Authors — Scott Macaulay

NEVER MIND THE DOLLAR MENU

One thing about the film business that has really sunk home recently is just how long movies take to move from development to production. And sometimes a project you think is dead in the water, or one that seems like pure folly, suddenly receives a high-profile resurrection. Take Fast Food Nation, the film version of the best-selling expose. All around cultural provocateur Malcolm McLaren has been pitching this project for years, and today from Variety there’s news that it is one of the big titles on London-based foreign sales company HanWay’s Cannes slate. Rick Linklater will direct, and Maria Full […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 1, 2005
WHAT ARE YOU COMING HERE FOR, MR. GODARD?

From an interview with Jean-Luc Godard in The Guardian today: “To illustrate the point, he tells a story of how he recently flew from Montreal to New York. When he arrived, the customs officer asked him: ‘Mr Godard: what are you coming here for? Business or pleasure?’ Godard indicated the former. The officer asked what business he was in. ‘Unsuccessful movies,’ Godard replied..
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 29, 2005
25 NEW FACE ALUMNI WIN AT TRIBECA ALL ACCESS

As we begin putting together our annual “25 New Faces” issue of Filmmaker, in which we identify and profile the filmmakers who we believe will the independent stars of tomorrow, we also check back on the successes of our past selections. So, when a press release from the Tribeca Film Festival arrived in my in-box this morning I noticed that of the three winners of the Tribeca All Access Award, two — Dennis Lee (a member of the company Kulture Machine) and Mario de la Vega (pictured) — were directors spotlighted in last summer’s issue. From the press release: “The […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 29, 2005
SUNDANCE LAB PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

If you pick up the new issue of Filmmaker, you’ll notice by reading our cover articles on Miranda July and her first feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know, the large role the Sundance Institute had in developing that film and supporting its production. July’s film was a Summer 2003 Sundance Lab project and it went to become a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and will open from IFC Films this June. And then there’s another Lab project I’m very interested in — David Jacobson’s Down in the Valley, which I thought was an amazing script and which […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 27, 2005
FOLLOW THE MONEY!

I met with a young filmmaker the other day who told me that she couldn’t decide whether she should try to make her film for $2 million, $1 million, $500,000 or even do it no-budget at $150,000. She said she wanted to make sure that whatever she did, her film would make its money back. My response was to recommend that she construct her budget based on the creative and production needs of the film as well as the resources she’s able to tap into. But to bring in the specter of profitability? Well, as I explained, a $150,000 film […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 27, 2005
CINEMAD NO. 9

Sundance and Cinvegas programmer, journalist and very occasional Filmmaker contributor Mike Plante emailed to say that the new issue of his spirited film zine Cinemad is now online. Click on the link for the current issue, which contains interviews with Bruce Conner, Crispin Hellion Glover, Alejandro Jodorowsky and more. Plante also passes on some festival deadlines in his email which I’ll cut and paste below: “Some rad festivals coming up: MadCat Women’s International Film Festival seeks provocative and visionary films and videos directed or co-directed by women. Films can be of any length or genre and produced ANY year. MadCat […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 20, 2005
THREE WITH PRIDE

Over at Movie City Indie, Ray pride has scores of new posts and links up, three of which particularly caught my eye. First, he notes the forthcoming Rubber Johnny, a new short film and 40-page book by the greatest director in the world… er, I mean, the interesting U.K. music video director Chris Cunningham. The film will be scored by Cunningham’s frequent collaborator Aphex Twin. And then there’s an interesting article in the French-language Liberation about how French distribution great Marin Karmitz, citing economic reasons, has unilaterally made the decision to release Gregg Araki’s new film, Mysterious Skin on digital […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 18, 2005
BOLLYWOOD BECKONS INDIES

My friend Bergen Swanson emailed about a film he recently produced in India with Plum Pictures — Rajapur, directed by New York-based Nanda Anand. Here’s more about the film on IFC Insider, including comments from fellow producer Celine Rattray as well as On the Road Production’s Dileep Singh Rathore. On the Road is an India-based service company specializing in bringing foreigners to shoot in India. Writes Andrea Meyer in the article: “Celine Rattray of Plum Pictures (Lonesome Jim), one of the producers of Rajapur, an indie that recently wrapped in Jaisalmer, a town in the Rajasthan Desert, says of the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 13, 2005
HELP “BRUNO”

NYU film student and short filmmaker Sam Goetz worked for a bit in my production office, and I got to watch his odd and original comedy shorts. He’s now working on his final film at NYU, Bruno, the story of a asthmatic, nihillstic bicyclist, Derke, and his polar opposite cousin Bruno, a gentle pianist. Goetz says he’s not sure if the piece is a comedy or a drama because it “changes constantly and radically.” To realize his vision, Goetz is raising money via the web. Check out his website for more about him and his films and for his rather […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 12, 2005
ANDREA DWORKIN

Feminist author and anti-porn crusader Andrea Dworkin died last Friday of complications from surgery. As author Susie Bright writes in her weblog, Dworkin was the first woman to take porn seriously. “She was the one who got us looking at porn with a critical eye,” Bright notes. “She made you feel like you could just stomp into the adult bookstore and seize everything for inspection and a bonfire. The funny thing that happened on the way to the X-Rated Sex Palace was that some of us came to different conclusions that Miss Dworkin. We saw the sexism of the porn […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 11, 2005

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