Documentary Insider

The price of tickets in a seller’s market…

January 21st, 2006

I can’t help noticing that Sundance tickets have been selling for CRAZY prices on eBay.

Really wanna blow your mind? Go to eBay now and…check the completed listings. A pair of tickets for Alpha Dog sold for $910. Is that possible?! And the extra scary part is, it’s not even an anomaly…there are lots of tickets that sold for $400 for the pair. A couple of tickets to see Thank You For Smoking sold for $540! Come on people…that film just signed a nice distribution deal, it’ll make it to your town or at least your Netflix Queue!

Sundance Day 1 – Thursday

January 21st, 2006

This is the first in a series of Sundance Film Festival entries. I am going to attempt to blog every day I am here.

It’s the Sundance Film Festival 2006 and it’s my 5th consecutive year attending. Every year it is different. There’s a delicate balance at Sundance, see movies, but don’t hide in the theater; go to parties, but don’t have sooo much fun you can’t wake up in the morning for movies and remember to talk to lots of people.

I am here this year doing a couple of things, while, of course maintaining the delicate balance I just mentioned. I am seeing documentaries and covering the festival for Documentary Magazine (formerly International Documentary Magazine), I am meeting people and talking up At Risk Films and the docs I represent and of course, I’m maintaining this blog.

Thursday is technically the first day of the festival. We’ll call it Day 1 for our purposes. And in my case Day 1 is a travel day and this year included no films for me. Instead I spent the evening preparing my schedule, unpacking and getting generally settled, resting up and gearing up for….Day 2.

Who’s repping what at Sundance…

January 20th, 2006

Here’s something I’ve been dying to know!!

Ramping up for Sundance…

January 18th, 2006

Just a quite note to let you know I will be blogging everyday from the Sundance Film Festival. The festival kicks off Thursday night and starting Friday there will be lots of docs to see, discuss and write about!

Be sure to check in often as I’ll be posting photos, reviews and rants.

It’s gonna be fun.

Golden Globes…

January 14th, 2006

The 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards airs Monday.

Why is there no documentary category? Why?

Sundance 2006 documentaries with some distribution…

January 9th, 2006

I started doing research on docs with distribution playing at the Sundance Film Festival. It’s always an interesting little trip. And I know other people are doing it because I’m getting tons of hits from people searching film titles. After a quick search this is what I came up with and I set it up by the Sundance catagories. If you wanna add, change or correct something please email me or make a comment. Thanks!

Independent Film Competition: Documentary

    A Lion in the House is ITVS/PBS and will air June 2006.

    small town gay bar
    is executive produced by Kevin Smith, his company View Askew will do the theatrical release.

    Thin is HBO and will air Fall 2006.

    The Trials of Darryl Hunt is HBO and will air early 2007.

    The World According to Sesame Street is Participant.

World Cinema Competition: Documentary

    Angry Monk has theatrical distribution in Swizerland by Xenix Filmdistribution GmbH

    Giant Buddhas is Filmstransit International

    Viva Zapatero has some distribution in Italy and France through Lucky Red and Haut et Court respectively.

Premieres

    Neil Young: Heart of Gold is Paramount Classics.

    This Film is Not Yet Rated is IFC Films.

Spectrum

    All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise is HBO.

    Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip-Hop Culture is ITVS.

    Leonard Cohen I’m Your Man is Lion’s Gate Films.

    What Remains is HBO.

    Who Killed the Electric Car is Sony Pictures Classics.

Shorts (From Shorts Program II)

    No Umbrella—Election Day in the City is Vagrant Films

WRITERS GUILD ANNOUNCES NOMINEES FOR THE 2006 DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

January 4th, 2006
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    January 3, 2006

    WRITERS GUILD ANNOUNCES NOMINEES FOR THE 2006 DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY AWARD

    Los Angeles and New York – The Writers Guild of America, west (WGAw)
    and the Writers of America, East (WGAE) have announced nominations for
    outstanding achievement in documentary writing for the screen during
    the 2005 season:

    COWBOY DEL AMOR, Written by Michèle Ohayon, Homeland Film Productions

    ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM, Written By Alex Gibney, Based on
    the book The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous
    Fall of Enron by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, Magnolia Pictures and
    HDNet Films

    THE FALL OF FUJIMORI, Written by Ellen Perry & Zack Anderson & Kim
    Roberts, Stardust Pictures

    MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, Narration Written by Jordan Roberts, Based upon
    the story by Luc Jacquet and screenplay by Luc Jacquet & Michel
    Fessler, Warner Independent Pictures and Bonne Pioche

    STREET FIGHT, Written by Marshall Curry, Marshall Curry Productions

    The guild’s Documentary Screenplay Award was established to honor the
    writer’s role in documentary film. This recognition is also part of the
    Writers Guild of America, west and the Writers Guild of America, East’s
    broader efforts to build a community of nonfiction writers and to
    ensure these writers receive the benefits and protections of a Writers
    Guild contract.

    Since the creation of the award, there has been a 45 percent increase
    in U.S. documentaries containing a writing credit. It is an effort
    widely embraced by the documentary community, with over 400 filmmakers
    attending last year’s reception and submissions for the award nearly
    doubling this year.

    Julia Bacha, co-writer of Control Room and 2005 Documentary Screenplay
    Award nominee, had this to say about life after her nomination:

    “Ever since I received a Writers Guild nomination, it’s been much
    easier to convince people – both inside and outside the film industry –
    that a big part of what I do in the editing room is actually writing.
    Until then, I faced significant resistance to the notion that a
    documentary, especially one without voice-over narration, could claim
    to have a script. Now, when producers approach me with a project, they
    often ask me to both edit and write it. And that’s not only because
    they know this will make their documentary more attractive to me, but
    also because they want to capitalize on the potential prestige of a
    Writers Guild Award nomination.”

    The WGA Documentary Screenplay Award will be given out at a reception
    for nonfiction filmmakers on February 1, 2006, at The Hollywood
    Roosevelt Hotel.

    “Getting recognition for documentary writers on par with narrative
    screenwriters is a story of grit and determination worthy of, well,
    documentary writers. The Writers Guilds have been steadily working on
    ways to provide benefits and protections to these writers and this
    award is a big part of that work,” said WGAw President Patric M.
    Verrone. “We hope the documentary community will embrace our overall
    efforts the way it has this award.”

    “We are thrilled with the warm reception the documentary community has
    given this award. These writers tell some of the most compelling and
    provocative stories in modern cinema. We are delighted to honor them,”
    said WGAE Council President Chris Albers.

    The inaugural award was given out in February 2005, with Morgan
    Spurlock’s Super Size Me taking the top honor.

    Qualifications to be eligible for the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award
    include:

    · Documentaries submitted for entry must contain an on-screen
    writing credit and have been exhibited theatrically in either New York
    or Los Angeles for one week in 2005.
    · The credited writers of these documentaries are required to
    join the WGAw’s Nonfiction Writers Caucus or WGAE Nonfiction Writers
    Committee in order to be considered.
    · Scripts need not be written under WGA jurisdiction.
    · The script must be feature length (over 45 minutes), and
    documentaries that received their first public exhibition on broadcast
    or cable television are not eligible for screen awards.
    · Foreign-language films are not eligible; however, such films
    covered by the International Alliance of Writers Guilds (IAWG) will be
    considered.

    Further questions about the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award may be
    directed to John Koch in the WGAw’s Marketing and Member Outreach
    Department at (323) 782-4510, or to Sherry Goldman for the WGAE’s
    Public Relations at (718) 224-4133.

    For more information about the 2006 Writers Guild Awards, please visit
    wga.org or wgaeast.org.

    The Writers Guild of America, west and the Writers Guild of America,
    East represent writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable, and new
    media industries in both entertainment and news. The unions conduct
    numerous programs, seminars, and events throughout the world on issues
    of interest to, and on behalf of, writers.

    -30-

Quote of the day…

December 13th, 2005

“Film is art. Art is not a popularity contest. Popularity is often about being mundane. Political correctness is the mundane in action.”

Slamdance lineup 2006…

December 7th, 2005

Slamdance, the infamous counterpart to Sundance, now in thier 12th year, posted their lineup today with only 9 docs in competition.

Oscar’s Docs – 1941-1960 – a mini wrap up…

December 6th, 2005

I saw them all, every Academy Award winning documentary, both features and shorts, from the inception of the category through 1960. Last night was ’59 and ’60.

I don’t feel changed.

But, I am so glad to be in documentary NOW! Now it is exciting, people have voices. Films are made with passion behind them. The early doc winners were about news and they served their purpose. It’s what audiences (and studios!) wanted.

By 1950 you start to see a little change, not only in topic, but feelings behind the films. And by 1959 when father and son team Dr. Bernhard Grzimek and Michael Grzimek made Serengeti Shall Not Die, the ’59 feature documentary winner, they did it with passion in their hearts. And really, for the first time, made an unbiased, powerful piece of art. Work that made a change. The film saved the African plains from building and put the Serengeti into the consciousness of the world.

The Academy will present Oscar’s Docs series II 1961-1978 next Fall. By the time we get to the 1974 winner Hearts and Minds (Peter Davis and Bert Schneider, Producers), we really will have gotten somewhere.

Looking at early documentary winners makes me very reflective and proud to be a part of a documentary community that is truly making a difference, changing how people look at things and challenging not just audiences, but ourselves by pushing the genre and creating more fascinating and thought provoking works.