, 2009
SUNDANCE 2009/8 FAVORITES MEME

I discovered while in Rotterdam that Karina Longworth at Spout tagged me to take part in the Sundance 8 Favorites Meme. So, I’m a bit late with this, but here it goes. First, the rules: 1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.2. Players start with listing their Sundance favorites, separated into 8 categories.3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their 8 favorites and include these rules.4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 1, 2009

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