Filmmaking

WHY THE RECESSION COULD BE GOOD FOR FILMMAKERS

There are many reasons why the current recession is bad for films and filmmakers. Venture capital is drying up; lacking stock portfolio gains, individual investors don’t have the “mad money” that once fueled indie film production; and the entertainment conglomerates are cutting back by axing the specialty divisions that were the buyers for our films. However, there are reasons why which the recession may turn out to be a good thing for filmmakers, and some of these are the same reasons I just listed above. At the Steady Diet of Film blog, Erin Donovan posts, “Why the financial collapse is […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 1, 2009 Filmmaking
THE LATEST COMMERCIAL FROM ERROL MORRIS

We at Filmmaker are big fans of Errol Morris, who we have interviewed numerous times and have placed on our cover. Morris is a very successful commercials director (that’s part of what enables his ambitious doc work), and we’ve linked to some of his TV spots before too. So, in the interests of completeness, we embed his latest, a commercial directed with his customary real-person adeptness for Depends. The folks at AdGrabber, who picked this up, seem to be perplexed by Morris’s approach, though. “Many brands use analogies to help explain their product features and benefits. Even makers of diapers […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 31, 2009 Filmmaking
BASHIR WINS FOUR AWARDS AT 2nd CINEMA EYE HONORS

Ari Folman‘s Waltz With Bashir took home four awards including Outstanding Achievement in Direction at last night’s Cinema Eye Honors, which highlight the year’s achievements in non-fiction. Handed out by the event’s creators — filmmaker AJ Schnack and Thom Powers, documentary programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival — at the Times Center in the New York Times building, James Marsh‘s Oscar winning doc Man on Wire was awarded the evening’s big award, Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction, along with two other prizes. Yung Chang‘s Up the Yangtze won the Debut Feature award as well as Audience Choice. The full list […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Mar 30, 2009 Filmmaking
STOPGAP FUNDING FOR NY FILM TAX INCENTIVE PROPOSED

An additional $350 million for the New York State Film Production Tax Credit program has been found to continue supporting the state’s popular film and TV tax incentives. The funds were announced as part of the budget that was proposed today; however, given that last year the state issued $460 million in film and TV tax incentives and that this new $350 million is capped, it’s clearly a stopgap motion for the program. The lack of long-term visibility means that TV shows in particular will be wary of setting up shop in New York for fear that the program will […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 30, 2009 Filmmaking
STEVEN BACH, R.I.P.

William Grimes in the New York Times reports that Steven Bach, former U.A. studio executive and author of Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven’s Gate has died of cancer at the age of 70. As an exec he was associated with such films as Annie Hall, Cutter and Bone, and True Confessions, but he is perhaps best remembered for Final Cut. Says critic David Thomson in the Times obit: “It is the best book ever written about the making of a movie. It gives you an understanding of the battles, the egos, and how a film […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 29, 2009 Filmmaking
IS TWITTER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE SPEECH?

Mark Cuban asks on his blog the question, “Are Tweets Copyrighted?” Wondering whether republishing a tweet violates copyright law, Cuban puts a legal spin on something that I wondered when I joined the service recently. In fact, the first day I was on I tweeted (?) the following: “Wondering: is Twitter quotable outside the Twitterverse? Or is that bad nettiquette?” The response I got was that tweets are public speech and yes, people can quote them. Funnily, this made sense to me even though I do think copyright law generally prevents people from quoting in full. In other words, I […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 29, 2009 Filmmaking
DO YOU PAY BY THE WORD?

At GreenCine Aaron Hillis spies a freelance opportunity for some kind of film critic and relays this ad on Craigslist: Hi, We just finished a film and need to buy a one sentence quote from someone who calls himself a film critic. Thanks. Hillis writes: Now, in my relatively brief tenure as a full-time journalist, I’ve had my share of unprofessional favors asked of me, including one that permanently estranged a years-long camaraderie because I refused to watch a friend-of-a-friend’s movie with the explicit purpose of giving a pullquote for their forthcoming DVD. Yet while I laugh at the above […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 29, 2009 Filmmaking
THE SKOLL WORLD FORUM ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP, DAY THREE

Here’s the third of our guest blogs from Sundance Lab-supported filmmaker Gayle Ferraro, who is blogging from the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Day 3 No sleeping in after the late night, this is the last day and a short day at the forum so we have to get moving. The morning sessions were again a great offering. I opted for one called “We are the government and we are here to help,” which had a funny ring to it even though I had no real idea what it would be about. At the session, Barry Coleman from Riders […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 28, 2009 Filmmaking
IFP NARRATIVE LAB DEADLINE APPROACHING

Just a quick note to let the filmmakers in our readership know that the IFP Narrative Lab, which I am leading along with Gretchen McGowan, has a deadline of April 17. The lab is a five-day intensive series of workshops, roundtables and presentations for filmmakers whose works are at the rough cut stage and who are seeking guidance about editing and reaching picture lock, sound design, festival strategy, distribution and legal issues, and DIY releasing strategies. It takes place in New York June 8 – 12. A number of past participants have blogged about their experience over at The Workbook […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 28, 2009 Filmmaking
FAIL FORWARD FAST

I previously blogged Clay Shirkey’s “Newspaper and Thinking the Unthinkable”, which is an essential article about the media business in this time of transition. Via Keeyool.com I just came across this short interview with Shirkey that is also tremendously thought provoking not just for media outlets and companies but for anyone in the content business. Key quotes: “The transition is going to go to the people who have the lowest cost of experimentation for the highest value.” “Digital lowers the cost of failure.” “The heightened ability to experiment means that you have to embrace the idea that instead of reducing […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 28, 2009 Filmmaking

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