Filmmaking

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 Filmmaking
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 Filmmaking
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 Filmmaking
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 Filmmaking
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 Filmmaking
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 Filmmaking
EXPLETIVES DELETED

Two pieces have been published online reporting on the current financial situation at THINKFilm, owned by David Bergstein, who purchased the company along with Capitol Films in 2006. In IndieWire, Anthony Kaufman details the efforts of some filmmakers to receive the overdue minimum advances they are owed by THINK. He also gets a quote on the issue from THINKFilm CEO Mark Urman. From the piece: A determined, but frustrated, Mark Urman told indieWIRE this week that he’s communicating with his filmmakers and making every effort to get people paid. “I feel terrible if people are hurt by our financial problems,” […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 20, 2008 Filmmaking
BALLAST LEAVES IFC FOR STRAND

According to Variety, Lance Hammer‘s Sundance award-winning film Ballast has dropped out of its deal with IFC and has moved to Strand Releasing. An excerpt: “Obviously, we’re disappointed, but how can we not support him if he tries to take control of this himself?” IFC Entertainment veep of acquisitions Arianna Bocco said. “We wanted the movie, we love the movie, and we think that we would have done really well with it. It’s the first time that’s happened with us.” “The budget was big enough that it would be hard in the current model to see that money back,” Hammer […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jun 20, 2008 Filmmaking
DO NOT PRESS…

… if you want to do anything other than procrastinating what you are supposed to be doing right now. Actually, do not press here.

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 18, 2008 Filmmaking
THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO CINEMA

If you are a regular — like, hourly — reader of this blog, you know something about In Spring, the short Jamie Stuart piece which was posted on his own site and linked here only to be taken down shortly thereafter. Some (including, I’ll admit, me) wondered if Stuart had, in his continual skirmishing with the confines of publicity in the service of artmaking, crossed some kind of line with this piece, which incorporated a real interview with a misidentified Werner Herzog (who Stuart painted in 2005, shown here) in the THINKfilm office within a fictional mock documentary on the […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 13, 2008 Filmmaking

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Cookie	Duration	Description
cfmrk_cic		Used by Cloudflare to route user traffic for this Site.
sparrow_id		Installed by Cloudflare. Used to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not store any personal identifiable information.

Cookie	Duration	Description
OAGEO		Installed by the Revive Ad Server. Used to cache geolocation (session, deleted when closing the browser)
OAID		Installed by the Revive Ad Server to distinguish users.