Morgan Spurlock
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How To Cut a Trailer, “Audiencing” as a Verb, and Branded Content: A Report from DOC NYC’s Marketing Bootcamp
On Thursday April 13, DOC NYC PRO put on an all-day conference they dubbed the “Documentary Marketing Bootcamp.” It was a densely programmed event promising filmmakers insight into audience building for non-fiction films as well as career development. The various speakers indeed had much insight to share to share on these topics, and my takeaways are below. Following an intro by DOC NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers, who promised a cocktail reception after the long day (well played!), there was keynote speaker Morgan Spurlock, who kicked things off with a roundup of his work. Like Alex Gibney, Spurlock is as […]
by Audrey Ewell on Apr 21, 2017 -
James Schamus on Why Money is not “Money”
Producer and screenwriter James Schamus hardly needs another skill set to add to his CV, but let’s go ahead anyway and add “economic commentator” following the premiere of his engaging, witty and nicely analytical two-part, “That Film About Money,” for the 20-episode We the Economy series. Premiering this week online, We the Economy is a collaboration between Paul Allen’s Vulcan Productions and Morgan Spurlock’s Cinelan. (Disclosure: I’m on the Advisory Board of Cinelan.) The series features filmmakers — both documentarians and fiction directors — tackling, in bite-size form, questions surrounding the workings of our global economy and financial markets. For […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 25, 2014 -
Ground Breaking for DCTV’s New Doc-Only Theater
“Today we’re celebrating the start of a new era,” DCTV’s co-founder and co-executive director Jon Alpert announced to a crowd of several hundred filmmakers, documentary enthusiasts and journalists. In the background stood DCTV’s home since 1979, a striking structure in French Chateau style with steeply pitched hip roof and prominent corner spiral, which contrasted sharply with the surrounding towers of American boxes. This juxtaposition contributed a bit of the surreal to the ceremony. But only a bit. This was not the 16th century, and certainly not the tranquil Loire Valley in France. The honking horns and growling trucks, darting taxis, the […]
by Stewart Nusbaumer on May 8, 2013 -
FOUR TRIBECA DOCS: FROM ZEN TO MADNESS TO SEXY
At 85, Tony Bennett looks and sounds great. In The Zen of Bennett, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and will soon appear on Netflix, Bennett relies on a single word, repeated over and over throughout the documentary, to describe his life philosophy. That word is “quality.” For the clothes he wears, for the songs he sings, for the people who are his friends, for everything, quality is his guiding principle. Conversely, the elderly singer with the smoothest pipes in the business, disparages cheap songs, crude and outlandish behavior, and anger. “Everything you do should be done with love, […]
by Stewart Nusbaumer on Apr 30, 2012 -
MORGAN SPURLOCK’S MUSTACHE
Our friends at the National Film Society hit SXSW this week and nabbed this interview with director Morgan Spurlock. Discussion topics include mustaches, Ryan Gosling, Das Racist and more. (And if you think these guys at the National Film Society are a bit silly here, just remember one thing: they’re now PBS hosts!)
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 14, 2012 -
CINELAN LOOKING FOR INTERNATIONAL FILMMAKERS FOR ITS FOCUS FORWARD SERIES
Cinelan, the video publisher that syndicates three-minute documentary films, has announced today an open invitation to non-North American filmmakers to contribute to its Focus Forward series. Teaming with GE, it’s an initiative of three-minute docs that focuses on innovation and ideas that change the world. In addition to Oscar and award-winning filmmakers who have signed on to produce the 30 three-minute films such as Joe Berlinger, Lixin Fan, Liz Garbus, Alex Gibney, Steve James, Barbara Kopple, Ross Kauffman, Cinelan co-founded Morgan Spurlock, Jessica Yu and newly announced filmmakers Lucy Walker, Stanley Nelson, Phil Cox and Leslie Iwerks, Cinelan is accepting brief […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 26, 2011 -
TIFF 2011: THE YEAR OF THE DOC?
The buzz word at this year’s TIFF is “doc.” For the first time in its 35-year history, the Toronto International Film Festival opened with a documentary: Davis Guggenheim‘s From The Sky Down, which profiles the world’s most popular rock band, U2. Filmgoers and critics are also buzzing over Crazy Horse, by verite legend Frederick Wiseman; Samsara (by Baraka‘s Ron Fricke); Tony Krawitz‘s The Tall Man,; and Girl Model by Ashley Sabin and David Redmon. The doc vibe was in the air on Monday morning at a breakfast launch for Focus Foward. Sponsored by Cinelan and GE, Focus Forward invites big-name documentarians such as Morgan […]
by Allan Tong on Sep 17, 2011 -
“THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD | co-writer-director, Morgan Spurlock
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, Jan. 22, 2:30 pm — Library Center Theatre] The biggest surprise for me in the making of The Greatest Movie Ever Sold was that we actually got brands and companies to not only agree to be in the film, but to actually pay for it. I called hundreds of companies and had hundreds of doors slammed in my face. I had people tell me how they’d “get reamed,” “be a laughing stock” or “never work again” if they took part in the movie. But every once in a while we’d get someone who would actually call back […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2011 -
TRIBECA GALA PREMIERES ANNOUNCED
The Tribeca Film Festival has announced that Freaknomics will serve as the closing gala of the festival on April 30. Freaknomics is a documentary that was based on the bestseller Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Exposes the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. It melds pop culture with economics, and examines economics in such diverse subject matter as legalized abotion, drug dealing, education, and naming children. The film is directed by an array of critically acclaimed documentary filmmakers: Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), Rachel Grady and Heidi […]
by Melissa Silvestri on Mar 30, 2010 -
“WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?” co-writer-director, Morgan Spurlock
If I could have had 10 percent more of anything it would have been days off! We worked 6 and 7-day weeks on this film ever since production started in May 2006 and haven’t stopped. And believe me, looking for the most wanted man on earth and traveling for months at a time to some of the most dangerous places in the world (all while having a pregnant wife at home), is not the best recipe for a stress-free job. [PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 21, 8:30 pm — Library Center Theatre, Park City]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 18, 2008
