Life is busy – in case you hadn’t heard, SAG-AFTRA is on strike. And there is plenty to read about the strike, from general info to picket schedules to indie producer FAQs and Interim Agreement information (as well as clarifications about the Interim Agreement). So study up! But we know you might also want to keep tabs on other film industry news, profiles, analysis, and advice. That’s why we’ve curated some essential reads you may have missed over the past month. So take some time to catch up with this month’s good reads!
This Month’s Good Reads (July 2023)
The Best DVD Commentaries on Filmmaking (via Jim Hemphill for IndieWire)
Remember DVDs?! You can use them as a film school!
Making Herstory: Cheryl Dunye on The Watermelon Woman and the Power of Doing It Yourself (via Mia Lee Vicino for Letterboxd)
Looking back at the iconic queer indie.
How The First Black Casting Director Got His Start In Hollywood (via Monica Bushman for LAist)
Meet Reuben Cannon, who cast everything from Sanford and Son to Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Hollywood’s Diversity Exec Exodus Exposes Industry-Wide Dysfunction – What Is the Path Forward? (via Raquel “Rocky” Harris and Sharon Knolle for The Wrap)
What happened to all the Hollywood inclusion officers?
The 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World, 2023 (via Tim Molloy for MovieMaker Magazine)
Where to screen your film while having a hip, fun time!
If Artificial Intelligence Uses Your Work, It Should Pay You (via Joseph Gordon-Levitt for The Washington Post)
JGL talks AI.
Want to Get Into Sundance? A Festival Insider On the 8 Things You Need to Know (via John Nein for Los Angeles Times)
Sundance’s senior programmer and director of strategic initiatives shares his tips.
AI in Hollywood Has Gone From Contract Sticking Point to Existential Crisis (via Lucas Shaw for Bloomberg)
How AI became a quickly-growing threat during strike negotiations.
How Much We Make in Hollywood (via Anne Victoria Clark, Matthew Jacobs, Nate Jones, E. Alex Jung, Dan Reilly, Bethy Squires, and Camille Squires for Vulture)
Striking actors, writers, and crewmembers (anonymously) tell the truth about their finances.
The Barbie Movie That Was Barred from Theaters (via Jessica Winter for The New Yorker)
Remembering Todd Haynes’ underground (doll-starring) breakthrough indie Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story.
The Auteurs of San Quentin (via Rebecca Keegan for The Hollywood Reporter)
A look inside a U.S. prison’s filmmaker training program.
In case you were ignoring us (aka blatant self-promotion)
The New Wave Actors 2023 Recap
Highlights and video from our event with Film Independent honoring a new crop of emerging on-screen talent.
A video worth watching
Fran Drescher did not come to play (via SAG-AFTRA)
How ’bout you? Read anything good this month?
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If you’re an independent filmmaker or know of an independent film-related topic we should write about, email blogadmin@sagindie.org for consideration.