Good Machine
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Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Producer James Schamus Responds to “Indie Film is Dead”
In Filmmaker‘s Fall, 1995 issue, producer Ted Hope penned a provocative essay, “Indie Film is Dead,” that critiqued multiple elements of the independent film financing, distribution and marketing system. James Schamus — producer, screenwriter and Hope’s partner at the New York production company Good Machine — responded in the same issue with this equally provocative piece, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” published online for the first time. — Editor Dear Ted, sure it’s the end of the world as we know it, but before the lights go out, I thought I’d respond to a couple of your points. “Acquisitions are driven by […]
by James Schamus on Jan 3, 2020 -
Hope for Film Author Ted Hope on Life, Independent Film and Systems Reboots
Ted Hope — producer, Good Machine co-founder, and now CEO of Fandor — is no tongue-tied wallflower in the independent film community. Indeed, his passionate commentary, counsel and editorializing on topics ranging from net neutrality to making better films to a “systems reboot” of the independent film economy seem to be everywhere these days. But while his website, Twitter account and frequent speeches at industry events may make it seem that his opinions have been enabled — or at least turbo-charged — by this current social media age, he has, in fact, been lobbing list-driven rhetorical broadsides for years. (Don’t […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 24, 2014 -
Five Questions for Adult Beginners Director Ross Katz
Five years after transitioning from producer to director with the HBO veteran drama, Taking Chances, Ross Katz returns to the director’s chair with a comedy about going home. Nick Kroll plays a young entrepreneur whose product launch has flamed out, who has burned through his investors’ dough, and who has lost his girlfriend. He returns home to work as a nanny for his sister’s young child in what is described as a movie about beginning again. Adult Beginners world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday, September 8. Filmmaker: After having written and produced your directorial debut, you’re […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 8, 2014 -
“THE BUDGET IS THE AESTHETIC”
Great post by Ted Hope today, a reprint of the Good Machine “No-Budget Commandments” back from the early days of his and James Schamus’s production company. Go to Ted’s blog to read the full list, but in re-reading them I remembered the deep thinking we all did back then as to what a “no-budget movie” could and should be. There was a feeling that no-budget movies had to be deliberate in their representational strategies, uniting their budgets and artistic visions to produce works that wouldn’t strive for “production value” but instead would make their relative poverty an enabler of a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 21, 2010 -
TIME MACHINING GOOD MACHINE
Last week when I intro’d a piece on Don Hahn and Peter Schneider’s Waking Sleeping Beauty, I wrote that every mid-career filmmaker must desire at some point a better record of his or her early days. In that vein, I came across on Ted Hope’s blog this little excerpt of a TV profile on his production company with James Schamus, Good Machine. It’s a great blast from the past, especially watching Good Machine staffers bustle through their office, stacked with papers and scripts and lined with posters, on West 25th. Needless to say, while this may be almost two decades […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 29, 2010
