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Screenwriters Get Lucky in Nevada
Twenty-one has always been a lucky number in gambling. This year it's proving to be a good number for moviemakers, too, first as the title of one of the season's biggest box office draws and now as the Nevada Film Office launches its 21st annual Screenwriting Competition. As the film office's call for scripts opened, MM spoke with Sarah Bontrager, the public relations coordinator for the Nevada Film Office, about this year's crop of submissions, how Nevada is more than just casinos and what it takes to make it in this land of opportunity.
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Sundance Goes Vintage
Nobody really seems sure what the word “Sundance” even means anymore. Some say it refers to a week in January in which high profile actors and moviemakers congregate to get free stuff and ink their next multi-million dollar deala, while others maintain the word signifies an independent film festival. Regardless, it is tough to deny that the word has always been synonymous with some damn good art.
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Garth Jennings Channels His Inner Rambow
Director Garth Jennings and his friend and producer Nick Goldsmith, who work under the moniker Hammer & Tongs, have been toying with video cameras for a while now. They got their start in music videos, breaking onto the scene with 1999’s award-winning video for Blur’s “Coffee and TV,” a semi-tragic story of a milk carton’s search for a missing person. Now, after successfully helming one of the most anticipated film adaptations of all time, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Hammer & Tongs have returned with Son of Rambow, a smaller, more personal story about the exploits of two kids in the 1980s making a movie and the highs and lows that come with even the smallest of productions.
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Harmony Korine’s Golden Rules
Harmony Korine first gained notoriety at the age of 22, when his screenplay for Kids, about 24 hours in the life of an HIV-positive teen, was made into a feature film by Larry Clark. Two years later, Korine made his debut as a writer-director with the feature film Gummo, followed by Julien Donkey-Boy in 1999. Nine years later, Korine has returned to the indie film landscape with Mister Lonely, in theaters now courtesy of IFC. Here, Korine shares his 10 "Golden Rules" of moviemaking.
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Dori Berinstein Has Gotta Dance
For 15 years Dori Berinstein was a Tony Award-winning force behind the scenes as a producer for some of Broadway's biggest hits, including Thoroughly Modern Millie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Legally Blonde: The Musical. While she had, at times, worked in television and film (see Dirty Dancing and "The Isaac Mizrahi Show") it was largely in a producorial capacity. That changed when Berinstein found inspiration for her first feature, ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway, in the opening of the 2003-2004 Broadway season. But it is her most recent documentary, Gotta Dance, that is the talk of the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. The movie follows the 12 women and one man chosen as the first senior hip-hop dance team for the New Jersey Nets.
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Harry Potter’s World Comes to a City Near You
It’s really impossible to hear something like “sorting hat” or “invisibility cloak” and not feel at least a little of the allure of Harry Potter's universe. When the films brought the J.K. Rowling books to life, it was through the costuming, set design and props. In 2009, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” will bring 10,000 square feet of artifacts from the enchanting films to 10 or more cities around the world over a five-year period.
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Kodak Named Technology Sponsor at Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival has selected the Eastman Kodak Company as its official Technology Sponsor. Kodak will provide educational segments and product demonstrations during the 12 days of the festival. In addition, for one lucky festival winner, Kodak will donate 20,000 feet of camera negative film.
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Iron Man Comes Out Fighting in London
As U.S. audiences start counting down the days until Iron Man, one of this spring's most anticipated movies, is released in theaters on May 2nd, film fans across the pond got a sneak peek at hero in action when the film premiered yesterday at the Odean in London's Leicester Square.
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She’s The Boss
The rise of the actress-director
Two of last year’s more critically acclaimed films—Sarah Polley’s Away from Her and Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in Paris—were directed by women who first gained renown for their on-screen performances. Now, a new pair of films—Helen Hunt's Then She Found Me and Jada Pinkett Smith's The Human Contract—also happen to be made by actress-turned-directors.
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Website Brings Together the Global FILMCOMMUNITY
The Web 2.0 revolution seems to have broadened the scope of networking possibilities and marketing opportunities for moviemakers, but for real professionals the top choices are not always sufficient; Facebook is a bit sophomoric and MySpace has quickly become the one of the messiest and most unprofessional places on the Internet. Luckily for film professionals, Garth Hall, founder and CEO of film-centric social networking site FILMCOMMUNITY.com, has stepped in to rescue moviemakers from the mires of these other social networking sites.
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Life After “Saturday Night Live”
Life isn't always so kind to those who choose to depart late night sketch show "Saturday Night Live." Some, like Bill Murray, end up leading a comic revolution while others just can't seem to land a role that fits. As Baby Mama hits theaters, MM takes a look at the what the future holds for "SNL" graduates and their devoted audiences.
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The Dark Knight Wins MovieTickets.com Challenge
This summer is unusually packed full of comic book and graphic novel adaptations, starring old favorites and some fresh faces. In light of this trend, MovieTickets.com ran a poll asking which superhero will win the summer's number one spot. Here’s what the online community had to say:
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Roger Ebert Celebrates 10 Years of Overlooked Movies
He may be the world's best-known film critic, but the movies that Roger Ebert is most interested in celebrating at his annual Ebertfest are far from household titles. In fact, "overlooked" is the adjective Ebert himself would use to describe these films, which make up the program of the five-day fest, which kicks off on April 23rd at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Illinois.
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Jason Segel Takes the Lead in Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Jason Segel isn’t a typical Hollywood leading man—especially not for a romantic comedy. But then again Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the movie in which the 28-year-old has his first leading role, is not your typical romantic comedy. Inspired by the likes of Albert Brooks and Woody Allen before him, Segel wrote a script that turns convention on its head.
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Steven Sawalich Finds His Music Within
Eight years ago, director Steven Sawalich was so inspired by hearing Richard Pimentel, the Vietnam veteran who helped to pass the Americans With Disabilities Act, give a speech at a conference that he introduced himself to Pimentel after the engagement and told him that they should make a movie of his life. And so Music Within, Sawalich's directorial debut starring Ron Livingston, Melissa George, Hector Elizondo and Rebecca DeMornay, was born.
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Tanna Frederick Lives the Hollywood Dream
It seems appropriate that actress Tanna Frederick's breakthrough came in a film called Hollywood Dreams, Henry Jaglom's tale of an aspiring actress who takes Hollywood by storm. With absolutely no connection to the movie business, the Iowa native has proven herself a force to be reckoned with—"determined" would be an understatement—and has found a kindred spirit in Jaglom, who can't say enough kind things about his new muse.
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Nancy Oliver Gets Real
The story of a man and his blow-up doll isn't the first logline that comes to mind when thinking "Oscar nominee," but that's been the real-life experience of screenwriter Nancy Oliver. "It’s been a total trip and surprise and my mind is blown that it all happened," admits Oliver of her script for Lars and the Real Girl, which scored a nomination for Best Original Screenplay earlier this year. Though it's her debut as a feature film scribe, Oliver is no stranger to the writing game. In 2005, she became a co-producer and writer on HBO's "Six Feet Under," a show created by her longtime friend Alan Ball. Today, Oliver's busy collaborating with Ball once again, this time on the new HBO series, "True Blood," and is in the early stages of another film project.
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Los Angeles United Film Festival Kicks Off
At its core, the Los Angeles United Film Festival believes that a film festival can unite people from diverse backgrounds through their love of motion pictures. The LAUFF is one of three “united” film festivals that documentary moviemaker Jason Connell has founded in the past six years.
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Going Green on the Set
The pile of garbage bags grows as we’re about to wrap out on another Bay Area “low-budget feature for festivals.” Somewhere a P.A. waits for instructions on where to take it. I have to admit, I did ask for it: “I’ll do the recycling.” I sift through garbage removing water bottles and soda cans. I post signs: “This is Garbage,” and “This is Recycling.” It takes seven days to break a habit. This two-week feature gives me hope.
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Peter von Puttkamer's Psychedelic Odyssey
Moviemaker goes from "Peyote to LSD" in new documentary
With High Definition becoming the norm in living rooms around the world, the television documentary business is becoming more relevant than ever. Now that televised images look better than real life, documentarians like Peter von Puttkamer are the tour guides of the 21st century. In his latest effort, “Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey” set to air April 19 on The History Channel, Puttkamer takes viewers on a long, strange trip chronicling the history of hallucinogens.
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David Cronenberg Keeps It Short
The 2008 installment of the Make It Short Film Project marks not only the fourth year of the successful Canadian program, but also the fourth year that the film education event has roped in a big name director to help out. This year the project, which invites the public to participate in all aspects of producing a short film, will welcome indie legend David Cronenberg as an executive producer on this year’s film, The Plan. In anticipation of his involvement with the program, Cronenberg recently answered some questions regarding the award-winning Make It Short Film Project.
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Nick Stoller Can't Forget Sarah Marshall
Longtime fans of Judd Apatow will recognize a few familiar moments in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, out in theaters Friday, April 18. From an awkward reunion of sorts for lead actor-writer Jason Segel and his “Undeclared” love Carla Gallo to Segel’s uncontrollable sobbing over a girl who has left him for another man, the movie borrows a few tricks from Apatow’s television series “Undeclared.” “I think this is a story that we started telling eight years ago on the TV show that no one saw and that we’re completing now on the bigger screen, with full frontal male nudity,” jokes Marshall director Nick Stoller. Together with Segel, who appeared in a handful of episodes of the 2001 college comedy, Stoller had been a force behind the series.
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William Savage's Crash Course in Klunkerz
With films from studios' “independent” divisions coming to replace genuine independent cinema in the minds of many, it’s reassuring to know that there are still moviemakers out there willing to max out their credit cards to get their first feature made. William Savage is one of those moviemakers. For his directorial debut KLUNKERZ, a documentary that chronicles the creation and ascent of the mountain bike in Marin, California, Savage reached into his own pocket (or rather, the bank’s own pocket) and is now doing his best to market the film himself and pay off the loans.
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Coney Island Film Festival Goes Silent
The Coney Island Film Festival’s legendary opening night is probably the best indicator of the festival’s verve, with burlesque shows and sideshow performances that tinge the event with the atmosphere of a turn-of-the-century carnival.
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Tom McCarthy Welcomes The Visitor
It’s worth recounting the central premise of Tom McCarthy’s The Visitor to emphasize that what sounds potentially cloying or cringe-worthy on the page, and would probably sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to studio executives in a pitch meeting, can become something graceful, intimate and incredibly moving in the right hands.
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The 10 Greatest Rockumentaries of All-Time
As Martin Scorsese's Shine a Light hits theaters nationwide, MM decided to highlight the 10 best, or at least most culturally significant, rockumentaries of all time, with the one condition that they are all currently available on DVD for your home viewing and listening pleasure.
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Independent Spirit
Independent moviemakers explain the inspirations behind their most recent films.
Six independent moviemakers talk of the state of independent moviemaking today and explain the inspirations behind their most recent films.
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Jed Riffe’s Advice for Aspiring Documentarians
Jed Riffe is a producer, journalist, independent moviemaker and the man behind production cooperative Jed Riffe Films LLC. His latest effort, Ripe for Change, won the MovieMaker Ecocinema Award at the 2007 Wine Country Film Festival. The documentary, which emphasizes Riffe's belief that changing the world begins with changing food politics, is part of the PBS series "California and the American Dream." After 25 years in the field, Riffe knows a thing or two about getting his point across on film. Here, he shares a bit of advice for documentarians aspiring to do the same.
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Remembering Charlton Heston
Back in the early 1980s, at the time when he and Ed Asner were very publicly clashing over matters concerning the Screen Actors Guild (and, yes, their diametrically opposed political leanings), Charlton Heston visited Houston to promote a new movie—Mother Lode (1982), I think—so, naturally, I agreed to interview him. But here’s the thing: Even though this wasn’t our first professional encounter, and even though he was the epitome of graciousness, I nonetheless felt slightly intimidated while in his formidable presence. So it was more than a little awkward for me to politely phrase a question about... well, about certain incendiary language Asner recently had used…
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Jared Leto Throws His Weight Behind Chapter 27
For all the girls wondering how to get the key to Jared Leto's heart, here's part of the answer: Write an intriguing screenplay that allows him to spread his wings. That's all it took for writer-director Jarrett Schaefer to persuade Leto to star in his independent drama, Chapter 27, and throw his weight behind the film (quite literally) as an executive producer as well.
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Football Hits and Misses—Hollywood Style
Ah, springtime. That special time of year that can mean only one thing to all of you inveterate sports fans out there in movieland... Football season? Okay, so maybe spring is usually reserved for a sport of a more bucolic and placid nature, but so what? We here at MM rarely conform to the demands of the calendar—and neither does George Clooney, whose latest directorial effort, Leatherheads, hits theaters today. In honor of this latest entry into the football movie genre, we're revisiting some of the genre’s hits, misses and fumbles.
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Paul Giamatti Takes 10
Sooner or later, when cruising late-night television, you’re going to catch a glimpse of a no-name character actor who looks an awful lot like the famous thespian, Paul Giamatti. That’s because before he became famous, Giamatti made his living playing parts like “Heckler #2” and “Kissing Man.” Characters with no names. But along came a romp through California’s wine country in Sideways and the Sundance hit American Splendor and suddenly the one-time bit player was a leading man and Oscar nominee.
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Self-Distribution Is A Four Letter Word
How hard can it be to distribute a film? Surely it can’t be any harder than actually making it? With the independent mindset that got me to go out there, raise the money and produce A Four Letter Word in the first place, I decided to embark on releasing it as well. Why? Because I’m a control freak, of course! And because it's important for me to be able to pay back my investors so that I can keep making films. To be able to do that self-distribution seemed like the best way to go.
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Ann Arbor Film Festival Awards Announced
Twenty-five moviemakers were honored by the jury of the 46th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival on March 30th. The three-person jury, including Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton, awarded more than $18,000 in categories ranging from experimental and documentary to narrative and animation. In addition to the financial support and prestige that they receive, the winners are also qualified for Academy Award nomination.
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Lucy Walker Scales Everest for Blindsight
Making a movie at sea level is hard enough, so for director Lucy Walker to complete Blindsight in the thin air of Mount Everest is doubly impressive. The documentary captures the attempted ascent of Everest by six blind Tibetan teenagers, led by blind mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer. With the film in the midst of a limited U.S. theatrical run, Walker took some time to speak with MM about the challenges posed by documentaries, high altitude and the Chinese government.
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Notes from Movieland: 14: Sundance, 28: Hollywood High
I promised to write about Antonio (Tony) Manriquez a few blogs ago. He’s one of the cinematic child wonders currently coming up through the ranks. Though still pursuing his own moviemaking expression on some level, Tony, 28, now teaches other youngsters the magic of moviemaking. One of the reasons I wanted to write about Tony was his incredible passion for and knowledge of not only the craft of moviemaking, but the world of film.
Posted 10.12.08 | Notes From Movieland | No comments yet...
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