HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE in Theaters March 4 / How I Met Your City, The Real One (New York Times)

Please hit the theatres and support this lovely indie film - and WINNER of the Sundance Audience Award! - produced by my good friend Jesse Hara and his company Tom Sawyer Entertainment. It was one of my favorite scripts and I still wish the company I was working for had been smart enough to get involved when they had the chance!

Josh Radnor (CBS' Emmy-nominated "How I Met Your Mother") wrote, directed and stars in HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE, a sharp comedy centered on a group of 20-something New Yorkers struggling to figure out themselves, their lives and their love.

There's also a great write-up in the New York Times, with a quote from the aforementioned Jesse Hara! (This is particularly exciting since I can now say I'm only once-removed from the NYT - which to me, is a big deal. Huge. And of course, this IS about me, right?)

And though New York may be the backdrop for HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE the title was inspired by Los Angeles. Mr. Radnor came up with it after hearing secondhand about the preachings of a “self-helpish teacher-slash-L.A. guy my friend used to go listen to in the valley,” he said. “He talked about your communication with the universe. He said that when you’re feeling something wonderful, being grateful is not enough. You have to say, ‘More, please.’"

“I never thought the title would stick,” he added. “But the first thing I heard from some people was that they loved it. There’s a positive charge around those words.”

Read the rest of the New York Times article here.
Please check out the film's website here, and find theater and show time info here.

The Five Films Likeliest to Ignite a Sundance 2011 Bidding War (Movieline)

Survey says....

1. ANOTHER HAPPY DAY
- Sam Levinson, director; stars Ellen Barkin, Demi Moore, Thomas Hayden Church
2. HIGHER GROUND
- Vera Farmiga, director; stars Vera Farmiga, John Hawkes, Joshua Leonard
3. MARGIN CALL
- J.C. Chandor, director; stars Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany
4. MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
- T. Shawn Durkin, director; stars Elizabeth Olsen
5. MY IDIOT BROTHER
- Jesse Peretz, director; stars Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Rashida Jones, Emily Mortimer, Adam Scott, Steve Coogan

We'll have to check in after the festival to see if the folks at Movieline are right. And do take a look at the actual article - it has summaries of each film, and also includes each film's potential buyers and a guess at what they'll sell for.

Read the full article here.

New Model Army (FilmMaker Magazine)

In this series of short profiles, Filmmaker asked a number of leading independent producers about their producing models and how they’re finding everything from financing to material to office space.

This article has short profiles on a great selection of indie filmmakers, including:

Jay Van Hoy & Lars Knudson - For Parts & Labor
Ron Yerxa & Albert Berger - Dona Fide Productions
Diane Weyermann - Participant Media
Lynette Howell - Silverwood Films
Jack Heller & Dallas Sonnier - Caliber Media
Jonathan Schwartz - Super Crispy Entertainment
Jane Wagner & Tina Di Feliciantonio - Naked Eye Productions
Gary Hustwit (director)
Jake Abraham - InDigEnt & Dandelion

Definitely worth checking out!

Read the full article here.

Veteran Producers Rethink the Indie Model (FilmMaker Magazine)

That doesn’t mean smart mid-budgeted films aren’t getting made. But they’re more dependent on independent support. [Kevin] Misher says he’s actually been able to make more movies with the help of non-studio financing.

So if indie equity players are stepping in, what’s the problem? For one, with domestic buyers scarce and international ones more discerning, budgets are dropping and top talent is essential. “There are ways to make specialized fare,” says Endgame’s James Stern, “but you have to do it for the right price and the right cast. What’s tricky is that you have people chasing a small pool of talent.”

Anonymous Content’s Paul Green agrees. “If you come to the market with a strong script, one or two movie stars and an internationally respected director, even with the absence of Paramount Vantage,” he says, “I think you’d still find a home. But it’s definitely threading the needle.”

Oh, that's all you need?! Easy as pie! Glad we got that cleared up.

Read the full article here.

Bruce Campbell on the horror franchise that launched his career: 'All roads lead to "Evil Dead" ' (LA Times)

I also feel that they're handmade in a way. I'm not making a judgment call on whether the movies are good or bad. I think they're not stamped out by a studio. They're slightly weirder stories with an off-kilter lead character. It doesn't make for mainstream success, but I think it makes for long-term success. "Evil Dead" was successful when it came out, "Evil Dead II" was in profit before we even made the movie, and "Army of Darkness" was a flat-out bomb. But now, it's on American Movie Classics, so go figure. Twenty years later, it's a classic. Last time I remember it was a bomb.

It's crazy to think that the "Evil Dead" franchise started almost 30 years ago - 1981 !! - when most assistants in Hollywood weren't even born yet! But it's a classic for a reason, and it's fun to read about the making of the films from someone who was there from day one. Plus, I just love Bruce Campbell - he's pretty much my favorite part of "Burn Notice." (Must be the mojitos.)
Read the full article here.

Harry Shearer’s New Orleans Documentary ‘The Big Uneasy’ (The Daily Beast)

I’m not sure we stressed that enough: This [levee] system was not only crappy; after four and a half decades, it wasn’t even done!” ...

The documentary — which features voice-over work by Shearer’s fellow New Orleanean, Brad Pitt, as well as an appearance by resident John Goodman — is a meticulous study of what went wrong, and why, guided by a team of independent scientists and engineers who investigated the levee failures in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

Given my love of NOLA and my disgust with what happened there before, during and after Katrina, this is one movie I absolutely will not miss. I hope you'll check it out too.
Read the full article here.

Summer movie wrap-up (The A.V. Club)

No quotes on this one, since it's an audio clip - three of the entertainment folks at A.V. Club chat about the movies big movies they liked best from the summer (Toy Story 3, Inception, Scott Pilgrim) and those they thought were disappointing, or as Tasha Robinson calls one, "a great big ball of suck." They also cover art-house films. A nice little roundtable.
Read the full article here.

25 New Faces - Annual Survey of New Indie Talent (FilmMaker Magazine)

Breakthroughs appearing on the list over the past 12 years include: Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow), Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson), Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy), Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know), Joshua Safdie (The Pleasure of Being Robbed) and Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas). Notable actors include several high profilers in the early days of their careers such as Ryan Gosling (The Believer), Ellen Page (Hard Candy), Peter Sarsgaard (Another Day in Paradise) and Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry).

Always on the lookout for new talent.
Read the full article here.

Youthquake: Where Is the Under 30s Audience For Indie Film? (FilmMaker Magazine)

What is the consequence of this disconnect between millennials - those aged 18 to 29 - and today's American indie cinema? As New York Times critic Manohla Dargis wrote in a piece that picked up on Hope's blog, "Any future alternative film culture will depend on the cultivation of younger patrons," she wrote. Not only that, but this is a demographic, she added, "who are used to receiving much if not all of their entertainment at home and on handheld devices."

This article points out that people tend to get more interested in art house films as they get older, but I do believe the lack of indies interesting to young adults is an issue that will probably only get grow if we aren't cognizant of it. Just something to think about.
Read the full article here.

13 Takeaways from the IFP Narrative Lab (FilmMaker Magazine)

In case you're not familiar, IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs is a year-long fellowship that supports first-time feature directors through the rough cut/post production stage. Part of that year is a week of workshops and mentoring for 20 lucky projects (10 docs and 10 narratives).

This year's Narrative Lab just wrapped up and Scott Macaulay, one of the lab leaders, put together this great post. The 13 takeaways are listed here, but are expanded upon in the actual article (link below).

1. Understand Your Goals
2. Or... Make Sure Your Film Knows What It Is
3. Make the Best Film You Can
4. Make Your Title Compelling to an Audience
5. Bring on Board a Producer of Marketing and Distribution
6. Know How Your Audience Receives Information
7. Delivery is a Nightmare — Start Early
8. Make Sure You Have the Time and Funds to Deliver Your Film
9. Know Thy Distribution Deal
10. Scrutinize a Distributor’s Marketing and Release Strategy
11. If You Have Your Own Strategy, Make Sure a Distributor Understands It
12. Play the Long Game
13. Don’t Become Bitter

Read the full article here. And if you want more info on the Lab program, click here.

Pledging independence: AMC Theatres announces expanded programming initiative (Film Journal Intl.)

AMC Theatres announced detailed plans to give some 77 of its 299 theatres the independent edge thanks to “a year-round program of specialty films supported by a sustainable marketing program.” ...

AMC has now trademarked this latest initiative “AMC independent” and “AMCi” for short. While 60 screens across the U.S. and Canada will be playing art films every day, an additional 18 have been deemed “AMCi Friendly Screens” that “will offer art titles when product fits strategy.”

Part of me thinks this is reason to rejoice, and part of me worries that it'll take more than Quentin Tarantino to keep the old art house theatres in business if this program takes off. Is this a viable future for indie films, or will this be another case of chains driving out the Mom-and-Pops?

Read the full article here.

Catching Up With... Jay and Mark Duplass (Paste Magazine)

The definition of independent film has blurred quite a bit over the past two decades. Once upon a time, a few thousand dollars and a spool of 8-mm film were all it took to craft a minimalist work of art. Today, each of the major film studios sports its own indie imprint featuring million-dollar pictures with A-list casts. Not many folks know more about this evolution than wunderkind directors Jay and Mark Duplass.

Their 2005 debut THE PUFFY CHAIR was shot on a $15,000 budget and featured a cast comprised exclusively of family friends. What the film lacked in star power and polish it innovated in engrossing narration and intimacy, snagging the Audience Award at 2005’s Sundance Festival.

Read the full interview here.