The Scribe’s Eye View and Other Links
You set ’em up and I’ll knock ’em down. My new moment is filled with the award-winning screenwriting talents of Wendy Okoi-Obuli at scribeseyeview.com. She recommends Passed Caring for me and I gave a £50 note to the cab driver to download and read it. You should read it too—at least to get my £50-note reference. I can clearly see Idris Elba dressed to kill with a flawless North American accent starring in this slick Masterpiece-Theatre-style production! All we have to do next is find out whether Rokia Traore can act so she gets the starring role! I’m not trying to insult the great Clare-Hope Ashitey because she’s the safe fallback in case Ms. Traore does not work out…
Yes, we have Nollywood—but, by now, we should be taking for granted a cottage industry of African-flavored, cosmopolitan, independent filmmaking that is just like Blair Underwood and Tim Reid’s Asunder or Pete Chatmon’s Premium (currently on Hulu.com)—except that there is a smooth, seasoned international flair. This internationalism breaks political boundaries and artificially small social cliques. It opens the production up into a space in which screenwriters like Ms. Okoi-Obuli can realize their vision on the silver screen.
“Francis Ford Coppola Sees Cinema World Falling Apart”
Bloomberg.com: “‘It’s a period of incredible change,’ says the director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. ‘We used to think of six, seven big film companies. Every one of them is under great stress now. Probably two or three will go out of business and the others will just make certain kind of films like Harry Potter—basically trying to make Star Wars over and over again, because it’s a business.’”
“Roger Ebert’s Journal: Darwin, My Hero Archives”
Roger Ebert: “But the fact remains that the economic model for indie films is troubling. Small low-budget films will continue to be made, because their directors need to make them. But will they be seen? One answer, I think, is to treat every non-studio film that opens in your town as a seven-day run. It won’t be held over until you get there.”