Authors — Scott Macaulay

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
FOOL’S PARADISE

There’s a good conversation going on at the always excellent blog of Jon Taplin. Entitled “Who Will the Next Fool Be,” the short piece, which I’m taking the liberty of quoting in its entirety, critiques the recently announced deal in which India’s Reliance may be financing Dreamworks. Here’s Taplin’s post: The movie business reminds me of that old Charlie Rich Tune, “Who will the next fool be?”. The news that a unit of one of India’s largest Conglomerate, Reliance, is contemplating starting a new Dreamworks 2 in what the Times article hints could be horrible terms. OMG! When will the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 21, 2008
SNAGGING IT

All the industry news seems to break right when we are finishing an issue and don’t have the time to properly parse it. Fortunately, Scott Kirsner is on the case at his CinemaTech blog, beating everyone to the punch with his news of SnagFilms, an interesting new distribution application that will enable filmmakers to receive ad revenue from the internet streaming of their films. More: Snag isn’t going to try to create a destination site for film fans, but is building a video “widget” that can be placed on other sites: a filmmaker’s site, a blog run by an advocacy […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 21, 2008
BLOGGING THE SUNDANCE DOC LAB

Filmmaker is hosting blogs from several of the participants of the various Sundance Labs this summer. Here’s part one of producer/director Deann Borshay Liem’s (Precious Objects of Desire) from the Sundance Documentary Edit and Storytelling Lab, which runs June 21 – 28. Sometimes I refer to myself as “she.” This is because I’m a character in my own film and I have to separate who I am in real life with who I am on screen. Fortunately I’m a Gemini so this splitting into two (or more) doesn’t seem that odd. Any other editor might think this was nuts, but […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 20, 2008

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