Filmmaking

IFP ROUGH CUT LAB DEADLINE APPROACHING

A couple of years ago I worked on a new program with the Independent Feature Project: the Rough Cut Labs. The idea came, in part, from my realization that much of maintaining a filmmaking career involves making a series of mistakes and then remembering not to make them on the next film you do. But if you’re making your first film, what if somebody could tell you beforehand what mistakes you might be likely to make? Or, forget mistakes, what if people who have been through the trenches could let you know what to expect as your film moves from […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 15, 2007 Filmmaking
WE ARE FEEDING YOU MORE

We’ve added two new RSS feeds to the site. One feed brings you our various web exclusives which, right now, include a rough-cut scene from John Sayles’s Honeydripper and Ray Pride’s feature on Andrea Arnold’s Red Road, and the other feed brings you Nick Dawson’s weekly “Director Interviews,” which this week features Year of the Dog‘s Mike White. Click on the RSS symbols, search for them, or cut and paste the code above into your feed reader.

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 13, 2007 Filmmaking
JOHN SAYLES’ HONEYDRIPPER

For those who bookmark this blog, check out an exclusive clip from John Sayles’ upcoming film Honeydripper now on our main page. The film stars Danny Glover as the owner of a failing juke joint in 1950s Alabama who hires a young electric guitarist in hopes to keep from closing down.

By Jason Guerrasio on Apr 13, 2007 Filmmaking
Andrea Arnold on Red Road

Andrea Arnold’s beautifully crafted first feature, Red Road, the follow-up to her Oscar-winning short film, Wasp, was shot on digital video and exploits a fresh, bold palette in telling the story of Jackie (Kate Dickie), an alienated Glasgow policewoman whose job is to watch Glasgow’s banks on surveillance monitors. One day, she notices a man behaving unusually and, becoming fixated on him, crosses a line. Stepping out from behind her monitors, she follows him towards the dangerous housing project called Red Road… Why is she so obsessed with this figure, a man she first glimpses as a shadow, almost a […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Apr 12, 2007 Directing
YOU DON’T KNOW JACK

In the issue of Filmmaker we just sent to the printer today (which explains the slacking on the blog), Steve Gallagher interviews Mary Jordan, director of Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis. The doc portrait of artist and filmmaker Jack Smith opens in New York tomorrow at the Film Forum, and I highly recommend it. Here’s an excerpt from Steve’s piece: Filmmaker: Were you surprised to discover that Jack Smith’s work is so political? Jordan: I’m a human rights person. I was a social activist myself before I got interested in Jack. So, for me, this documentary is a […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 10, 2007 Filmmaking
RAY TAKES DISTRIBUTION POST AT SIDNEY KIMMEL

Dave McNary reports in Variety the exciting news that Bingham Ray, former head of October Films and United Artists, will head up a new theatrical distribution arm at Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. The piece is short on details, but the coupling of Ray, the distributor behind the U.S. releases of films by Mike Leigh, Todd Solondz and Lars von Trier, among others, with the production company behind such films as United 93 is very promising right off the bat. More to follow…

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 10, 2007 Filmmaking
ASPEN SHORTSFEST REPORT

Brandon Harris, who blogs at Cinema Echo Chamber, covered the Aspen ShortsFest for us and contributes here a round-up in advance of his more detailed coverage in the Summer issue: One of the premier showcases for emerging directorial talent in North America, the Aspen ShortsFest concluded its 16th addition this past weekend. The Academy Award qualifying festival looks abroad for a majority of its programming, with over seventy-five percent of its fifty-nine competition films originating from outside the United States. With crowds made up largely of local film fans, zero sales activity and industry involvement at a minimum, this quaint […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 10, 2007 Filmmaking
LITTLE BODIES

There’s an eccentric tale of gentrification, “Revenge of the Mouse Coffins,” in this week’s Village Voice involving… Michel Gondry’s apartment. Here’s the lede: Filmmaker Michel Gondry—director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep—has taken over my old East Village apartment. I’m talking about the large, run-down Avenue B loft we got kicked out of last year after a long, expensive legal battle. The one my husband and his brother took turns living in for 15 years. The one we mistakenly believed was rent-stabilized, that we’d live in forever. The piece, by Sari Botton, edges towards […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 4, 2007 Filmmaking
"FROM BUSINESS PLAN TO BOX OFFICE"

The 8th Annual IFP Independent Producers Conference will be on April 21st, 9:00-5:00 pm at Minneapolis Community & Technical College in Minneapolis. Guest panelists include Christine Vachon, Jeff Lipsky, Scott Z. Burns, and Lance Weiller. Titled, this year, “From Business Plan to Box Office,” the event is a day-long conference ending with a mentoring session. From the press release: A successful independent film producer knows the important elements of the business of filmmaking and how to utilize them to their full advantage. In financing a film, the producer must show potential investors that there is a strong producing team in […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 1, 2007 Filmmaking
STATE PLANNING

The folks at Axium, one of the leading film payroll companies, recently sent an email updating its mailing list of changes and new developments in the various state film rebate programs. With their kind permission, here it is: COLORADO is planning to again fund its incentive, originally called the “Defense against Canada Act.” Details will be available soon. FLORIDA’s legislature is evauating proposed major changes to its incentives, which will switch from a rebate to a transferable credit of 15% or 20%, with $75 million available over the next three years. Details to follow. IDAHO is considering a bill which […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 1, 2007 Filmmaking

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