The 2016 Oscar Roundtables Are Better Than Film School
These must-watch interviews offer great insight for every filmmaker. Learn about the art and current state of the film industry from The Hollywood Reporter’s 2016 Oscar roundtables.
All images via The Hollywood Reporter
It’s that exciting time of year for filmmakers — the build up to the Academy Awards. That means it’s time for the always awesome filmmaker roundtables from The Hollywood Reporter.
This year features many well-known directors, cinematographers, producers, animators, writers, and more. Together they sit around and talk about all things related to filmmaking, from their own processes to their influences. Let’s take a look at what these filmmakers had to say about the current state of the film industry.
Director Roundtable
This year, the Oscars are full of nominations for films like The Revenant and The Martian. The 2016 Director Roundtable features Alejandro González Iñárritu (Best Director Nominee – The Revenant), Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight), Ridley Scott (The Martian), Tom Hooper (The Danish Girl), Danny Boyle (Steve Jobs), and David O. Russell (Joy).
Tarantino shares his thoughts on the theater-going experience and Iñárritu shares his belief that all the best indie filmmakers are moving to television. All the directors agree that 2015 was a great year for film, and this roundtable will absolutely suck you in from the beginning.
Producer Roundtable
Producers Ice Cube (Straight Outta Compton), Stacy Sher (The Hateful Eight), Steve Golin (The Revenant, Spotlight), Simon Kinberg (The Martian), Christine Vachon (Carol) and Scott Cooper (Black Mass) meet in this edition of the Producer Roundtable.
The producers cover the struggle of becoming a powerful female in Hollywood, finding the right directors to work with, and the legal problems of producing biopics.
Cinematographer Roundtable
This years Cinematographer Roundtable features the legendary Robert Richardson (Best Cinematography Nominee – The Hateful Eight), Masanobu Takayanagi (Spotlight), Alwin H. Küchler (Steve Jobs), Danny Cohen (Room), Mandy Walker (Truth), and Linus Sandgren (Joy).
Animator Roundtable
The Animator Roundtable features the incredibly talented directors, writers, and animators Pete Docter (Inside Out), Steve Martino (The Peanuts Movie), Roger Allers (The Prophet), Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur), Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa), Richard Starzak (Shaun the Sheep Movie).
They cover all sorts of animation, from computer animation to claymation puppets, working with actors in different cities at different times, and the difficult long process of bringing an animated film to fruition.
Writer Roundtable
The 2016 Writer Roundtable features Aaron Sorkin (Steve Jobs), Amy Schumer (Trainwreck), Emma Donoghue (Room), Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), Meg LeFauve (Inside Out), and Nick Hornby (Brooklyn).
The cover their biggest failures, the lack of female protagonists, and the difficultly of writing characters based on actual people.
Like always, these roundtables offer so much great material for any filmmaker to learn from. What were your favorite takeaways? Let us know in the comments below.
