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August 1998

On the Set with "Working Stiff"

By Lorre Fritchy
working

2nd Assistant Director Lorre Fritchy interviews Boston film director Greg Joyce.

According to writer-director Greg Joyce, the double entendre in the title Working Stiff is the most ribald aspect of his first feature film. A low-budget dramatic comedy, Working Stiff just wrapped principal shooting in and around the Boston area, including locations in Cambridge, South Boston, Salem and right in the heart of Beantown’s financial district.

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The Legal Side of Film

By Rob Sabal

Entertainment Lawyer Sandra Forman shares her advice on what to beware of when making films.

I arrived at the June meeting of the Association for Independent Video and Filmmaker’s Boston Salon a bit late and so had to grab the slightly ripped Naugahyde chair behind a desk in the back. Either the legs were cut off or there had been a manufacturing defect, because my knees boxed my ears, and my head barely peered over the desk in front of me after I landed in the seat. I’d missed the pot-luck dinner but that was OK, the reason that I’d come was to listen to a read more...

Letter from LA: Negotiations

By M.M. Goldstein

An office on the Paramount lot -- ah, who needs it.

Let's begin where we left off last month. The office at Paramount did not materialize, as we were led to believe it would, right after the July 4 Holiday, and by the time we were mid-month, we were getting antsy. We need it to do business. What's going on?

So Ruben calls Howard W. Koch and asks, and when the answer does not satisfy him ("...the guys in the office aren't moving out yet...") he pushes for a meeting. Today!

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Screenwriting Q&A

By Michele (LaMura) Meek

Professional Script Consultant Susan Kouguell offers some tips on how to make a great screenplay and how to get it sold.

NEF: What are the five (or more) most commonly made mistakes by beginning screenwriters?

  • Do not submit your script before it's ready. You have one shot, this is your calling card - your script must be perfect. If you're "sick of it," put it in a drawer for a few weeks and then look at it again with a fresh eye.
  • Do not submit a script before submitting a query letter to a potential production company. And, be sure your query letter is an attention-grabber! read more...

Super 8mm Filmmaking

By Tisha Stima from the Boston Film and Video Foundation
8cam-brwn

It's more than nostalgia -- Super 8mm film has some key advantages.

The old silent, grainy home movies of your youth...Super 8 and 8mm just seem to evoke memory. In the 1930's, 8mm film was introduced to consumers as an easy-to-use and inexpensive way of making home movies. By the late 1960’s, Super 8 cameras and their convenient new film cartridges replaced 8mm, made the medium even more accessible to the amateur because they were readily available and highly affordable. With the advent of video and camcorders, however, Super 8 was pushed aside as a consumer medium. Although camcorders, televisions and VCR’s are read more...

Review: There's Something About Mary

By Kiersten Conner-Sax
A still from "There's Something About Mary".

Providence filmmakers, the Farrelly brothers stick to wacky comedy as a follow-up to their last hit Dumb and Dumber.

I thought I was prepared for the Farelly Brothers’ new movie, There’s Something About Mary. I was ready for jokes about bodily functions, jokes about extreme physical pain, jokes about a scantily-clad Cameron Diaz. What I wasn’t ready for was a movie that took itself seriously, which is the Farellys’ only true misstep in this amusing, if somewhat slow, love story.

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A Report from the Maine International Film Festival

By Devon Damonte
pantsonfire

The first-ever Maine Film Fest pulls off a smashing success.

At a time when yet another film festival may seem like the last thing this world needs, the first Maine International Film Festival (or MIFF – winner of the prize for best festival acronym!) emerges as a testament to the importance of events like this for the vitality of film culture in New England. You won't find glitzy, star-studded parties with lines of limousines in front at MIFF. You also won't find many pretentious self-important industry types, nor screenings where you need read more...

Industry News

By Liza Camellerie
Photo from Martha's Flavor Fest.

Providence, RI legislation to help indie filmmakers, a web filmmaking tour, rumors of a Miramax film production coming to New England, and more...

This August, there’s something film-related going on in just about every town, so it’s the filmmaker/film buff/burgeoning film-whatever’s lucky month...

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A Review: Starving Artists

By Julie Wolf
A still from "Starving Artist".

A review of the Closing Night Feature for August's Woods Hole Film Festival in Cape Cod.

Starving Artists has something for everyone. Puns, anyone? Don't like puns? Don't worry; there's slapstick. Slapstick's not your bag? How about satire? Satire not satisfying? Try romance. And did I forget to mention the barrel of monkeys?

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