Authors — Scott Macaulay

REMEMBER THE ALAMO

This year I attended SXSW for the first time (embarassingly), and, as a juror for the Narrative Competition, spent a lot of time at the famed Alamo Downtown Cinema and Drafthouse. I watched a lot of their really fun trailer reels, ate a bunch of their burgers and chicken sandwiches, and wound up really getting off on the place’s hip calendar-house/movie fan palace vibe. I guess I should be glad I made it down there this year because, as this article in Ain’t It Cool News reveals, Austin’s Alamo Downtown is soon to be no more due to the typical […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 21, 2007
I AM A FREE MAN!

This weekend the IFP and Filmmaker will be hosting four screenings of Michael Tucker’s The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair. We’ll be doing Q and A’s with director Tucker (whose previous film was the Iraq doc Gunnar Palace) after the 5:15 and 7:20 shows, Friday and Saturday, at the Cinema Village in New York. The doc was a bit hit down at SXSW and I’m eager to talk with Tucker about its production. Here’s how the filmmakers describe the film: In an absurd comedy of errors, a freedom-loving Iraqi journalist is mistaken as Tony Blair’s would-be […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 20, 2007
FESTIVALS ARE DEAD! (LONG LIVE FESTIVALS!)

I’ve long argued that filmmakers shouldn’t view theatrical distribution as the be-all and end-all of their filmmaker efforts. Other forms of distribution, DIY or otherwise, are often more financially remunerative and somethings even emotionally rewarding, depending on the films. But I’ve never made the argument that filmmakers should sidestep the film festival circuit. One filmmaker who is at least posing that argument now is Sujewa Ekanayake, who decided not to submit his Date Number One to festivals while he launched his one series of DIY screenings. In this blog post, he explains his rationale and then makes a counterintuitive proposal: […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 20, 2007
DVD OR DOWNLOAD?

There’s a spirited conversation going over at Twitch about whether or not small companies now releasing cult films on DVD should shift to a “download-to-burn” distribution model. The conversation centers around genre and catalog titles, but it’s applicable to our current independent cinema too. Here’s an excerpt from Swarez’s original post, but click on the link to read all the comments as well. The brick and mortar stores are out to make money and any good business man will tell you that it doesn’t make sense to stock the store with titles which the average viewer knows nothing about. Of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 18, 2007
JUROR NOTES (SMILING ON FROWNLAND)

I sat on the Narrative Feature jury at SXSW last week. As you know, we gave the Grand Jury Prize to Itty Bitty Titty Committee, Jamie Babbit’s riot grrl riff on Lizzie Borden’s early ’80s feminist indie classic, Born in Flames. In addition to its spirited run through the history of late 20th century feminist political action, from Angela Davis through the Guerilla Girls, the film contains a set of relationships — the Latina lesbian protagonist, played by Melonie Diaz, and her accepting family; Melanie Mayron’s power lesbian and her psychologically enabling lover/rent girl (played by Nicole Vicius) — that […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 18, 2007
THE ART OF IT ALL

Over at On Five, the Criterion Company blog, designer Eric Skillman tells — and shows — us how he got to the DVD design for the Criterion release of Jules Dassein’s Night and the City. Here’s the intro. Click on the link for further commentary and all the mock-ups that lead to the final design, seen here. When I was designing the cover for Night and the City, I wanted to find a slightly different idiom to represent “noir,” to get away from the pulpy, dime-novel look that’s normally associated with that era and style. (Something I think illustrator Geoff […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2007
LETHEM’S FREE LOVE (MORE RIGHTS FOR FILMMAKERS!)

To complete my series of posts about author Jonathan Lethem and his recent work thinking about — and practicing — a sort of “open source” approach to creative rights management, here’s news of his new novel, You Don’t Love Me Yet, and how he’s handling the film rights. From his website: On May 15th I’ll give away a free option on the film rights to my novel You Don’t Love Me Yet to a selected filmmaker. In return for the free option, I’ll ask two things: I’d like the filmmaker to pay (something) for the purchase of the rights if […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 14, 2007
LETHEM, AGAIN

A reader pointed out that I forgot to include the link to the great Jonathan Lethem essay I raved about below. Sorry about that — here it is: The Ecstasy of Influence.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 13, 2007
STARING AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN

I’m on the Narrative Feature jury at South by Southwest, so I can’t really write about the movies I’m seeing down here. (Or, at least, I can’t until after Tuesday night when we give the awards.) But I’ll try to post on some of the panels and other events I’m attending. Yesterday I checked out Cinematech’s Scott Kirsner and his New Media and Film panel. If you read this blog you’ll know I’m a fan of Kirsner’s reporting on the business and technology of new media. In addition to Kirsner, the panel consisted of David Gale, exec. V.P. at MTV […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 12, 2007
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW

I’ve run into my old friend, colleague and Filmmaker co-founder Karol Martesko-Fenster at my favorite Tribeca coffee spot several times recently, and each time he’s been holding meetings at a large table filled with stacks of spreadsheets. Today, Indiewire confirms what he’s been up to: the launch of Tomorrow Unlimited. Writes Indiewire: Touting a plan to create “a network of global multi-platform properties,” Robert DeNiro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff’s Tribeca Enterprises (parent of the Tribeca Film Festival and Tribeca Cinemas) has announced the formation of Tomorrow Unlimited LLC with former principals of RES Media Group. The new division is […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 11, 2007

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