Here is the first of the New Breed video reports realized this year in collaboration with Filmmaker and The Workbook Project. This one’s an open discussion between Lance Weiler, Peter Baxter, Saskia Wilson-Brown, Brian Newman and Paul Rachman just prior to Slamdance and the Open Video Alliance’s Filmmaker Summit in Park City, which starts in just a little more than an hour. If you’re not in town you can stream the summit here. NEW BREED PARK CITY – AN OPEN DISCUSSION from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.
Thought by most to be an obvious choice, Lionsgate has acquired the much buzzed about Sundance Midnight film Buried, according to Variety. Directed by Rodrigo Cortes and written by Chris Sparling, the film stars Ryan Reynolds as a U.S. contract driver in Iraq who after a sudden attack on his convoy awakens to find himself buried alive inside a coffin with nothing more than a lighter, a cell phone, and little memory of how he ended up there. The trade reports the deal was between $3 to $4 million. Other titles in buyer’s sights include Josh Radnor‘s happythankyoumoreplease, Debra Granik‘s […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 11:59 pm — Egyptian Theatre, Park City] The most difficult choice I was faced with in making Frozen was the decision between shooting the film entirely practically or shooting it while incorporating such luxuries as a sound stage or green screen for certain scenes. Given the extremely challenging nature of the story and that it all takes place 50 feet in the air and in treacherous weather conditions, the pressure was on me to try and plan the shoot in as safely and as financially secure a way as possible. However I felt that my […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 11:30 pm — Library Center Theatre, Park City] Cutting three scenes that I loved was a particularly difficult decision. One was a wonderfully awkward scene with Michael Chiklis and Erica Phillips, another was a deranged scene with Adrien Brody and Mykelti Williamson in Psycho Ed’s grow room, and then there was a classic with Andrew Wilson, discussing his freakish Moroccan childhood. These were some of the best scenes in the movie. I was so pleased with them, but ultimately they didn’t push the story along. I was trying to balance audience bladder pressure with laughs […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 8:00 pm — Racquet Club, Park City] For the last eight years I’ve taught directing at Columbia University’s Film Program — in my opinion, the best, most comprehensive film school anywhere. More than 25 of my students, past and present, were all working on 3 Backyards in a variety of positions ranging from production designer, co-producer, editor and script supervisor to key p.a. and craft services. One student in particular, Russ Harbaugh, decided he wanted to be part of the entire process, and so he signed on as my assistant. One day during preproduction I […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 8:30 pm — Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] In the editing I cut out some scenes to make the film run smoother. The first version was more than three hours long. Sometimes I think I cut out too much but then again, when your film is canned, labeled and shipped off to another continent you might want to come to terms with its possible shortcomings so you don’t have to get acquainted with the symptoms of a mild psychosis later in life. Therefore I’ll just say that everything was all smooth and suave, no hard […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm — Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City] There is a scene toward the end of Enemies of the People where two of our main characters, Suon and Khoun, admit to eating human body parts during the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. I had been aware of this from when I first started filming with them in June 2007. My problem was this: This was vital information that an audience should know since our film is an up-close and personal account of a terrifyingly brutal episode in recent history. There could be no […]
PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm — Temple Theatre, Park City] I think the hardest part of any film is figuring out when to let go of your original conception and let it become something else. If you release the ideal film that’s playing in your head too soon, you risk finding yourself lost in the wilderness. If you hang on too long, you might be ignoring the inevitably more interesting reality that the world has dropped in front of you. So that and figuring out new ways to shoot in bathrooms (there are four of them that made […]
The YouTube/Sundance partnership that is streaming five films for rental during the festival has gotten a lot of ink, with many filmmakers and industry observers hopeful that the experiment will generate numbers that will help guide future online distribution decision-making. At the Producer’s Brunch today I ran into Children of Paradise producer Mynette Louie, who shared the data she’s received so far. Interestingly, physical media (i.e., DVDs) is currently winning out over the new model strategy. The publicity generated by the YouTube launch and the button Louie and director Tze Chun added to their page has generated $1,000 in DVD […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm — Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City] I recast our lead guy three days into shooting. It was terrifying, but it was something I had to do. He wasn’t having fun, we weren’t having fun, and I’m sorry, but when you’re making a film for no money, just for the love of the project, you better be having fun doing it! And in the end, we did. Those last 11 days were incredible!