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Bill Werde reports in the Times on the sad, dumb story of End of The Century, a highly praised documentary about The Ramones made by Michael Gramaglia and Jim Fields.
The article makes it sound like the two novice filmmakers are out more than $235,000 for production and post- to make their film, even though $150K of that is to Chinagraph, a post- house where Gramaglia’s brother works, which is listed as a production company for the film. That’s how indie docs work, my friend, you get your family to do a lot of work for free. So $65K out of pocket for a feature documentary? Nice work.
No, their real problem is entirely of their own making, and it’s captured perfectly in this anecdote from the film’s screening last year at Slamdance:

Penelope Spheeris, the director of the punk rock documentary “The Decline of Western Civilization” as well as “Wayne’s World,” introduced “End of the Century” at the Slamdance festival. Afterward, she found Mr. Fields. “She was like, `Wow, do you have all the music rights?’ I was like: `Yeah! Sure! Totally!’ I had no idea what she was talking about.”

Yes, they made a movie about a band without getting rights or releases for the interviews, performances, footage, or music.
Similar thing happened to a friend of mine, whose parking lot documentary about Deadheads screened at Sundance, but the band harshed their buzz. Ultimately, they had to release it without the Dead’s music, causing it to stink like the inside of a fry god’s rusty Honda.
A rule of thumb for all you dumbass, cheapass filmmakers out there: Get and use Michael Donaldson’s Clearance & Copyright: Everything the Independent Filmmaker Needs to Know. Bonus: In Filmmaker, Donaldson talks admiringly about Morgan Spurlock’s deft lawsuit-dodging while making Supersize Me.

This Guardian exclusive wins the award for best comic timing of the week. It’s a diary of a young man who hooked up with Kevin Spacey online. Money changed hands. Drinks were plied. Gifts and trips were showered. Video was shot. But this time, apparently, no cell phones were stolen.
According to the Guardian, Spacey has set up a whole website just to meet young men who are ready to “do what it takes” to break into the film business.

In BFI’s May 2004 Sight & Sound, James Bell looks at the world of British shorts. His findings: proper support is very important, but hard to come by; when you need it most, there can be no reaction at all; when they can’t get someone else to do it with, people turn to handheld electronic devices to help them shoot, then they complain that it’s “not like the real thing”; people are going online for some action; the word “gag” comes up a lot; it rarely lasts longer than five minutes.
If this sounds suspiciously like the situation in our American shorts, just remember: in the UK, the whole thing’s funded by the government. [via GreenCine]

The classic “Cinderella story” speech from Caddyshack was written as an interstitial camera shot…Ramis took Murray aside and said, “When you’re playing sports, do you everjust talk to yourselflike you’re the announcer?”
Murray said, “Say no more,” and did his monologue in one take.
– Tad Friend’s great piece on Harold Ramis in the New Yorker.

When [I] asked about “the whole ‘Cinderella story’ from Caddyshack and that shot of Bill golfing under Mt. Fuji,” Sofia didn’t register. “I never saw it.”
Buy Caddyshack on DVD and carry it around with you. Give it –and a stern talking to–to Sofia Coppola when you see her.
Buy Murray’s book, titled–you guessed it–Cinderella Story: My Life in Golf. [Or don’t, if the “See Inside!” excerpt is any indication.]

If you’re planning to bumrush Bill Murray tonight at BAM to pitch him your 12-page script [“INT – ASSISTANT GREENSKEEPER’S HOUSE – NIGHT”], you’re a bigger chump than your ex said you were: it was Tuesday.
Don’t worry, you can still send a message “to” Bill at The Bill Murray Message Board, “just in case that actor ever visits this site”:

Date: 2/12/2004 – 9:42 PM
Name: Mickey
Comments : I am, at this moment, watching you on Letterman. and was very touched by your “psychic pull” remark re: your six children. I, admittedly, teared up as you said it – I have two children. (& love them dearly a good part of the time.) However, we are feeling that the psychic pull is more of a HAUNTING as our son enters young adulthood. I think boys should be banned! Girls are moodier and in a much more “in your face mode” but manageable. My question is, how can our 20 year old son and his two roommates generate a $400.00 cable bill for one month? We live in Vermont – not frickin’ L.A.. Please do not reply. I have had two glasses of Kendall Jackson and have NEVER before posted a message to a board/chatroom (cmpd wd?)My husband is out of town and I am just exercising a wild hair.

[4/21 Update: Check Joey’s play-by-play account of BAM’s Bill and Elvis Show at Tale of Two Cities. The line TOTC’s been waiting his whole life to hear from Jim Jarmusch (“It was so much fun getting Bill in a room with RZA and GZA.”) does absolutely nothing for me. I now feel very very stupid.]