A good week for indie films, no? One indie film in particular: Moonlight. Not only did it sweep the Spirit Awards, but it also became the lowest-budget film to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Sure, it took a while to finally be announced the winner (haven’t you heard?) but it won eventually. And isn’t that exciting?! What better motivation for other low-budget filmmakers to get cracking on a future Best Picture-winner of their own? Luckily, we have some film industry news and advice to help keep them educated and motivated. Read on, future Oscar and Spirit winners!
(Also, RIP Movie Mezzanine.)
This Week’s Good Reads (Week of February 27, 2017)
The Producer of Reservoir Dogs on the Film’s 25th Anniversary and the Future of Indie Filmmaking (via Mitchell Sunderland for Vice)
Lawrence Bender on surviving the ’90s indie film boom and what’s next for the industry.
What Does a Diverse Hollywood Look Like? This Brooklyn Film School (via Helene Stapinski for The New York Times)
An East Coast film school is focusing on inclusive storytelling.
‘I Was in Tears’: What It’s Really Like to Experience Hollywood Sexism (via Leila Hawkins for Broadly)
Actresses, executives, and producers open up and share their stories.
‘You Have to Start Before You Can Stop’: Spike Lee, Zoe Cassavetes and more Filmmakers on Film Financing (via Justin Morrow for No Film School)
They say it’s impolite to talk about money. Thankfully, these filmmakers ignored that rule.
‘We just want Hollywood to hear us’: Film students on the future of their craft (via Makeda Easter for Los Angeles Times)
Another look at diversity and film school – this time on the West Coast.
Inside Facebook’s pitch for entertainment content (via Sahil Patel for Digiday)
From social network to streaming network?
Filmmakers: It’s Time We Do Better (via Gerry Maravilla for Medium)
On finding a deeper purpose for your work.
In case you were ignoring us (aka blatant self-promotion)
SAGindie’s March Movie Picks
The movies our staff are most excited to see this month.
Filmmaker Interview: Kris Avedisian and Jesse Wakeman of Donald Cried
We talked to the actors and creative team behind the new micro-budget buddy comedy.
New Releases
Movies from our March Movie Picks out this week:
- Catfight (Dark Sky Films)
- Contemporary Color (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
- Donald Cried (The Orchard)
- The Shack (Lionsgate)
- Table 19 (Fox Searchlight)
A video worth watching
So your film didn’t win an Oscar or Spirit Award this week? Maybe it will become one of The Re-Evaluated (via The Royal Ocean Film Society)
How ’bout you? Read anything good this week?
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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.