On Sunday, September 18th, IFP Film Week will host a discussion between Refinery29’s Chief Content Officer, Amy Emmerich, and stand-up comedian and author Jacqueline Novak, who recently released her non-fiction memoir, How to Weep in Public: Feeble Offerings on Depression from One Who Knows. Novak’s corresponding video series on mental health was developed and produced with Refinery29, and is just one example of how the popular lifestyle media site has turned its focus toward video content with full force. Their video production unit, R29 Originals, has released so far over a dozen original content series. The site aims to “debut […]
by Kishori Rajan on Sep 17, 2016Last night at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP, Paul Schrader had a conversation with Marc Schiller, as part of the latter’s Future State of Entertainment Speaker Series. Perhaps more than any other director of his generation, Schrader seems to have embraced the democratic technologies available to today’s filmmakers, between crowdsourcing on The Canyons and his recent intent to make a web series. Indeed, if the protest surrounding his latest film is any indication, he may be done with studios for the foreseeable future. Throughout the two hours, Schrader and Schiller covered a variety of topics, from new technologies to the phasing out of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Oct 31, 2014Like many filmmakers, early in our career we were seduced by dreams of showing our first feature at Sundance or SXSW; rubbing elbows with Debra Granik, Lena Dunham, or maybe even Michel Gondry; and, soon after, signing on for our very own series with HBO (or a three-picture deal with Magnolia…we weren’t picky). But while waiting for the acceptance letters that would change our lives forever, we decided to dive into Web 2.0 and became our own homegrown social media marketing machine, the digital version of a mom-n-pop gas station, complete with the perfect snacks, a foreboding bathroom with surprisingly […]
by Julie Keck and Jessica King on Jun 13, 2014Yesterday IFP, Filmmaker‘s parent organization, announced that an annual lab for web series will be added to its existing programs for narrative and documentary films. The Web Storytellers Sidebar, part of IFP’s RBC Emerging Storytellers program, is designed to promote web series through an in-depth consultation during Independent Film Week in September, with additional logistical support extending beyond. Up to five series–in any stage of development, production, or post–will be selected to participate in the conference, which constitutes the largest meetings-based film forum in the United States. As part of their acceptance, the projects also will have exclusive access to additional IFP web series […]
by Randy Astle on Mar 27, 2014Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with Jennifer LaFleur, director of the web series, Wedlock, in the Digital Domain section. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? LaFleur: I found myself as an actor spending far too much time waiting for someone else to give me an opportunity to perform. While at lunch with my manager from Principato Young Entertainment, we were trying to think of […]
by Danielle Lurie on Mar 10, 2014More often than not, filmmakers undertake the odd job to get by — not unlike, as Natalia Leite and Alexandra Roxo argue in their VICE series Every Woman, the storied “second sex.” “We started thinking about the most stigmatized, mysterious and hardest jobs women do,” Roxo narrates in the opening sequence. And so, the Brooklyn filmmaking team trekked across the country to slip inside the well-worn shoes (lucite heels) of a truckstop stripper, as captured in the New Mexico-set pilot of Every Woman. Filmmaker spoke with Leite and Roxo about the series, the dangers of overstepping exploitative bounds and the foibles of simultaneously acting […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 31, 2014