May 4, 2024
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Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
The four times I have been to TIFF rank among the very best experiences of my life. I won’t make it this year, and I can’t wait to go again. So jealous of everyone who will be there.
One way to save a little time would be to skip Neil Burger. That movie is jaw-droppingly bad.
Why is the “The American Indie Movement” (whatever that is)dead based on the selections from ONE film festival? There’s shit tons of American indies out there that are excellent and will find an audience, but not at some hyped up circle jerk filled with pseudo-indie films from all over the world.
What’s happening with online stuff getting more accessible and more and more terrific film fests popping up is…American indie filmmakers aren’t even trying to get into TIFF, AFI (anywhere), Sundance or Tribecca. They’re shooting for fests where an audience will appreciate their film.
Case in point…how many people even bothered to see FROZEN RIVER at Sundance before it won? My review and the Scott Macaulay’s were the ONLY notice the film got prior to it winning and the press screening I saw it in at Sundance had like, 15 people in it.
American indies are just fine, you just won’t find them at the big fests as much anymore.
Oh, Don…
It’s every festival.
And if they don’t get into festivals, they get no distribution, and they can’t get funded. It’s not a “if it’s good, all is well” situation.
The American Indie Movement jumped the shark about two years ago. Par Vantage finished it off last year. Now it will have to find its feet again.
I’m sure it will. But speaking of Sony Classics, the last studio-funded company releasing smaller pick-ups (though much that they pick up will get very limited releases), they get a lot of product for a little money. Just ask the funders of Synecdoche, NY.
That may work out. And it’s not a slap at SPC. But the movie was sold at bargain basement prices and not only does that hurt upfront, but it puts SPC in a position that if the movie gets no traction at Toronto, they will not spend lavishly on a release, so the people who paid for the film will be that much less likely to ever see their money again.
And even SPC has its limits. It can’t release everything. It can’t put everything on DVD. They aren’t aiming for that. They really do like to love their movies. But after that? It’s medical experiments for the lot of you!
You are a smart guy, Don. You really don’t see this? You really don’t feel festival after festival getting weaker and weaker? And you really believe that filmmakers are avoiding the market fests? Huh….
PS – Your Frozen River story proves MY point, not yours. Would that film have gotten a big distributor after a sold out screening in Austin?
I think you guys are arguing from two different perspectives – artistic vs. commercial.
Movies are expensive. Festivals are, mostly, driven by more than ticket sales. Hype keeps fests in business. Movies need a way of making money. Etc.
Every year, there are great films that never get distribution in the US. Most are from other countries. A paltry few are from the US.
I think Don is saying that these small films can do just fine without the big fests… they have other ways of finding an audience. And they do. And when you can get back your money on a film of more than $20,000 with YouTube, call me.
I think Don is saying that there is good work being made regardless of whether it’s showing up at festivals, making money, etc. Obviously that won’t sustain anyone’s career for long, etc. but he’s defining (apologies if I’m putting words in your mouth, Don) the “American indie scene” as having more to do with production and less to do with distribution. And again, if nobody is seeing the movies, is there really a ‘scene’ and so on and so forth…
You’re *kinda* putting words in my mouth but…
Not to get all meta but what IS an “American Indie??” SIDEWAYS sure as shit was NOT. All the Independent Spirit Awards Best Pic noms from last year surely didn’t seem all that “indie” aside from the surface.
American Indie film has been corrupted-and I think your comment about Paramount Adv being the ramp that helped it jump the shark is spot on- a loooong time ago. It became name actors stretching their legs a bit and so forth. But at it’s core, the stories were all filmmaking 101 (generalizing, obviously) and the film were being made to get sold. Not being made from passion and point of view, but with name actors and cliched stories all to get the filmmaker to the level of next QT/Kevin Smith/John Favreau (again, generalizing).
Actually, the more I reflect back on what you wrote, David and what I initially wrote, I think we’re actually on the same page but slightly askew. I think the “American Indie” as defined by films after CLERKS/RES DOGS/SWINGERS is dead….but thats been the case for a long time. It became a part of the machine instead of independent from it and now, the studios are washing their hands of the endeavor that classed up the joint but made them no real cash.
FROZEN RIVER is a great movie and was great from the second it screened. The only difference now is QT bullied jurors into naming it the fest winner and forcing people to take notice by having it named as such. Otherwise, regardless of how good a movie it is, it would have came and went in the sea of industry bullshit that clogs Sundance up every year.
Does a good movie with no hype and no stars that the director just slapped in an envelope with his entry fee really have a chance to get into one of these big festivals?
Nope. Well, rarely. My short film just got into a fest in Chicago and I know NO ONE there.
“My short film just got into a fest in Chicago and I know NO ONE there.”
This wouldn’t happen to be the Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival, would it?
Because a short I did just got into that fest, and I don’t know anybody there.
But I was thinking more the big fests like Sundance, Toronto, and the like.
Well, isn’t that part of the game? Making contacts?
How many of the ’90s breakthroughs do you think came from nowhere? Most had some level of industry contacts.
The reason that’s very hard, RDP, is that there are so many titles, not having an internal sponsor lengthens your odds a lot… for those fests of fame that even take outside submissions.
I know that Telluride takes no submissions. Does Toronto or Cannes? And even at Sundance, my guess is that five truly outsider films programmed each year – aside from the experimental areas – would be a lot. (could be wrong… but I don’t think so…)
“How many of the ’90s breakthroughs do you think came from nowhere? Most had some level of industry contacts.”
Very few came from nowhere. Very few of the movies that broke out were of the no-budget, no-stars variety. And, of those, I know El Mariachi was sold before any festival appearances and Clerks had John Pierson and others behind it. (I’m no independent film expert by any means, so I may be missing a bunch of movies).
I admittedly don’t know how the festival world works, really. I have so far entered one festival in my life, and my silly little short movie got in, so, unlike my beloved Houston Astros, I’m batting .1000.
P.S. Toronto does take submissions (for the low, low price of $75 in Canadian money each).
I guess my question was asked because I thought the possibility might exist that some good films are being made but not getting programmed anywhere that matters because they don’t have the connections. Given that nearly every truly indie movie I’ve seen was downright terrible, I figure the odds are pretty small, but you never know.
RDP-YES! Chicago Reel Shorts! They took my little redneck adventure drama and I was pleased. I can’t go, but it’s neat to get into something without feeling like it was *you* rather than the art…or whatever.
mutinyco is dead on, you gotta get out there and meet people in order to get noticed. Sucks, but it’s true. And DP, I don’t know which of those officially “take submissions,” but I bet most will gladly take your money and never ever watch the movie you submit.
This is actually one of the more interesting hotblog discussions in a long time.
And I actually (in a rare circumstance) agree with much (if not all) of what Don Lewis wrote.
The big question is what is an indie? It has come to mean many things over the years. It can be anything from a guy in his basement with FCP making a film on his own with a few grand to someone getting Phillip Seymour Hoffman to star in a film that is not studio financed.
Indie is also a genre. Kevin Smith makes “indie” films in style and subject matter and is considered an “indie” film maker but he is in no way and independant filmmaker. He has millions at his disposal.
From a Toronto perspective I can tell you that many people over the past 8 years or so got very tired of the festival being over-run by Hollywood. The year I remember where it really came to the forefront was when DeNiro was here in 2000 promoting Men of Honor. Reports came out that many festival parties would be sponsored by corporations who would finance a film’s premiere party if they could promise that their clients could get a chance of a picture or handshake with DeNiro etc. Many TIFF parties were/are funded that way much in the same way that corporations get the best tickets to concerts in town.
Similarly over the years, Toronto, which used to be called a very viewer friendly festival has been perceived as less so and very elitist. This is perhaps part of why also there is an attempt to include less American films and spread the screentime around.
Also, in Toronto there is a huge pressure to make sure there are Canadian films in prestige slots in the festival. It really is a quota system. So if Don McKellar is in a film no matter how crappy (coughcoughBlindnesscoughcough) it will get a prestige slot. There is also pressure to include many foreign films, many of lesser quality, just so they can be perceived as a “multi-cultural worldly festival”. I am just saying all of these factors contribute to a lesser presence of American films…not just lesser quality in American films. That’s why there are so many programmes in the festival now.
I also think the whole festival circuit has become somewhat of a machine and a means to an end. Where before, festivals were seen as a way to get distribution and ultimately a theatrical release, now there are so many festivals and so many government programs to finance filmmakers to go to festivals, that many “indie” filmmakers see the festival circuit as the B all and end all in and of itself. They don’t make a film to get seen by a mainstream audience, they make it so that they can travel the world (hopefully) and do as many festivals as possible and get fetted at parties by festival types. They then hope that experience gets funding to make anouther “festival film” where they can repeat the circuit again. I know plenty of Canadian filmmakers whose work you will have never seen but they live off of governemnt dole and only make films for the festival circuit. Ultimately only getting a small DVD release doesn’t bother them because the film was never made for a wide audience.
I think the festival circuit will probably burst in a few years. I know that even a few years ago TIFF used to be talked about by many Torontonians, now however it just kind of blows and blows out and nobody but industry people really care.
Most of the “prestige” films that people fight to get tix for will be out at cinemas within two months where they will get mediocre reviews and die a quick box office death like previous TIFF Galas like Men of Honor, That Thing You Do , Moonlight Mile, Death of a President etc.
If TIFF is elitist, then I am proud to be an elitist. For a film buff with a limited budget, TIFF is a remarkable event. It’s affordable and offers up a wide array of films from countries all over the world. Toronto is a beautiful and accessible city. I wouldn’t trade my TIFF experiences for anything in the world. I can’t wait to go again and would recommend it without reservations to almost anyone.
Stella,
It’s all about perspective. If you love TIFF and have a great time; awesome. I recommend going to Vena’s Roti ship in my old stomping grounds at Bloor and Dufferin. Don’t go alone at night though. Great roti though!
For those of us who remember what TIFF was in the late 80’s to what it is now…it is nowhere near as accessible, nowhere near as fun and no where near as affordable. The city is also nowhere near as safe.
It is hard for the average person to get tix, there are fewer theatres and TIFF is about one thing now…the parties and after hours clubs which are in no way accessible to the average filmgoer. That is why during festival time I can talk to many of my TO industry friends and they say they are “doing the festival”. The mean doing the parties and schmooze scene. They rarely see the flix. If you are only seeing films…you are not doing TIFF.
Have fun though.
I didn’t go in the ’80s. However, as an average person coming from out of town, it was extremely easy for me to get tickets and very affordable considering my modest salary. I walked the city alone at all hours of the day and night and never saw nor heard anything that made me feel unsafe. I’ve never gone to an after party or club, nor do I care to. I agree that it’s about perspective, but my experience sounds very different from what you’re talking about.
Stella,
My perspective is different because I live here. Your festival experience is limited to a few blocks in the downtown core. You did not “walk the city alone at all hours of the day and night”.
If you think it is affordable and do not mind helping to pay for chichi parties that you cannot get into…then don’t worry about it. Have a good time behind the red rope.
Seriously.
It’s just that those things bother me.
You are a presumptive asshole sometimes Nicol. How in the hell could you possibly know where I went and what I did while in Toronto? I went to midnight screenings far, far away from where my hotel was. I walked both ways. That’s one example. I walked everywhere. It’s part of what I loved about TIFF and the city itself. Don’t tell me what I did or didn’t do because you have no fucking clue.
I’m not talking about parties and I am perfectly happy “behind the red rope.” I’m talking about the round-trip flight, hotel and ticket prices. Those were always remarkably affordable to an average dude with a modest salary like me.
I’m not picking a fight with you. I’m talking about my personal experiences with TIFF. I’m glad you feel cool hating it. You’re so genuine.
“You are a presumptive asshole sometimes Nicol.”
Only sometimes…I must be gettin’ soft.
I was trying to be civil. Maybe someday you can try it too.
Stella,
You called me an asshole and dropped an F-bomb in your last post to me.
If that is your view of trying to be civil…try a little harder.
You deserved it Nicol, telling me what I didn’t do when you have no clue. You were an asshole. A clueless one, since in this instance you have no idea what you are talking about. You have no idea what I did or didn’t do while in Toronto.
Stella: Funny thing is, I’ve always been surprised by the number of people I meet during TIFF who are civilians, who actually line up and pay for tickets, who have no real connection to the film industry. Indeed, back when I was with the Houston Post, I ran into a Houstonian at the festival — an anaesthesiologist! — who had read my stories about TIFF for years, and decided to go just to enjoy a bunch of movies. And here’s the kicker — while he was in Toronto, he met another movie buff (from Ohio, I think), and they fell in love. He and she had a long-distance relationship for months afterwards. And at the following year’s festival, they were there together — on their honeymoon.
Oh, and you’re right about being able to walk the streets at night. At least, that was my experience up until, oh, about three years ago, when they still screened midnight movies at the Uptown. At 2 a.m. or later, I would have no qualms about walking back to the home of friends where I was staying. They live near the Bloor Theatre, by the way.
I had the same experience Joe. While waiting in long lines for an hour or more before a screening, I talked to lots and lots of people, all regular folks from Canada and around the U.S.
Yeah I never had any problems walking the streets of Toronto after midnight. Not for a second did I feel unsafe.
Also — and this probably isn’t something I should reveal — but in all the years I have attended TIFF (almost every year since 1982), I have never been propositioned by a streetwalker. Never. No matter where I have gone in the city, at any time of the day or night. I cannot say this about many U.S. cities I have visisted. I mean, I swear to God: I was walking down a busy street in a nice neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon in Toledo, Ohio about three years ago, on my way back to my hotel — and a hooker cruising the area pulled up in her freakin’ car, and asked me if I wanted to party. Damn.
This is an important question:
How do you guys get to go to film festivals and interview famous people and get paid to see movies?
I have three college degrees and don’t know how to apply to be a film critic. Way back in the day I would submit samples and shit to smaller papers but nothing came of it.
I’ve never been to a festival, never spoken to anyone famous (EVER) except athletes, and I have to pay 10 bucks a pop to see the same amount of movies the pros get to see for free.
Like, how do you guys get this existence? What combination of pluck and luck leads to one speaking to actors and doing junkets and shit? Don’t you have to be at a desk from 9am till 7pm doing something you hate absolutely every single day, five days a week, for decades, with maybe an hour to run to Subway?
Being an office drone is the most soul-sucking bullshit ever, but I honestly don’t know how you guys pay the bills either in journalism or creative pursuits. At least not from the jump; Yeah, when you’re established, but how to fuck do you guys make these connections?
Do you have like roommates and shit?
Lex, why are you waiting for somebody else’s offer? Just start your own blog…
Is Lex serious or in character in his last post?
Joe, is that a bad thing or good thing? Lol.
Anyway, I do go to TIFF, and usually have a good time there. I don’t do parties (been to one and none of the supposed stars showed up), just to see films, talking to people, listening to the Q&A after the screening, then hop on to the next one. Usually, you will find someone interesting to talk to. (I remember talking to some people coming from Pittsburgh, they end up seeing 60 films in a week and ofcourse couldn’t remember any of them.)
Again, it depends on perspective. Sure TIFF can do things better but so far it’s still a people friendly festival, at least to me.
Oh, BTW/ while you’re all having fun in Toronto this year, Film Forum in NY is going to be running the brand new 4k restorations of The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II…
I tried started my own blog a couple times but got all bored. It’s more fun to jump into a populated place from a reactive standpoint than to just jot shit down from scratch. Kinda feels like a jerkoff move, like homework or something.
I am started a rap-metal band though. It’s called TOTAL OWNAGE and it’s going to rule. I will be rapping and playing lead guitar. I don’t have any friends who like that kind of music and can play, and I don’t know how computers work or drum machines, so mostly it’ll just be metal guitar and my rhymes.
Or I’ll beatbox. Look for it on YouTube soon.
FUCK YEAH.
LexG: The sad thing is, in this era of cutbacks and layoffs at newspapers, I really don’t know how someone would get started as a professional film critic in 2008. Seriously. I mean, sure, you can start your own blog/website and post your reviews there. Anybody can do that. And maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll earn a few pennies from Google ads. (Since July 2006, I
“but I honestly don’t know how you guys pay the bills either in journalism or creative pursuits.”
Well, if you’re anything like me, you mooch off your parents for as long as you can, and then you get married so you can mooch off your wife for a while.
And if you can’t make it in that amount of time, you’re probably never going to.
Part of the problem is that most American indies are just navel-gazing rubbish, and that’s what the festivals want. I can’t tell you how many fests rejected the original LOST SKELETON–a bona fide indie if ever there was one–because, while they admitted enjoying it very much, they felt it was “too frivolous for our attendees.”
In other words, not “serious” and depressing.
Cadavra: Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I’ve seen freakin’ Gammera movies at TIFF.
I have two friends who this last year got their short films into Sundance: one was set in New Orleans about the Katrina aftermath, one was a somber coming-of-age story about two teen sisters.
Both good films, but they definitely seemed to fit a certain ‘Sundance mold’.
Skeleton should’ve been promoted as featuring Sally who got felt up by Dr. Bill in Eyes Wide Shut…
I don’t get paid (per se) for the Film Threat stuff. I DO get comped to go to 3-4 fests a year and by comped I mean I get a press pass from several festivals sometimes…SOMETIMES they cover hotel and airfare. Very rare these days. I usually use sky miles or put hotels and planes on my credit card.
Once you’re AT the fest, most of them take pretty good care of press. There’s food and drinks in the press tent and food and drinks at nightly parties. You can usually do a whole fest on $100 for a week…or less if you’re frugal.
I have a regular job and it’s tough to get away to go to fests, but I truly love it so I make the effort, spend vacation time working fests…sick days, etc.
LOST SKELETON is a perfect mindight movie….that’s silly talk from those programmers!
Wasn’t the “American indie” a sort of reaction to the excessively of the ’80s. But now that you have divisions like Searchlight and so on audiences can get their smart intellectual stuff and feel happy that they’re supporting independent cinema when really the films they’re watching have budgets larger than the GNP of many small nations.
Good to see some Aussie films get in to the fest. Steve Jacobs’ Disgrace would be one to seek out, I reckon. Based on the famous novel and starring John Malkovich. September is great too if you like Days of Heaven visual ripoffs. Not Quite Hollywood is a blisteringly fun doco about Aussie genre flicks of the ’70s and ’80s. If you’re a QT fan then check it out. Acolytes is a middling thriller that starts and ends really well, but goes all pseudo-smart for the rest and it doesn’t exactly work for a movie about three kids blackmailing a serial killer to do their bidding.
Three Blind Mice by Matthew Newton has gotten great write-ups so far and I can’t wait to see it in a few weeks. I’ve been anticipating $9.99 for a while now so I’m a bit sad that TIFF gets to see it before us. Yes, Madam Sir also sounds interesting, with narration by Helen Mirren (oddly, for an Aussie doco).
While on the subject of Toronto, am I alone in being a tad underwhelmed by this year’s line-up? As much as I’m looking forward to seeing the new Desplechin and Assayas films, the absence of high-profile titles like “Milk,” “The Road,” “Doubt” and “Revolutionary Road” (just a few of the year-end biggies I was fairly confident would turn up at TIFF) hurts.
Last year, four of the eventual Best Picture nominees premiered in Toronto. I’m pretty certain that feat won’t be repeated this year.
And boy, do I ever feel your pain about the movie crix biz, Joe!
The Cleveland alt weekly I write for “merged” with a competitor last month. The new owners assured everyone that the paper’s movie review situation wouldn’t change. But within less than a month, they’ve already changed their tune. As a “cost-cutting” measure, the head honcho decided that the lion’s share of reviews are to be written by “staff” people (i.e., salaried employees without any background in film whatsoever) instead of freelancers like me who’ve been reviewing movies most of our adult lives. I even had to put up a stink about them running my Toronto coverage next month.
Me and a couple of the long-time freelancers have discussed banding together to start a blog/website, but none of us has the slightest idea how to make money doing it.
It’s a good thing I still have my (part-time) teaching gig at a local university, and a weekly review segment on the CBS and FOX affiliates. Oh yeah; and reviewing community theater for the same daily newspaper where I used to be the film critic before they switched to an “all-wire-all-the-time” policy to save a few bucks back in 2004.
Hey Lex, doing “homework,” or as some people may call it, “work,” is how you improve yourself and get somewhere! Pull yourself up and stop being a lazy whiny guy unfunny guy. Just be an unfunny guy, you can do it!
This is apropos of absolutely nothing, but since we were talking about film critics: Here is something I stumbled across while doing research for an entirely unrelated subject. Note that this 1970 review ran the day AFTER both movies opened. But what
I’m really liking this year’s TIFF lineup exactly because it’s lacking in several of the higher profile titles that will get a release in the next few months. Every time I’ve gone my strategy has been to avoid any movie that has distribution, particularly if it has a scheduled release date. Why would I want to fly to Toronto and pay for a hotel to see something I’ll get to see in a few months at home? (And in the case of Ghost Town, The Duchess, and Miracle at St Anna this year in a few weeks.)
I go see the stuff that I’ve never heard of or maybe only read about at Cannes (Toronto is a lot cheaper trip and more accessible). I see 5-6 films per day, have never gone to a party, and have had little trouble getting tickets largely because the films I’m interested in aren’t the splashy titles. I have wound up in several awful films that admittedly have seemingly been part of some kind of underrepresented country affirmative action program, but I have also seen many good to great films that I never would have been able to see otherwise.
This just in: THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN will have its world premiere in October at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Maybe the Lucasfilm folks will drop by to see what an analog movie looks like!
Kinda depressing in here…
What I see as uniquely Toronto IS the local audience. I have never seen another large city focus so intensely on a fest (Park City and Cannes are not big cities.)
There are a few fests going on at once… the press event, the sales event, the commercial event, and the international/art event. One has to pick their spots. You really can go all ten days without seeing a paparazzi and still have a great fest.
It is the best press fest in the world because they screen for us more aggressively than anywhere else. You can comfortably see 6 films a day if you so choose.
The tricky thing is navigating when “high profile” movies aren’t there, just because there is soooo much to choose from.
As for critics, I am insanely fortunate. We can afford to hire some very established people at too low prices… but we do pay and we do travel writers. Over the TIFF 10 this year, we will have more staff at the fest that any outlet other than the trades, as many as seven over opening weekend, with two writers, a still shooter, a production person, and a video crew of three… plus Ray Pride tracking from his base. And we had hoped to have one more writer… not so much because we need more coverage as because TIFF defines much of the next year… for journalists, fests offer perspective, not just that day’s copy. Isn’t THAT ironic coming from a website?
If you want to write, write. Establish a POV. Deliver what you promise when you promise. Work cheap. A big part of why Noah works with MCN is that Noah did the heavy lifting. You would be shocked by how many talented people want to play, but just can’t deliver. Still talented… but not self-motvated the way one must be to break in.
…what happened to Cantet’s “The Class”?
It was one of the first announced TIFF titles–supposedly going into their “Special Presentations” subdivision–but it’s nowhere to be found (by me anyway) on the schedule.
Did the New York Film Festival demand that Sony Classics remove it from Toronto–or risk losing a coveted opening night slot?
Sure looks that way.