Crowdfunding and A Life’s Work: Advice from a Consultant
Back in the summer of 2010, when the A Life’s Work blog was just a mere baby blog, a reader took advantage of the Ask the Filmmaker feature to ask about crowdfunding: Dear Filmmaker, Have you considered using Kickstarter for A … Continued
Bristlecone Pine Trees: A Clip and an Argument Between DP and Editor
The Bristlecone Pine Tree [youtube]http://youtu.be/5cHwkHRaJTg[/youtube] Excuse Me While I Go Schizo I came across this shot while editing a sequence on bristlecone pine trees and the Milarch’s successful cloning of the Methuselah tree and I immediately got into an argument with … Continued
Cabinet of Wonder
I wrote a post about summing up A Life’s Work in one word: legacy. But there is another word that runs a close second: wonder. The work Robert Darden, Paolo Soleri, Jill Tarter, and David and Jared Milarch do keeps them … Continued
Goodbye, Neil Armstrong
Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand. Neil Armstrong
Art Films and Documentaries
1. Art Films Many years ago I gave a screenplay to a producer, a friend of a friend who had then just partnered with another producer known for making some pretty fantastic, critically acclaimed, NYC-based independent feature films. His response … Continued
Editing and Heitor Villa-Lobos
Editing: A Day in a Life I’m editing a Soleri section of the film, and it’s giving me fits. I try this. I like it. I look at a little later and I don’t like it. I change it. I … Continued
A Quote About Trees and a Calculator
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. William Blake. I’m not one for name calling, but it is certainly true that when a person like David Milarch or Jim Robbins, author of The Man Who … Continued
Grey Gardens, People Get Ready, and A Life’s Work
So having thought long and hard about what makes Gimme Shelter such a great film, this led me to thinking about another Maysles film, Grey Gardens, and what makes that so exceptional. I’ve written about Grey Gardens here and on … Continued
Robert Darden on Completing Big Work
A Life’s Work’s Robert Darden wrote a post on his blog this week about what it feels like to complete a book he’s been working on for six or seven years. The book, Nothing But Love in God’s Water: The Influence … Continued
Take My Advice, Don’t Take My Advice
Here’s a recent email exchange I had with Andy Bowley, one of the fine, fine cinematographers who worked on A Life’s Work. How we arrived at this point in our back and forth doesn’t matter. What matters is the content … Continued