Authors — Scott Macaulay

DIGITAL DOWNGRADE

Ryan Nakashima reports in the AP on a Lehman Brothers report that downgrades the entertainment industry because of what it sees as lower profits in the age of digital distribution. An excerpt: “Shifts from physical to digital will disrupt the marginal economics of the TV and movie businesses, just as it did for music,” analyst Anthony DiClemente said during a conference call. DiClemente argued that the average profit the companies see from new DVDs, including higher-priced Blu-ray discs, is $10.59. Selling the same movie through Apple Inc.’s iTunes online music and video store nets them $9.29, 12 percent less, he […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2008
THOMAS M. DISCH, R.I.P.

i was saddened to read today that writer and poet Tom Disch committed suicide in his New York apartment on July 4th. I’ve always been a big fan of Disch’s classic intellectual science-fiction novels of the 1970s: the amazing Camp Concentration, 334, and On Wings of Song, as well as his great collections of short fiction, Getting into Death and Fundamental Disch. Following my teenage years, when I read a lot of science fiction, Disch was one of the few writers, along with J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and Stanislaw Lem, who retained a space on my bookshelf. I met […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 7, 2008
MORE FROM THE SUNDANCE DOC LAB

Here’s part two of Diann Borshay Liem’s report from the Sundance Documentary Edit Lab. (For those who missed Part One, you can read it here.) It’s Day 5 at the Sundance Doc Edit/Story Lab. For me, the lab started where our film ends. During our first work day, editor/advisor Mary Lampson shared a personal story about duality and living a false life. We laughed, I cried. Scott (our assistant editor) cued up “Getting to Know You” and Vivien and I danced around our edit trailer. Amazingly, through this odd process we uncovered what I think will be the ending to […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 4, 2008
LANCE HAMMER TRIES SELF DISTRIBUTION

Over at Indiewire Anthony Kaufman writes about Ballast director Lance Hammer’s decision to withdraw from a planned distribution deal with IFC to self-distribute via his own Alluvial Film Company along with Required Viewing. From the piece: “IFC is a really good company,” Hammer told indieWIRE last week. “The problem is the larger issue that’s plaguing every filmmaker right now: The distributors don’t really offer any money. That’s not that big of a deal if they would allow you to have control of your project, but they don’t.” If the current art-house climate isn’t challenging enough, Hammer’s decision highlights the harsh […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 3, 2008
48 HOURS ONLY!

You may have noticed that there hasn’t been a ton of blogging here lately, and that’s because we’ve been working hard on the Summer issue of Filmmaker. It’s our “25 New Faces” issue, and the workload on that one is particularly heavy because we look at a ton of work before making our selections. Anyway, the issue shipped to the printer today, so we’ll try to get back into the swing of regular blog postings. I’m also going to take this opportunity to announce a special subscription offer. If you subscribe online here during the next 48 hours for our […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 1, 2008
RAY-BAN AD BLOCKERS

Remember that Phil Dick-ian John Carpenter movie, They Live? In it, a special pair of sunglasses allows you to see the world as it really is, with all of the government’s subliminal messages exposed. I thought of that film while reading this blog post at Seeking Alpha entitled “How Video is Going to Take Over the World.” It summarizes a Forrester research reporter claiming that we are entering an age of “Omnivideo,” in which video playback will occur on multiple surfaces all throughout our daily life. From the post, quoting Forrester: “Once video becomes this easy to produce, deliver, store, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 23, 2008
POINTS OF IMPACT

I’ve posted before about Hammer to Nail, the website launched this year in which Michael Tully, Mike Ryan and others are posting opinionated, passionate and politically informed reviews and commentary on independent films and the indie film scene. Today I received an email from producer Ted Hope, who announces more content at Hammer to Nail, where he, Ryan, Tully and Corbin Day will try to make sense of today’s paradigm-shifting independent business. So, if you haven’t already, add Hammer to Nail to your list of bookmarks. And, below, is the entirety of Hope’s email: I was on a panel at […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 23, 2008
DAY OF THE LOCUSTS

Ted Hope tipped me to this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on this summer’s empty arthouses. Several of the usual suspects are interviewed in a piece that talks about the high cost of marketing, the internet, downloads, the production glut and marketplace churn — the practice of shuffling new titles out of theaters when they don’t immediately click. Again, no magic solutions here, just lots of opinions, like these: Despite the current doldrums, the market for arthouse cinema seen in the art house remains vibrant. “It’s a cyclical business,” Mundorff says. Observes Bernard, who has been in specialized distribution since […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 23, 2008
GEORGE CARLIN, R.I.P.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 23, 2008
CLOUDBURSTING

Film Department CEO Mark Gill spoke yesterday at the L.A. Film Festival’s Financing Conference, and his speech, which Indiewire is running and which is entitled “Yes, the Sky is Really Falling,” is excellent. It’s a must-read summation of the current crisis in the independent film business, complete with a conclusion in which Gill discusses how one can and must survive in this business. Gill hasn’t discovered any sort of magic bullet — his advice can be boiled down to “apply smarts, passion and elbow grease”), but he’s framed it all perfectly, and his lengthy discussion of the importance of quality […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 22, 2008

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