Editor’s Notes
Forget them not, and watch “Wartorn”
Editor's NotesThroughout my family history, various relatives have fought in various wars. My uncle Millard was a member of the First Special Service Force, a joint American-Canadian commando unit established during the Second World War, also known as The Devil’s Brigade. Now 95 and still going strong, he recently had some of his anecdotes about his [...]
From storytelling to storysharing
Editor's NotesAnother edition of MIPCOM has come and gone and having successfully slept off my jet lag, it’s now time to sift through notes, recordings and accumulated wisdom to gauge the temperature of the event. The official word from Reed MIDEM had the MIPCOM 2010 head count at 12,400, up from last year’s 12,000, with a [...]
Send in the Crowds, pt. 2
Editor's NotesWhile putting the tools of media creation in the hands of digital-savvy members of the general public is not a new idea (hello, Current TV), online experiments continue to point the way towards fascinating possibilities for documentarians and factual producers, and anyone else who wants to capture reality for an audience. In an earlier blog [...]
The Age of Stupid’s attack on complacency
Editor's NotesIn the filmmaking community, the latest feature from McLibel director Franny Armstrong, The Age of Stupid (Spanner Films), is generating at least as much attention for the way it made it to the screen as for the subject matter. While the topic of climate change is enough to inspire hundreds of thousands to take to [...]
Send in the crowds
Editor's NotesRecently, the BBC announced it would be creating an “open source” documentary series on the creation and impact of the World Wide Web, and I’m more than a little bit excited to see how it all turns out. “Digital Revolution” (w/t) has just officially begun production (according to the project’s blog) and has put the [...]
Anvil strikes again
Editor's NotesAnyone who works in the creative industries – be they a writer, an actor, a director, a songwriter or musician – knows the lure of the “big break.” It’s the moment when the clouds part and the heavens finally, after years of toil and dejection, deign to cast the spotlight upon you and your work. [...]
Crap Damn Hell
Editor's NotesSo, I went out and downloaded a copy of the new Michael Moore film – the one he released for free in North America – from a third party site. Fine. No problems. The film came with a registration file, which I checked with a virus scanner before opening. No problem. Good. Carry on. And [...]
On the anniversary of 9/11
Editor's NotesIt’s odd how a combination of numbers, or a date, can become ominous – how they can take on a weight beyond their intrinsic value and become transcendent, a sound bite short cut for a host of emotions and a common, shared history. Today is September 11 – 9/11, as it were. I still remember [...]
Voice of the movies Don LaFontaine dead at 68
Editor's NotesEditor, writer, producer and internationally known voice-over artist Don LaFontaine has died at the age of 68. You may not know the name, but I guarantee you know the voice. Check out this clip from YouTube as evidence: Rest in peace, Don. I always loved listening to you.
An Inconvenient pause
Editor's NotesI watched Davis Guggenheim’s An Inconvenient Truth for the fourth time last night, and I have to say, it stands the test of time fairly well. Who knew that a few university lectures and a couple of clips of Al Gore pondering his laptop could be so engaging? But there is one scene in the [...]
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Photos
Factual Entertainment Forum 2011 - Zodiak Rights’ VP acquisitions for North America, JC Mills, moderating “Formats that Fly” at Realscreen’s Factual Entertainment Forum in Santa Monica, June 2011.