Having held our SHOOT New Directors Showcase screening and panel discussion last week at the DGA Theater in New York, I’d like to briefly reflect on the event and its meaning for us.
Though SHOOT has been identifying, new, up-and-coming directorial talent for many years–on a weekly basis in terms of our news coverage, in the context of our Directors Series/Special Reports which perennially contain a feature on new directors, and in the scope of our weekly The Best Work You May Never See gallery–this is just the sixth year that SHOOT has held a formal event to showcase deserving, emerging directors.
And strange as it sounds, there’s a sense of mini-tradition that’s developed over those short six years in that we’ve seen a fair percentage of Showcase directors go on to great success. There have been many inspiring examples, perhaps most notably a year ago when David Gray, who at the time was with Hungry Man and is now at the recently formed Station, was nominated for the DGA Award as best commercial director of the year.
Just two years earlier, David Gray was included in SHOOT‘s 2005 New Directors Showcase.
Fast forward to today and, like Gray, we have a number of directors in this year’s Showcase who came from the ad agency creative side of the business, including: Ryan Ebner, now with HSI Productions, Harold Einstein of Station, and Brian Billow who recently joined Hungry Man from DDB Chicago.
But talented directors come from everywhere and anywhere. I was talking recently to Michael Sagol, executive producer of CaviarLA who told me how he “discovered” Keith Schofield who is in this year’s New Directors Showcase. (See this week’s Production Companies Series feature for the thoughts of Sagol and other production house executives on finding and developing directorial talent.)
Sagol first met Schofield due to pure serendipitous circumstance. It was back when Sagol was in the production services business sharing office space in Venice, Calif., with another company. The vault guy of that other shop was making some offbeat experimental music videos, some for his own amusement and bemusement.
Sagol saw something special in the work but had to wait ’til he got situated in a production company a year later to take a chance–and make a commitment–to this “vault guy,” Keith Schofield, whose work on this year’s Showcase reel is Jennie-O’s “Wrestling” out of BBDO Minneapolis. Originally a web viral piece, “Wrestling” generated such a buzz that BBDO took it to television.
It’s these kinds of “discoveries” and the career progression that has taken hold for many of our Showcase directors over the past six years that make our involvement in this event so gratifying–and at the same time they speak volumes about not only each Showcase director’s filmmaking talent but also his or her perseverance, which is evident in so many ways.
This year was the toughest yet for us to pare down the field of directors up for consideration into our final annual Showcase. Rest assured that we will keep tabs not only on our Showcase directors but the many deserving others who just missed the cut.
“Se7en” Turns 30, Gets A Special Restoration From David Fincher For Its Re-Release
For David Fincher, seeing “Se7en” in 4K was an experience he can only describe as harrowing. That or a high school reunion.
“There are definitely moments that you go, ‘What was I thinking?’ Or ‘Why did I let this person have that hairdo’?” Fincher said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
He’s OK with the film being a product of its time in most respects. But some things just could not stand in high-definition resolution.
“It was a little decrepit, to be honest,” said Fincher. “We needed to resuscitate it. There are things you can see in 4K HDR that you cannot see on a film print.”
Ever the perfectionist, he and a team got to work on a new restoration of the film for its 30th anniversary re-release. This weekend the restored “Se7en” will play on IMAX screens for the first time in the U.S. and Canada, and on Jan. 7, the 4K UHD home video version will be available as well.
The dark crime thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker and starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as a pair of detectives looking for a serial killer was somewhat of a career-reviver for Fincher, whose directorial debut “Alien 3” had not gone well. “Se7en” was not a sure thing: It was made for only $34 million (and only got that when Fincher managed to persuade studio execs to give up $3 million more). But it went on to earn more than $327 million, not accounting for inflation, and continues to influence the genre.
Fincher has over the years overseen several restorations of the film (including one for laser disc) but decided this needed to be the last. It’s why he insisted on an 8K scan that they could derive the 4K from. He wanted to ensure that it wouldn’t have to be repeated when screens get more... Read More