Authors — Scott Macaulay

APPLE… WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD!!!

I’ll steal a page from Keith Olberman as I link to this CNN article on Apple’s threat to shut down its iTunes movie store over a dispute over artist royalty rates. From the piece by Devin Leonard: The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, D.C. is expected to rule Thursday on a request by the National Music Publishers’ Association to increase royalty rates paid to its members on songs purchased from online music stores like iTunes. The publishers association wants rates raised from 9 cents to 15 cents a track – a 66% hike. Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) declined to discuss […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 1, 2008
QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Examining the record of past research from the vantage of contemporary historiography, the historian of science may be tempted to exclaim that when paradigms change, the world itself changes with them. Led by a new paradigm, scientists adopt new instruments and look in new places. Even more important, during revolutions scientists see new and different things when looking with familiar instruments in places they have looked before. It is rather as if the professional community had been suddenly transported to another planet where familiar objects are seen in a different light and are joined by unfamiliar ones as well. Of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 29, 2008
TED HOPE ON A TRULY FREE FILM CULTURE

Over on our Web Exclusives page I’ve posted Ted Hope’s just-concluded keynote address at the Film Independent Filmmaker Forum. Please read at this link and post comments if you have them. Here’s how he opens: I can’t talk about the “crisis” of the indie film industry. There is no crisis. The country is in crisis. The economy is in crisis. We, the filmmakers, aren’t in crisis. The business is changing, but for us –us who are called Indie Filmmakers — that’s good that the business is changing. Filmmaking is an incredible privilidge and we need to accept it as such […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 27, 2008
PAUL NEWMAN, R.I.P.

With so many great performances to choose from, I’m selecting this late-career classic: The Verdict, written by David Mamet and directed by Sidney Lumet.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 27, 2008
DECONSTRUCTING THE POLITICAL AD…

… or, what you hear in the political ad.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 26, 2008
BUSH’S DARK NIGHT

Here’s mash-up commentary on last night’s Bush speech titled “The Dark Bailout.” Nolan’s The Dark Knight continues to resonate. Hat tip: Hollywood Elsewhere. Source: Matthew Belinkie at Overthinking It.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 25, 2008
SILENT LIGHT OPENS IN NEW YORK

I completely missed notice that Carlos Reygados’s third feature, Silent Light, is opening today in New York. I think this film is a flat-out masterpiece, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Manohla Dargis writes about the film in today’s New York Times. An excerpt: I’ve seen Silent Light three times — it had its premiere at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival — and find it more pleasurable and touching with each viewing. After having wowed and appalled international audiences with bravura technique in his first feature, Japón (2002), and assaultive provocations in his second, Battle in Heaven (2005), which […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 23, 2008
HOW MANY JAMIE STUARTS ARE THERE?

In addition to all the press screenings and the opening night bash, one New York Film Festival-related thing we at Filmmaker look forward to each year is Jamie Stuart’s series of NYFF videos. (For a good recap of Jamie’s work, check out Karina Longworth’s piece here.) You see, even though we host and exec produce these pieces, they remain somewhat mysterious to us, arriving in the middle of the night with a handy promo image attached, and usually warping some kind of previously stated concept to a creatively unexpected degree. Without having gone in-depth about this with Stuart, it looks […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 23, 2008
ECONOMIC SHOCK

From Screen Daily comes the news that Michael Winterbottom will work again with Mat Whitecross, his collaborator on The Road to Guantanamo, on a feature film adaptation of Naomi Klein’s book, The Shock Doctrine. Winterbottom says he’s already begun filming, and Klein will narrate the film. He should maybe take a breather while Klein appends a new chapter to her book. Her thesis — that late-stage capitalism is reliant on “shocks” that, by dizzying the populace, enable privatization and massive transference of public wealth into private hands by anti-democratic means — is astoundingly relevant to the Wall Street bail-out being […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 22, 2008
WRAPPING UP INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK

I’m sure there will be a few blog stragglers over the next few days as our guest posters gather their thoughts on the just concluded Independent Film Week. For now, though, thanks to all the filmmakers who joined our blog and took the time to relate their experiences. If you haven’t read their posts, scroll below and check out their first-hand accounts of trying to launch new projects at the IFP’s various programs this past week. I also recommend you click over to Hammer to Nail, where filmmaker David Lowery posted his own diary about his experiences in the Narrative […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 20, 2008

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