Life is busy — States of Unions, Oppenheimer Oscars, indie AI backlash, sun and snow fighting it out. It can be tough to stay up-to-date on all the 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 (March 2024)
The 100 Fights That Shaped Action Cinema (via Vulture)
The finest of all film fisticuffs.
Gone But Far from Forgotten (via Kristin Thompson for Observations on Film Art)
Remembering the renowned film professor David Bordwell, from his wife/collaborator and the filmmakers he influenced.
Hollywood Crew Members Take Center Stage as IATSE Negotiations Kick Off (via Christi Carras for Los Angeles Times)
Hot Labor Summer ’23 turns to Hot Labor Spring ’24.
The Oscar Honoree Who Helped Launch Tarantino, Waititi and Coogler (via Ann Hornaday for The Washington Post)
Sundance’s Michelle Satter gets her due (an Oscar and a WaPo profile).
Hi, Filmmaker Here! Chandler Levack and Filmmaker Friends Discuss How to Use Letterboxd When Your Followers Are Also Your Audience (via Chandler Levack for Letterboxd)
Are you using the film-logging social network to maximum effect?
How Will the Soon-to-Be Oscar for Casting Work? Let This Year’s Films Explain. (via Katie Baker for The Ringer)
Answering all your burning questions about the newest Oscar category in decades.
You’re Naked Without Us: A Report from the Costume Designers Guild (via Jana Monji for RogerEbert.com)
Award-winners and calls for industry change from Hollywood costumers.
Plot Twister: A New Test Gauges Hollywood’s Depictions of Global Warming. Will It Make a Difference? (via Matthew Rozsa for Salon)
Meet the climate change Bechdel Test.
The Oral History of Repo Man (via Jake Kleinman for Inverse)
Behind-the-scenes tales from Alex Cox’s indie sci-fi cult classic, from the punks who got it made.
“It’s a Silent Fire”: Decaying Digital Movie and TV Show Files Are a Hollywood Crisis (via Gary Baum and Carolyn Giardina for The Hollywood Reporter)
Back up your files ASAP!
Every Six Hours (via Matt Prigge for Filmmaker Magazine)
Everything you wanted to know about catering.
10 Years Ago, Veronica Mars Was Meant to Usher in a New Age of Kickstarter Cinema. It Didn’t. (via Ethan Alter for IndieWire)
The rise and fall of the A-list crowdfunded movie.
States Have Spent $25 Billion to Woo Hollywood. Is It Worth It? (via Matt Stevens and Christopher Kuo for The New York Times)
Analyzing the rates of return for state film tax incentives.
Trash and Treasure at the Razzies (via Mark Asch for The Criterion Collection)
Reclaiming the supposedly “worst” movies of film history.
In case you were ignoring us (aka blatant self-promotion)
2024 SXSW Film Festival Recap
Dispatches from SAGindie’s adventures at South By Southwest ’24.
Filmmaker Interview: Ryan Martin Brown, writer/director of Free Time
How the filmmaker made his NYC-set comedy in ten days.
Videos worth watching
Dune the most (via @josh.gammon)
@josh.gammon lead them to paradise #dunemovie #dune #amctheaters ♬ original sound – History of Cinema
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.