Yule Log with Director’s Commentary
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 20, 2008Last week on the newsletter I posted a request for Sundance-bound filmmakers who are doing anything outside of the ordinary to promote and distribute their films (i.e., anything other than making a poster, hiring a publicist and waiting for the sales to come in) to email me and I’d post their efforts on the blog. Well, so far, no Sundance filmmakers have replied, but a couple of others have, and they’ve expanded my question to include their own efforts in production and theatrical release. Here’s the first of the responses I received in what will become an occasional feature here […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 20, 2008What is it about independent film and road trips at the moment? First there is Todd Sklar’s Range Life Tour, and now Sujewa Ekanayake takes indie film journalism to the streets with his doc, Indie Film Blogger Road Trip. He’s posted the first nine minutes, embedded below, containing interviews with Anthony Kaufman and Tambay Obenson.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 20, 2008Just posted on GreenCine Daily is news that David Hudson will moving his blog on January 1 from the aforementioned site to IFC.com. In his post he muses on the possible future direction of his blog: I would guess that, in the long run, as we become just as proficient with our video and audio editing programs as we have been with our text editing programs, there’ll be a lot more online viewing and listening to point to. In the short run, we’ll keep experimenting with the still relatively new means of publishing available to just about everyone. Fads (e.g., […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 19, 2008Filmmaker Jeremy Parker sent the following email about a new site you may find useful: I graduated from Boston University Film school last year, and after graduating I went out on a mission to biuld a website that would help all filmmakers find one another and work together. Being a filmmaker with no money, I experienced how hard it is to find solid an talented crew in your area to work with. So now 11 months later I want to introduce to you www.joinmycrew.com It is a completely free website. We Beta launched last week and the site will only […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 19, 2008Take solace — there are a lot of you. Sage advice comes from Heidi Van Lier, author of the Indie Film Rule Book, at her new blog at Film Independent. An excerpt: One wounded filmmaker already had a plan in place, and they’d already rallied the troops. They were suffering as much as anyone. They’d been blindsided, too. But they had the clarity to ask if I would meet with them to help them with strategy in the following week, come up with a new game-plan to sell their film themselves. And they had already called several other people as […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 19, 2008Want to become an internet TV broadcaster? The Participatory Culture Foundation tells you how. Their six-step tutorial marches you through everything from equipment buying advice to licensing issues to promotion. (Hat tip: Truly Free Film.)
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 19, 2008I contribute my “best of” list to Film Comment‘s critics’ poll, and, in advance of their January/February issue the magazine has posted the results on their website. The winner? Topping the Film Comment list of Best Released Films is Kelly Reichardt’s exquisite Wendy and Lucy. At the top of the Best Unreleased Films is Lucrezia Martel’s The Headless Woman. See the full results at the link.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 19, 2008There are a few ways to subscribe to Filmmaker. You can click here from now until December 26 and enter the promo code FMWIN08 and take part in our special holiday promotion: four issues for $9, a 50% savings. Or, you can click here and pay $9 and receive four issues digitally plus all of our back issues through 2005. Or, you can become an IFP Interactive member, pay $35, and still get four issues for a year. Why would you decide to get the magazine by joining the IFP’s new Interactive Membership? Well, because in addition to Filmmaker you […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 19, 2008That’s really the question. Should we be adapting our distribution and content to new ways in which our audiences will be watching our work, or is all this new media talk just a wild goose chase? CineVegas’s Roger Trinch has some thoughts in a thoughtful blog post that launches into ’09. An excerpt: Short form content is online kingDuh, right? Then why are companies still trying to push for feature film distribution through widgets and the like? Who wants to watch a two hour movie on a 2-inch by 2-inch size player? Go to what’s this year’s success story, Hulu, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 18, 2008