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W H A T ' S G O I N G O N

My most recent film, The God Who Wasn't There, is available on DVD at the official site and elsewhere.

Bat Boy: The Musical is currently being staged in productions of various sizes around the world. A movie adaptation directed by John Landis is in development, with no casting announced or shooting date set.

Bill Gates is still dead.

B L O G R O L L

FILMMAKING:
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J O I N

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THIS CATEGORY:
Articles on this site about independent digital filmmaking, digital camera ratings, DV and HDV editing equipment and movies in general.

The God Who Wasn't There

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Film & Filmmaking

Pass the popcorn

I'm not planning to see the movie, but I'll enjoy watching this drama....
April 23, 2008

The Expelled idiocy knows no bounds

It's not unusual at all for early cuts of a film to "temp in" commercial music tracks. Sometimes those tracks end up being licensed for the commercial release of the film, sometimes they're replaced with cheaper songs, sometimes the film's...
April 17, 2008

Sex and Death 101

My pal Dan Waters has a movie opening tonight in L.A. And I just happen to have a free pair of tickets for any show this weekend. The movie's called Sex and Death 101, and it will make you laugh....
April 04, 2008

My April Fools' Day prank

People who say religion is useless clearly haven't discovered that it makes an excellent butt for a joke. In case you didn't catch the drama in real time, yesterday the front page of this blog was taken over by my...
April 02, 2008

I have revised my former position

UPDATE: Story about yesterday's amusing events coming later today......
April 02, 2008

My former position

April 01, 2008

Michel Gondry on YouTube

Michel Gondry is curating YouTube's home page right now, choosing his favorite videos from the site. Think he'll link to this one? I doubt it. After Frenchie got pwned, he actually deleted his Rubik's cube video from YouTube....
January 18, 2008

Where's Waldo?

Hint: He looks skeptical....
December 10, 2007

Ridiculous

From the mailbag: Hi Brian, I, like many others I know, always find it odd that some people in some industries get any compensation at all for work after the work was completed. Builders aren't paid a small fee every...
November 20, 2007

Creators as owners

Marc Andreessen envisions a new model for the entertainment industry. I'd find it inspiring if I weren't doing it already. It's possible that one good thing that might come out of the strike(s) is that a whole lot of writers...
November 19, 2007

The strike

Explained....
November 19, 2007

That was me

On trumpet....
November 15, 2007

The Daily Show

Get your fix....
November 14, 2007

Friday

November 10, 2007

This would have been unthinkable in 1988

Lots more fresh video this morning at the United Hollywood YouTube channel. They're really doing a good job with it, using short, well edited clips to provide some historical perspective, demonstrate that the solidarity between WGA and SAG is strong,...
November 08, 2007

Shhh! The executives are working

I picketed most of the morning of Day 3 at the Warner Bros. gate on Olive Ave. called the "executive gate." In contrast to the industrial character of the other gates, just inside this gate is a quiet, park-like setting...
November 07, 2007

What's your favorite promotion?

On the picket line, the cast of The Office ridicules the studios' position that a TV show magically becomes a "promotion" when you transmit it (with commercials) on the internet. I'm a dedicated fan of The Office, and not once...
November 07, 2007

The writers strike

Thanks for asking: --Yes, I'm a member of the Writers Guild of America, and, yes, as a WGA member I'm on strike. But, no, the strike will not have a personal financial impact on me, as WGA-covered work is not...
November 06, 2007

The price

Brian DePalma pays the price of having a distributor: they won't fight for you. Fair use rights for all filmmakers get further eroded every time someone shrinks from a fight like this....
October 10, 2007

"The King of Kong"

Opens Friday. Recommended. The first documentary I saw this year at Slamdance. The L.A. Times is right about the antagonist: When director Seth Gordon and producer Ed Cunningham set out to make a documentary about the world of classic arcade...
August 13, 2007

Serious art

There was a time when films had the same status as video games do now in our mainstream culture. When the medium was young, films were not considered serious art. They were novelties. Even the landmark 1903 narrative film...
August 01, 2007

"Playing Columbine" documentary

Danny Ledonne just released the trailer for his upcoming film Playing Columbine, a documentary about the controversy surrounding his video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG. As you may know, the game was yanked from the inappropriately named "Guerilla Games Competition"...
July 30, 2007

How "Super Columbine Massacre" almost won a Special Jury Prize at Slamdance

On January 26, 2007, the Slamdance Film Festival documentary jury -- comprised of Karin Hayes, Christen McArdle and myself -- elected to award the independent video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG a Special Jury Prize for its innovative approach to...
July 30, 2007

I am in awe

Not just of the 40 guitar godlets, but of YouTube user impeto's editing chops. As any sound cutter will attest, this was no small feat....
July 11, 2007

Videos

Brave New Films wants to impeach Cheney. If Rudy Giuliani really tried to appeal to conservatives. Blue Man Group rocks. More rocks. Bass. More bass. Basshunter. (Via Atrios, MeFi)...
July 08, 2007

Sicko

Opens today....
June 29, 2007

Four Eyed Monsters

Free. It's drilled into just about every artist at some point by generally well-meaning advisors: Your copyright is the most valuable thing you own. There's some truth to it. But it's nice to see a pair of filmmakers with a...
June 10, 2007

YouTube star not interested

Doing just fine: So when YouTube finally got its act together and offered us an advertising split, it was too low an offer. We were doing better without them. And with less strings....
May 14, 2007

Mike Curtis now consults for free

Mike Curtis of HD for Indies has made two announcements of interest to indie filmmakers: An Amazon store and custom edit system configs. The value of both is that Mike has thought about complicated stuff so you don't have to....
May 08, 2007

YouTube pays

No doubt feeling the heat from sites like Revver. Stars like LG15, Renetto, LisaNova and others weren't going to just keep generating advertising cash for YouTube forever. Now they don't have to make a Hobson's choice between video sites that...
May 07, 2007

Anticipation

The new Final Cut Studio looks like the best update yet*, and apparently Mike Curtis of HD for Indies has an announcement in the works related to "Mac edit system[s]." And I have to wait for both. Dammit. *The new...
May 07, 2007

How it's done

I hate Hollywood action movies. They're usually shot so terribly that I can't even get excited about the action they portray. Often I can't even follow the action. The failure of these movies stems from an understandable impulse. Modern Hollywood...
April 23, 2007

This post is not about Greg Epstein

Some videos: Greydon Square album coming 6-5-07 Waterboarding Growing up in the universe (Pre-order now)...
April 03, 2007

The challenges of a temporal medium

I agree with this critique of video blogging. A major flaw in the vast majority of vlogs is that they take, say, 10 minutes of rambling to say the same thing that would probably take me 2 minutes to read...
April 01, 2007

300 blows

Just saw the hit movie 300. It made me think, are Americans really this stupid? Answer: Yes. UPDATE: Amusing response from a reader: "I totally agree that Americans for the most part could likely be stupid. However, you did pay...
March 31, 2007

Apple TV

The hacking has begun. Mike Curtis of HD for Indies is tracking developments at his new blog. Some internet-video entrepreneurs believe that Apple TV could open up opportunities for independent videomakers. I wish Apple TV easily facilitated the playing of...
March 23, 2007

Bedside manner

I've never yelled on a set. But then, I've never worked with Lily Tomlin. (No, I'm not excusing the behavior in that clip.)...
March 22, 2007

Doc makers: Stanford's Fair Use Project will defend you

For documentary filmmakers, these two facts are true at the same time: 1. Documentary filmmakers are legally allowed to quote from other works under the fair use doctrine of U.S. law. 2. Many rights holders will still take legal action...
February 23, 2007

Peter Baxter evades questions again

Well, the USC event was a near-bust. The one person who should have been there, Slamdance Film Festival director Peter Baxter, was a no-show. Because Peter Baxter has failed to offer a coherent explanation for booting Super Columbine Massacre out...
February 15, 2007

Slamdance, Columbine and me: Get the full story tomorrow night

While I was at Slamdance, I briefly mentioned on this blog a controversy involving the indie game Super Columbine Massacre by Danny Ledonne. What I didn't mention is that I personally got involved in this controversy while serving on the...
February 13, 2007

See you in Park City

What am I doing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Slumdance? I'm on the documentary jury at Slamdance, of course. No, I don't know what they're thinking, either. Doesn't Slamdance know that at Slumdance we overlooked every film in our...
January 16, 2007

Four-Eyed Monsters

Four-Eyed Monsters, by Susan Buice and Arin Crumley, whose innovative marketing of their film and podcast is already legendary, is now available on DVD....
January 16, 2007

Wow

This looks like a fun filmmaking tool. (Via HD for Indies)...
January 15, 2007

The Wilhelm scream

You've heard it many times, but now you'll be listening for it....
December 01, 2006

Breath Control

Watching this clip reminded me how good the 2002 documentary Breath Control was when I saw it at the Newport Film Festival. Breath Control appears to be another lost film. It's not at Amazon or Netflix. Weird. There's obviously a...
November 14, 2006

Two things

In my mailbag, two questions have been popping up lately: 1. Why didn't I write a six-word short story, too? (Best version of this question from Javier: "Posted Papa's. Didn't write one himself.") 2. Why haven't I commented on Death...
November 02, 2006

Making money with web video

Everyone is talking about how it might actually be possible this time around. I do know people are watching web video. (Three hundred thousand views* is about 25% of the audience for the actual Colbert Report show on cable, although...
October 20, 2006

"Deliver Us From Evil"

See it if you can....
October 16, 2006

Last chance tonight

Four Eyed Monsters...
September 28, 2006

I was right

I was wrong about a lot, but at least I was right about this. Virginia Heffernan has the story, of course. L.A. Times, too. Congratulations to the creators. How many upstart filmmakers get this kind of response first time at...
September 13, 2006

Thirteen Days

A great movie moment. The old guard, committed to a familiar routine, stumbles dangerously in a new environment. Sometimes you have to hang tough and scream in their faces before they get it....
September 07, 2006

It's not about the girl

It's about the game....
September 01, 2006

Brian Flemming is possibly an asshole

Since I have real work to do, dammit, I haven't been able to follow this LG15 stuff nearly as much as I would like. But one conclusion I have reached is that there's a reasonable chance I'm an asshole. If...
August 29, 2006

Arguments for a real LG15 fall short

Virginia Heffernan, agnostic but leaning toward a real LG15, makes some pro and con arguments in a recent post to her blog. Here are the pro arguments: + lonelygirl15’s emails to me are entirely guileless, true to a teen girl’s...
August 25, 2006

She wants to believe

Virginia Heffernan on LG15. Heffernan was able to get an email out of "Bree": Tell me this doesn’t ring true: I started watching videos a couple months ago after Daniel sent me a video by paytotheorderofofof. He knows so much...
August 24, 2006

Colbert's green screen challenge

Since Stephen Colbert issued his green screen challenge on Monday, there has been an explosion of remixes [UPDATE: LINK DISABLED]. Someone with actual compositing skillz made an impressive battle that's beating mine right now in the voting....
August 24, 2006

The Colbert Report

Thanks to all who let me know that Stephen Colbert showed two of the videos here [UPDATE: LINK DISABLED] on his show tonight. He didn't show my mashup, "Stephen Colbert vs. The Star Wars Kid," but he may later in...
August 22, 2006

Lonelygirl15 jumps the shark

(UPDATE 8/30/06: The joke at the end of this entry fueled speculation that I am lonelygirl15. I have issued a denial.) Well, it was fun while it lasted. I kind of enjoyed believing that the saga of lonelygirl15 and danielbeast...
August 21, 2006

Stephen Colbert vs. The Star Wars Kid

The Star Wars Kid is probably the most remixed video on the internet. We don't really need another one. But last week on "The Colbert Report," Stephen Colbert had to go and not only reference the Star Wars Kid, but...
August 15, 2006

Mike Curtis

Met with Mike Curtis recently. If you're a filmmaker, I recommend his consulting services. The man knows his stuff....
August 07, 2006

The hero pattern

Dang. I wish the Star Wars movies were better, because if they were I'd watch them all back to back to check out the Science Pundit's thesis that Darth Vader is almost as heroic as Jesus. (And Luke doesn't even...
July 27, 2006

Brian

Why I shouldn't even try. (Thanks, Vesuvius)...
July 18, 2006

Space Invaders

Clever movie. (Via Metafilter)...
July 17, 2006

States

When people speak of their mystical religious experiences, I am often struck by how similar those experiences sound to descriptions of other, more worldly ones. For example, an advocate of meditation will describe how the process helps him achieve peacefulness,...
July 11, 2006

Partial victory for the Scared Sixteen

A while back, I wrote about a group of sixteen extremely insecure film directors who were getting all trembly at the idea that someone might make available alternate versions of their movies. Example: The "Phantom Edit" that stripped Jar Jar...
July 10, 2006

"Deliver Us From Evil" documentary review

Picture this: You're an upper-level manager for a large company. You are directly responsible for hundreds of employees in your region. Right now you are in your office, behind your desk. You have in front of you an employee of...
June 28, 2006

I like it not

For me, it's Some Like It Hot....
June 22, 2006

6-6-06

It was 666 days ago that I launched a project called The Beast. A different movie than The Beast ended up being made as the project developed, but the original one is still in progress. I posted some "news" here....
June 06, 2006

Paradise Lost: Revelations

CFI-West event this weekend: CFI-West will screen the documentary about three teenagers convicted of murder in what some claim was an atmosphere of "Satanic Panic." After the bodies of three eight-year-old boys were discovered in a shallow creek in deeply...
June 01, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth

It's a great movie. Highly recommended. It's amazing that a documentary about a man giving a slide-show presentation is so gripping from beginning to end. But, then, he does have that whole actual-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it thing going for him. This movie will...
May 28, 2006

He's a New World Man

A Post-Oil Man, that is. (via Video Dog)...
May 27, 2006

Christian apologist J.P. Holding admits that Jesus never existed

UPDATE: When I first wrote this entry, I didn't know much about J.P. Holding, not really being up on my internet trolls. But from information submitted by readers, it turns out that even by mocking him in this blog entry...
May 11, 2006

I'm on the list

What about you?...
May 02, 2006

Copy "The God Who Wasn't There"

It is now permissible to make a DVD-R copy of The God Who Wasn't There DVD even beyond fair use, so long as the copy you make is given free to a Christian....
April 17, 2006

The War on Easter

The War on Easter is here....
April 10, 2006

Upcoming screenings

Both Nothing So Strange and The God Who Wasn't There will be screening this month, including two special Easter Sunday screenings of TGWWT. NOTHING SO STRANGE: Los Angeles Creative City Cafe April 21, time TBD Amsterdam Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival...
April 03, 2006

"Rape of the Soul"

Rape of the Soul: A new documentary applying pseudoscientific theories to discover hidden messages in sacred art. If you liked "backwards masking," you'll love Rape of the Soul.
March 29, 2006

Randy Quaid

Has become whom Keythe Farley and I tried to make him....
March 26, 2006

The God Who Wasn't There

Here is a collection of links related to the feature-length documentary The God Who Wasn't There.
March 25, 2006

JC Cam

A camera you can abuse: I went to a demo at Clairmont Camera to check out the new JC Cam on Friday. It's a custom rig built especially for a boxing movie that allows fighters to actually punch and kick...
March 10, 2006

Movie moment

Breathless...
March 09, 2006

"The God Who Wasn't There"

Finally. The God Who Wasn't There is now in stock and shipping from Amazon.com within 24 hours....
March 08, 2006

Flock of Dodos

A documentary about intelligent design vs. evolution: Flock of Dodos...
March 04, 2006

Indie film distribution

Lots of stuff on the Web this week about indie film distribution and exhibition. Self-Reliant Filmmaking links to this All These Wonderful Things post. And Mike Curtis writes about the theatrical experience. And today's new L.A. Weekly has a story...
February 16, 2006

"The God Who Wasn't There" interview

David Ian Miller writes a weekly feature for the San Francisco Chronicle called "Finding My Religion." This week he finds me and The God Who Wasn't There: Do you really think this film will change anyone's minds? I know for...
February 13, 2006

RED camera

Mike Curtis scores an interview with Jim Jannard....
February 01, 2006

Shorter theater industry

According to Cuban: "OUR PRODUCT SUCKS WE CANT SURVIVE WITHOUT HELP."...
January 30, 2006

MPAA engages in piracy of Kirby Dick film

MPAA: Manufacturing, selling, distributing or making copies of motion pictures without the consent of the copyright owners is illegal. Movie pirates are thieves, plain and simple. ALL forms of piracy are illegal and carry serious legal consequences. Except when we...
January 24, 2006

Shorter Hollywood

How come everyone's not playing the game we rigged?...
January 22, 2006

The 3DVX3 camera

Wow: Today, 21st Century 3D announced the introduction of the 3DVX3, the latest in their line of digital stereoscopic motion picture camera systems. The 3DVX3 represents 21st Century 3D's most significant advance in stereoscopic camera technology to date. This newly...
January 17, 2006

Why We Fight

Looks good....
January 15, 2006

Google Video Store

John Battelle on the Google announcement: This is a major step toward entirely new models of content distribution, and if I were Comcast, DirecTV, the telcos, or frankly anyone in the traditional video business, I'd be a bit concerned. It...
January 07, 2006

Movie business = fast food business

Edward Jay Epstein....
January 04, 2006

Mike Curtis on Cinema Minima podcast

HD for Indies blogger Mike Curtis interviewed on the Cinema Minima podcast: I did an interview with Cyndi Greening several weeks ago (Nov. 12th), and it's finally up. I talk about new options in indie distribution, a bunch about the...
December 08, 2005

Fair use in documentaries

Doc filmmakers have been demonstrating fair use in action--by using footage under the fair use doctrine and not getting sued. The Center for Social Media has rounded up some examples in a great report: Fair Use and Free Speech: Examples...
December 08, 2005

RED camera

Mike Curtis at HD for Indies discovered a site for an incredible new digital cinema camera. The RED camera. It looks amazing. Of course, I got all excited about the Kinetta when I found out about it, and that was...
December 05, 2005

QUICKTIME: "The God Who Wasn't There"

Some new downloadable clips have been posted to the The God Who Wasn't There site....
December 01, 2005

Fantabulous

Dan Mirvish writes: Hey OPEN HOUSE fans, here's a pretty unique contest... I hope everyone notices our (literally) grassroots publicity campaign today: In every city in the US and Canada this afternoon, you'll see OPEN HOUSE signs on street corners...
November 14, 2005

"Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price"

It's coming, and Wal-Mart is afraid. Very afraid. Robert Greenwald writes: It has been a wild couple of weeks as the release of our Wal-Mart film gets closer, and Wal-Mart gets angrier. We really touched a nerve in Bentonville when...
November 01, 2005

Truly Indie

Holy effing crap. More rabbits from the hat of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner. indieWire has the story of a potentially brilliant new distribution strategy: Three films have been tapped to launch Truly Indie, a new distribution initiative formed by...
October 18, 2005

Confessions of a Wal-Mart Hit Man

Jim Gilliam writes: Robert Greenwald's (Outfoxed) new documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" will premiere in NYC & LA theaters on Nov. 4th and will expand wide on November 13th to over 3,000 screenings nationwide in churches, colleges,...
October 16, 2005

Josh Olson's "A History of Violence"

Opening in theaters limited release today is Josh Olson's A History of Violence. Actually, David Cronenberg is the director. And it's based on a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. But Josh wrote the screenplay, and he's a...
September 23, 2005

Granting "Serenity"

Never thought I'd see the day when major studios would be offering bloggers the opportunity to have their own preview screenings. But Universal has offered Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo the new Joss Whedon flick Serenity. And Josh has...
September 22, 2005

Beyond Belief Media

Attention Angelenos. Beyond Belief Media, which produced The God Who Wasn't There and is producing The Beast, is growing too fast and has a couple needs: 1. Office space. Preferably a loft-style space, about 2,000 square feet in the Los...
September 17, 2005

Edge Codes

Movie about editing: Edge Codes. Via Cinematech: The documentary "Edge Codes.com: The Art of Motion Picture Editing" got a very favorable review in the New York Times today. The Times says that "Edge Codes.com" is "full of intellectual provocation. It...
September 09, 2005

"The God Who Wasn't There" on Netflix

Rent The God Who Wasn't There on Netflix starting Sept. 6. Queue it now--they have a limited number of copies....
August 26, 2005

"The God Who Wasn't There"

It's been an interesting week for The God Who Wasn't There. Conventional wisdom would have it that interest in going to theatrical screenings of the movie would wane with the availability of the movie on DVD (direct on our site...
August 25, 2005

Echo Chamber Project

Kent Bye sends an email about the Echo Chamber Project: I think you might be interested in watching the first episode of The Echo Chamber Project Vlog that uses new media technology to criticize and improve upon the old media:...
August 02, 2005

Steve Wilcox

Steve Wilcox of Hang Your Dog in the Wind and Nothing So Strange fame, has some clips of his performances (in bigger films) up here. Be sure to watch to the end....
July 28, 2005

Mark Cuban

HD For Indies: CinemaTech: A Q&A with Mark Cuban A really interesting read about what Mark Cuban wants to do with HDNet, 2929 Productions, HDNet Films, etc. Short version: He's making movies with name brand talent (Soderbergh) to release on...
July 27, 2005

"The God Who Wasn't There" in New York and Indiana this Saturday

Bravely taking on The Island and The Bad News Bears, The God Who Wasn't There has encore screenings this Saturday, July 23, in both New York City and Bloomington, Indiana. New York: July 23, 2005 7:00pm Tickets sold IN ADVANCE ONLY....
July 20, 2005

Mad Hot Ballroom

Because making a documentary should be as hard as possible....
June 25, 2005

Pioneer Theater, NYC, 7 pm, June 18

That's the New York premiere of The God Who Wasn't There. Saturday, June 18, 7 pm Two Boots Pioneer Theater 155 East 3rd St. (Between Aves. A & B) New York, NY 10009 212-591-0434 I'll be there to answer all...
June 17, 2005

L.A. Times on "The God Who Wasn't There"

L.A.'s Grassroots Cinema series at the Vine Theater starts tomorrow and runs for a week. The God Who Wasn't There kicks it off at 1 p.m., but of course there are four other features and five shorts, too. You can...
June 02, 2005

It's about Walmart

Robert Greenwald reveals the secret....
June 01, 2005

Independent distribution--it's actually working

If you haven't checked out the movie site in a while, you can use a search tool there to easily see if The God Who Wasn't There is coming to a theater near you. The world premiere is in San...
May 11, 2005

Final Cut Pro 5 and Soundtrack Pro

Michael Horton, tireless leader of one of the great filmmaking resources in L.A., writes that LAFCPUG has the exclusive local debut of the new Apple awesomeness: The Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group (lafcpug) will host the “LA Debut...
April 27, 2005

Final Cut Studio

Holy crap. This is amazing. Walter Murch nails it: “Until now the border between sound and picture has been this crisis point. By making the interaction between the two transparent, the integration of Soundtrack Pro with Final Cut Pro is...
April 17, 2005

Digital projection: The indie filmmaker's best friend

Unless it isn't. (Update: Link goes nowhere now. Mike Curtis has taken down the article pending further research.)...
April 13, 2005

On the radio

Last Sunday I was on WBAI 99.5 FM New York talking about The Beast and The God Who Wasn't There with Steven DeVries. It's on the list of archived "Equal Time for Freethought" shows here. And here's the direct Windows...
April 11, 2005

JVC GY-HD100 camera

Film Imaging interviews Dave Walton on the ProHD JVC GY-HD100 camera.
April 09, 2005

Return of the Boston strangler

It isn't enough that the Australian version of the Screen Actors Guild has forbidden its members to participate in films licensed under Creative Commons licenses. Now that union has apparently declared its opposition to the very production of films licensed...
April 04, 2005

Alan Dundes, 1934-2005

So just now I was reviewing the interview footage I shot for The God Who Wasn't There, selecting some highlights for the special features part of the DVD. One of my favorite interviews was one I did about six weeks...
April 02, 2005

Dueling conventions

Easter is coming, and that can only mean one thing: Atheist conventions. There are two major annual conventions related to atheism this week, and I'll be at both of them. In Los Angeles, I'll be checking out the Atheists Alliance...
March 23, 2005

Unions vs. freedom

The Australian equivalent of the Screen Actors Guild has apparently refused to allow its members to participate in a film project--because the project would be licensed under a Creative Commons license. The MEAA Board decided that it could grant none...
March 14, 2005

HD for Indies

Happy birthday to one of the best film blogs out there....
March 11, 2005

Creationist Classroom

Check out this amusing video that Sam Harris just posted to his site....
March 11, 2005

Chris Rock, not bashing Bush

Best non-Bush-bashing ever: "A lot of people like to bash Bush. I'm not gonna bash Bush here tonight. I saw Fahrenheit 9/11, I think Bush is a genius. I thought Bush did some things this year, you, nobody in this...
February 27, 2005

And it will only cost you your eternal soul...

The Beast wants you. From the message boards: VOLUNTEERS WANTED New Beast-related documentary project seeks motivated individuals interested in taking action against religious extremism. Free stuff (DVDs, CDs, apparel) and some small stipends are the only compensation, but you'll be...
February 26, 2005

Robert Greenwald has a blog

Robert Greenwald is the man behind Unprecedented, Uncovered, Outfoxed and other fine docs. And now he has a blog....
February 24, 2005

Super Size

Morgan Spurlock blogs about hitting the big time....
February 10, 2005

The Mystery Publicist

An investigation involving Majandra Delfino, Rey-Phillip Santos and a mystery publicist named "Emily Berger."
December 09, 2004

The slow death of culture

Essential viewing: A short called "Stories Untold," which shows doc filmmakers explaining in their own words what it is like to attempt to make films about our culture when that culture is owned--and the owners are, by turns, capricious, extortionate...
December 03, 2004

Had to be Made Film Festival

No, the festival run of Nothing So Strange is still not over. Out now is Volume Eight of the festival-on-DVD called the Had to be Made Film Festival. The featured feature film on this volume is, you guessed it, Nothing...
December 01, 2004

Oscar dreams

Today I interview Slamdance co-founder Dan Mirvish over at LA.com about his attempt to snag an Oscar for his film "Open House."...
November 30, 2004

New blog - San Francisco IndieFest

The San Francisco IndieFest, where Nothing So Strange both screened and announced its open-sourcedness, now has a blog. Just three entries so far, but of course I like today's entry. In other news, this picture has finally convinced me to...
November 12, 2004

Notes from the siege

6 p.m. Still under siege here. Nobody allowed in. Nobody allowed out, sometimes. Sometimes they let people out, but with a warning that you can't come back in. Since I have a firm policy of rarely leaving my apartment anyway,...
November 09, 2004

"Tarnation" has a blog

And here it is....
November 04, 2004

Arts Project Contest

Now there's another way to get a free iPod. And lots more. An announcement from the Center for the Study of the Public Domain: You are invited to enter: The ARTS PROJECT CONTEST WHAT: A contest to create a 2-minute...
October 01, 2004

Associate producer credit

To raise production funds, Dumped! The Musical is selling associate producer credits on eBay for $19.99. They've had some takers. (Also wrote this up at LA.com)...
September 23, 2004

Russ Meyer, 1922-2004

R.I.P...
September 22, 2004

Independent Film Report

Neat search engine at Independent Film Report: INDEPENDENT MOVIE Showtimes Enter your Zip code to get today's independent movie showtimes from ifilmreport.com Search provided by Independent Film Report...
September 20, 2004

The Yes Men

The makers of American Movie have made a new film called The Yes Men, about two prankster activists who impersonate the WTO at various conferences around the world.
September 20, 2004

Demonstrating freedom

I've been coming around to the idea that, at this point in time, independent filmmakers have another obligation: To demonstrate the liberties granted us by new technologies. We need to be making films that couldn't have been made before. We need to destroy old barriers. We need to be creating films that nobody would have allowed themselves to think about making prior to the present time, as those films would have been impossible to make. And I'm not talking about going hand-held with a little DV camera. I'm talking about heresy.
May 17, 2004

Why Final Cut Pro HD matters

HD for Indies tells us why Final Cut Pro HD is so important.
May 07, 2004

Errol Morris website

How come I didn't know Errol Morris had such a great website?
May 06, 2004

In defense of fun

Austin at Cinema Minima: "Fun is what really made the New Wave so delightful. Not only were the filmmakers having fun, they let the audience in on the fun, too..."
May 04, 2004

Walter Murch on film editing

Murch has discovered some secrets about the art of filmmaking, and, to his credit, he is not only willing to share them, but also, with an evangelist's glee, he wants to share them. When he spoke to the FCP group, we didn't want to let him go, and he answered questions until our hosts kicked us out, giving answers that had every editor in the room taking notes, mentally or physically. Here's a slide show with captions.
April 29, 2004

Filmmaking blogs are the new black

Now Mike Monello, one of the "Haxan Five" who made The Blair Witch Project, has a blog. He jumps into a long-running discussion about what an "independent film" really is. Yeah, yeah, everyone talks about it all the time--but that's because there's no good answer.
April 28, 2004

Indie film box office by the numbers

If you want to delve deep into the details of how much money independent movies are making in theatrical release, indieWIRE publisher Brian Clark has some good pointers on how to use indieWIRE's vast database.
April 28, 2004

"Super Size Me" by Morgan Spurlock

"Why are Americans so fat? Find out in Super Size Me, a tongue in-cheek - and burger in hand -- look at the legal, financial and physical costs of America's hunger for fast food." McDonald's does not want you to see this movie.
April 27, 2004

Cinema Minima is hiring

The fast-growing indie-film weblog needs festival correspondents. "Cover what matters to you. Express your own point of view."
April 24, 2004

Improving your life through bad movies

What is Subliminal Cinema?
April 21, 2004

HD for Indies on a roll

Mike Curtis of HD for Indies continues to blog up a storm from the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.
April 20, 2004

Tales of self-distribution

It ain't easy to self-distribute a film, and I admire anyone who does it.
April 19, 2004

Digital filmmaking roundup

Imagine being able to make a feature film in HD with just a $3500 camera and a Mac.
April 18, 2004

Movies and drugs

The best real drug trip I ever had was in the California desert the night we finished principal photography on my first feature film, Hang Your Dog in the Wind. A bunch of us decided that the best way to mark the occasion was to drop acid and spend the night together on the large trampoline that was part of the desert set. So that's what we did.
April 11, 2004

High definition, low budget

There's little question that at some point HD is going to be as affordable and accessible to independent filmmakers as DV is right now. It's just a matter of when.
April 11, 2004

The $14 Steady-Cam

Build your own "steady-cam" (aka Steadicam) for only $14.
April 09, 2004

Heart of the Beholder

I can't say the animated teaser trailer makes it look very good, but the story behind the feature film Heart of the Beholder is nonetheless interesting. Mike and Diane Howard (not their real names, but the events are apparently based...
April 01, 2004

Chasing 'Shadows'

Boston University film prof Ray Carney spent years searching for a print of the 1958 version of John Cassavetes' "Shadows." When I asked Cassavetes the whereabouts of the earlier print, he said he doubted it still existed. The likelihood of...
February 23, 2004

R.I.P. DIY Queen

Sarah Jacobson 1971-2004 R.I.P....
February 18, 2004

Filmmaking as catharsis

Director Greg Hittelman just let me know about a Philadelphia Weekly article on his film Willful Infringement. It's a good film, and a good story behind the making of it. After spending four years dealing with Disney's suit for $110...
February 12, 2004

Rejection has its privileges

Just got this email from the Independent Film Festival of Boston, where "Nothing So Strange" screened last year: As you know, we receive more films each year than Grandma Redmond eats pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. Filmmakers pour their heart, soul,...
January 10, 2004

MICROCINEMA INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF DVD LABEL, DISTRIB

Microcinema International sends me this press release: San Francisco, CA � December 12, 2003 - Microcinema International is announcing the launch of its own independent DVD label and distribution catalog featuring compilations of international short film, video and moving image...
December 12, 2003

Thoughts on the MPAA rating system

The Motion Picture Association of America is, by and large, a malignant force in our culture, truly an enemy of freedom. However one thing I think they do right is the rating system. It is popular among indie types to...
December 10, 2003

Cinema minima has a tribe

Cinema minima has a tribe you can join. Actually, it's been there a while. I don't know how I missed it. I haven't explored tribe.net much yet, as you can tell by my pathetically small number of friends (neither of...
December 04, 2003

The Paula Carmicino sex video

Oh my God! A student filmmaker intends to shoot graphic sex! Also, the sun rose in the east this morning! Because NYU junior Paula Carmicino planned to become the 112,472nd film student to shoot naked people doin' it, New York...
December 04, 2003

Let SAGIndie Casting hamstring your film!

Noticed this Screen Actors Guild ad in today's email version of indieWIRE: SAGIndie is proud to announce the launch of SAGIndie Casting, a free web-based casting resource for actors and filmmakers. Available online at www.sagindie.org, SAG Indie Casting allows filmmakers...
October 30, 2003