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Showing posts with the label directors

PRODUCTION JOURNAL: Lead Actors Should Do What Peter Coyote Recommends

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Actor, Peter Coyote, has written a letter that I think should be spread far and wide. Read it in full here . My favorite part* is the recommendation he makes, which is this: There is a simple way leading actors might bring a second, more flexible and targeted weapon into the fray on behalf of your colleagues which incidentally, would provide the ancillary benefit of insuring that you consistently play opposite actors of the highest caliber. If you were to include language in your contracts specifying that, in your films, the “quotes” of your peers must be recognized as a negotiating floor for their compensation, if you publicized that fact, and, if you kicked back a modest amount, say on salaries over six million dollars a film to make that money available, each and every actor negotiating to play opposite you would be empowered to demand the fair compensation that he or she has won for their work. (my bold ) People in general, and specifically lawyers, are accustomed to doin

PRODUCTION TIPS: How to Copyright a Script and Other Legal Tips for Screenwriters (or Filmmakers)

Here's a guest post I did for Script Reader Pro entitled " How to Copyright a Script and Other Legal Tips for Screenwriters ." Of course, this advice also pertains to filmmakers, in general, since so many of you wear multiple hats in your productions and are aspiring Tarantino-types.  I know I am biased but it's a really good article. Check it out. ~~Danny Jiminian, Esq  I am an entertainment lawyer at www.djimlaw.com . For help in getting permission from musicians and other copyright owners to use their stuff without getting sued, as well as, clearing the script, negotiating life story rights, researching public domain works, registering your script with the US Copyright Office, drafting collaborator’s agreements and dealing with copyright infringement/entertainment litigation matters, you can contact me at danny@djimlaw.com

PRODUCTION JOURNAL: Karlovy-Vary Film Festival 2015 Round-Up

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The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the  world  and has become  Central and Eastern Europe’s  leading film event.  Here are 2015's winners: Crystal Globe Winner (Grand Prix) Bob and the Trees  (USA, France) – director, Diego Ongaro Bob and the Trees  is a 2015 verite drama film that won the  Crystal Globe  at the  Karlovy Vary International Film Festival .  Shot in  The Berkshires ,  Bob and the Trees  follows farmer and logger Bob Tarasuk (played by himself), his son and business partner Matt (Matthew Gallagher), and Bob's wife Polly (Polly MacIntyre) as they work to earn money during winter.   The film, Diego Ongaro's feature-length directorial debut, premiered in the noncompetitive Next  section of the  2015 Sundance Film Festival  in January 2015, where it was met with warm critical reception. According to the website, "Bob and the Trees is proud to be one of the first feature films shot on the Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera." No

CASE STUDY: The Economics of Experimental Film

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Economics of the film avant-garde:  networks and strategies in the circulation of films, ideas, and people by  Kathryn Ramey How do experimental filmmakers survive? And not just in tough economic times, but routinely? Can they make a living from their creative work, and if so, how? If not, how do they keep going? What social networks, communities, and institutions do they make or work within to continue their art-making? What ideas do they have about their chosen profession? How do they evolve and change with changing technologies and new opportunities? These are the kind of questions that motivated me to do an ethnographic study of the avant-garde film art world. Here I want to lay out one aspect of that project. Methodology* This essay was originally written as part of a multi-sited ethnography on late 20th century experimental filmmakers in North America focusing primarily on New York and Chicago and their environs in partial completion for a Ph.D. in socio-cultural