There was a lot of film news to wade through in 2017 – much of it dispiriting: The lowest-grossing summer box office in 25 years; the closure or dramatic restructuring of some favorite publications (Keyframe, Movie Mezzanine, MTV News, Cracked, LAist/Gothamist, LA Weekly); the deaths of several film and acting greats (Jonathan Demme, Tobe Hooper, George A. Romero, Sam Shepard, Harry Dean Stanton); rampant sexual harassment and assault allegations within the industry (with dual Harvey Weinstein investigations among the most high-profile news of the year – film or otherwise).
But we’re not here just to harp on the more depressing incidents of 2017. The year in film writing provided plenty of profiles, breaking news, advice, and analyses for filmmakers, actors, and film fans alike. With the year wrapping up, we looked into the past 12 months of our indieBlog (you do know we have a weekly listing of good reads every Friday, right?) and highlighted some of the GOOD READS OF 2017.
This Year’s Good Reads
How to Do the Hustle: Use Craigslist, IMDbPro and Other Job Boards to Jumpstart Your Film Career
by Caleb Hammond for MovieMaker Magazine, February 8
How Celebrity Production Companies Went from Joke to Box-Office (and Oscar) Gold
by Margaret Heidenry for Vanity Fair, February 24
The End of Independent Film As We Know It
by Sean Fennessey for The Ringer, April 10
Not Everyone Wants to Be a Director…
by Cybel Martin for Shadow and Act, April 20
How to Make Sure Film Festivals Actually Watch Your Movie – And Hold Them Accountable
by Chris Suchorsky for No Film School, May 9
The Importance of Data Transparency
by Elizabeth R. Manashil for Medium, May 12
Rape Choreography Makes Films Safer, But Still Takes a Toll on Cast and Crew
by April Wolfe for LA Weekly, July 11
How to Shoot Your Film on 35mm and Not Break the Bank
by Ben Garchar for The Independent, August 28
Acting Studios Are Struggling. Does It Matter?
by Hilary Howard for The New York Times, December 1
Did Daniel Day-Lewis Really Freak Out His Co-star on There Will Be Blood?
by Nate Jones for Vulture, December 8
In case you were ignoring us (aka blatant self-promotion)
20 Years and Still Indie
by SAG-AFTRA Magazine, Fall/Winter 2017
New Releases
Movies from our December Movie Picks that will release in the coming weeks:
- The Ballad of Lefty Brown (December 15, A24/DirecTV)
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi (December 15, Disney)
- The Greatest Showman (December 20, 20th Century Fox)
- The Post (December 22, 20th Century Fox)
- All the Money in the World (December 25, Sony/TriStar)
- Molly’s Game (December 25, STX Entertainment)
- Phantom Thread (December 25, Focus Features)
How ’bout you? Read anything good this year?
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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.
