Life is busy – you’re unmasking, celebrating Memorial Day, and buying or selling a media company. It can be tough to stay up-to-date on the latest film industry news, profiles, analysis, and advice. That’s why we’ve curated some essential reads you may have missed over the past month. So take some time to catch up with this month’s good reads.
This Month’s Good Reads (May 2021)
Rotten Tomatoes: A Uniquely Asian-American Success Story (via Alex Vo for Rotten Tomatoes)
The origin story of the review aggregator.
‘You Talking to Me?’ This New Startup Uses Deepfake Technology for Movie Dubbing (via Sam Blake for dot.LA)
The lips can match the words now!
Emma, Aurora, My Mother, and Me (via Michael Koresky for Slate)
A writer uses ’80s movies to connect with his mom.
The Economics of Movie Product Placements (via Zachary Crockett for The Hustle)
How Maverick got his Ray-Bans, Bond got his BMW, and E.T. got his Reese’s Pieces.
The End of an Era: Norman Lloyd, 1914-2021 (via Peter Sobczynski for RogerEbert.com)
Paying tribute to the actor who worked with everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Charlie Chaplin to Judd Apatow.
Coming Subtractions: Film Composers Face Delayed Pandemic Impact (via Kristin Robinson for Billboard)
How musician royalties have been affected by the shift to streaming.
After 14 Months, Going Back to the Movies Reminded Me How to Joyfully Disappear (via Emma Specter for Vogue)
We’re going to theaters again!
Indigenous Cinema and the Limits of Auteurism (via Girish Shambu for The Criterion Collection)
Dispatches from the largest Indigenous film festival in the world.
She Stays Winning (via Beatrice Loayza for The Baffler)
Examining the conflation of trauma and empowerment in feminist films.
Introducing the Producers Union, Where Producers Hope to Gain Collective Bargaining Power (via Chris Lindahl for IndieWire)
A new effort to implement protections for producers.
In case you were ignoring us (aka blatant self-promotion)
Filmmaker Interview: David Oyelowo, director/producer/star of The Water Man
We had a lovely conversation with the award-winning actor about his transition to directing.
Film Independent Directors Close-Up 2021
Highlights from this year’s series of Spirit Award nominee panels.
Filmmaker Interview: Hisonni Johnson, director/co-writer of Take Out Girl
An interview with the multi-hyphenate filmmaker on making his based-on-true-events thriller.
Working Through, Part 4: Indie Film Financing, Sales, & Distribution
SAGindie’s Michael Sládek brings together a panel of producers and executives to discuss the current state of indie filmmaking.
A video worth watching
The making of movie money (h/t Film School Rejects) – Happy Tax Season!
How ’bout you? Read anything good this month?
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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.