Tonight will mark the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Rio, showcasing the pomp and athleticism of the world’s most elite competitors. And while rising to the top of your athletic game and representing your home country on the world’s stage sounds great and all, do you know what is way easier to do and won’t give you Zika Virus? Staying in and reading up on the week’s most fascinating film industry news articles and blog posts. Work smarter, not harder.

 

This Week’s Good Reads (Week of August 1, 2016)

6 Completely Ridiculous Ways Famous Movies Paid The Bills (via Isaac Cabe for Cracked)
Serial-killer pen pals, Catfishing, and game show prizes? Suddenly Kickstarter sounds like a pretty safe bet.

Actresses Over 60 Are the New Box-Office Powerhouses (via Mark Harris for Vulture)
Meryl’s finally got company.

Indignation Director James Schamus: Film Is Dead, And That’s Okay (via David Ehrlich for IndieWire)
A new interview with the distributor-turned-filmmaker.

“Year-Round Oscar Season” Was A Failure (via Scott Mendelson for Forbes)
Looks like it’s hard to get Hollywood to change their “cram every awards movie into a two-month window” ways.

The First Woman of Color to Make a $100M Movie (via Lenika Cruz for The Atlantic)
With A Wrinkle in Time, Ava DuVernay and Disney are making movie history.

A Conversation With Ben Hicks – Fandependent (via Don R. Lewis for Hammer to Nail)
The inside scoop on a new filmmaker-friendly distribution site.

UPDATED to include:
Forget playing Terrorist No. 3. Middle Eastern actors seek roles beyond Hollywood stereotypes (via Jeffrey Fleishman for Los Angeles Times)
“One man’s ISIS is another man’s guest appearance on NBC’s Blindspot.”

 

In case you were ignoring us (aka blatant self-promotion)

SAGindie’s August Movie Picks
A new month, a new slate of films to see! Our movie-watching work is never done.

Filmmaker Interview: Maris Curran, writer/director/producer of Five Nights in Maine
The director of the new David Oyelowo-Dianne Wiest drama talked to us about her debut feature.

Filmmaker Interview: Ben Cresciman, writer/director of Sun Choke
Casting, location scouting, and more info from the director of this new LA-set thriller.

 

New Releases

Movies from our August Movie Picks out this week:

 

A video worth watching

A brief history of Hollywood filmmaking through the decades (via Now You See It)

 
How ’bout you? Read anything good this week?

——

If you’re an independent filmmaker or know of an independent film-related topic we should write about, email blogadmin@sagindie.org for consideration.

Pin It on Pinterest