Authors — Scott Macaulay

NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR INDIE FILMMAKERS

CinemaTech’s Scott Kirsner has been collaborating with ITVS on a series of case studies focusing on filmmakers who are using new technologies to connect with their audiences and achieve distribution. The first seven case studies, featuring filmmakers like Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell, Tiffany Shlain and Kate Chevigny, are up now as is Kirsner’s “Top Five Digital Strategies for Social Issue Filmmakers.” Check them out at the links above.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 4, 2009
THE GOOGLE BOOK SETTLEMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ONLINE VIDEO

I’ve posted a couple of times about the Google Book Settlement, more from a general interest in intellectual property issues than anything else. The relationship between the settlement’s engagement with the publishing industry and its possible application to the world of film are not direct by any means. The Google Book Settlement applies to library collections containing copyrighted but out-of-print works as well as orphan works. But, I did suspect that at some point the issues involved would become relevant to the world of film. (Remember, Google owns YouTube.) Now comes a piece critical about the proposed terms of the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 4, 2009
BLU-RAY VS. THE DEATH OF PHYSICAL MEDIA

I was kind of perplexed by Michael Glitz’s piece on The Huffington Post entitled “DVDS — How and Why You Should Switch to BluRay.” He runs through all the standard arguments — they look better, that’s the way the industry is heading, you can play your standard-def DVDs on a BluRay player, and if you have a 1080p flat-screen you’re getting the most out if it with BluRay. All reasonable arguments, and, in fact, while I don’t have a BluRay player I spent an evening with a friend the other day who has one and the picture quality of remastered […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 4, 2009
KORINE, ALMEREYDA AND EGGLESTON

I just came across on the Interview magazine site this talk between director Harmony Korine and artist photographer William Eggleston, whose “William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961- 80” is up now and essential at New York’s Whitney Museum. (A slide show of some of his images is above.) An excerpt: HK:?Would you take photos of a Kroger today? WE:?Certainly. HK:?And do you think it would have that same effect looking at it 20 years from now? WE:?I think so. HK:?So you think time makes things more exotic? WE:?I don’t think exotic is the word. HK:?So what do you […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 3, 2009
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

Ted Hope has been running on his blog an upbeat series of posts in which he finds reasons to be optimistic about change in the independent film business. Check out his first post here , his most recent post ((22-25) here, and scroll in between for the rest. And here’s one sample: 22. Financiers are collaborating with each other. Groups like Impact Partners that provide regular deal flow, vetting, and producerial oversight for investors with common interests lowers the threshold number for investors interested in entering the film business. IndieVest is another model based on subscription, deal flow, and perqs. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 3, 2009
SWALLOWING THE FUTURE

Via Boing Boing and Constant Seige comes this fun YouTube clip with Andy Warhol, Steven Spielberg and Bianca Jagger talking about tv static, ghosts, and the future.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 3, 2009
TOO POPULAR

The issue of Filmmaker that’s at the printer right now has a piece by Lance Weiler about data portability — how we should be advocating for our right to carry with us our social network data as we trek across the ‘net. In the piece he mentions the filmmaker Arin Crumley and his recently deleted Facebook page. Writes Arin on his new Facebook profile, “The old one was disabled by Facebook because I had over 2,000 friends, so for this one, we have to have met in person for me to add you.” Lance’s warning resonated today once more as, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 2, 2009
GIVE US YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES

It seems whenever the economy is down you’ll hear some rose-colored-glasses wearing producer saying, “Great, now that stocks and real estates are no longer offering investors a return, they’ll turn to film!” Well, for those of you waiting to see how the economic collapse will affect independent filmmakers, Hannah Seligson in The New York Times offers one possibility: there may soon be more of us. From the piece: With Wall Street hemorrhaging jobs, bonuses disappearing and the financial sector going through a seismic shift, some bankers and lawyers are switching lanes to more creative career paths. They are putting down […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 1, 2009
ARRIVEDERCI, KIM’S VIDEO

For a final post of ’08, I’ll note the closing of the Kim’s Video rental store on St. Marks Place, that home of region-free art cinema, scuzzed-out sexploitation VHS, and the occasional bootleg. As noted in Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, the collection is being packed up and shipped… to Salemi, Italy. From the blog post: According to the extensive informational poster on display in Mondo Kim’s on St. Marks, “The town of Salemi is planning to launch the Neverending Festival, a non-stop public projection of Kim’s Video Collection DVDs in their new home.” Wow. In addition, “For paid-up Kim’s members, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 31, 2008
FILMMAKER YEAR IN REVIEW: SCOTT MACAULAY

Before I say a few words about my favorite films of 2008, let me mention my favorite films of 2007. Film critics often write about “the movies” or “directors” as if annual changes in quality or taste or choice of material are solely the result of artistic decision – that if the films of a given year aren’t up the ones of the year before it must have something to do with the filmmakers not being sufficiently serious-minded enough. Looking back on 2007, however, from the viewpoint of 2008, favorites like There Will be Blood, Zodiac and I’m Not There […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 31, 2008

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.