Category: News


  • Is YouTube’s Indie Animation Report Surfacing A Trend, Or Just Wishful Thinking?

    YouTube recently published “Animation’s New Wave,” a report touting the latest insights into independent animation on the platform. The report makes case studies of a handful of super successful shows, like Helluva Boss, (The only U.S.-based show mentioned), as well as international shows like Argentina’s Wasted, and Knights of Guinevere from Australia. The report includes…

  • The Academy Awards Ceremony Needs The “Smaller” Categories Now More Than Ever

    Every year, it seems the Academy Awards run long. And each year, the Academy and its broadcast partners try to find a way to shorten the show. I’ve always found this odd because no one seems to have an issue with the Super Bowl, or other live events going long. In theory, you broadcast these…

  • Over 38 years, the South by Southwest festival (better known as SXSW) has grown to be important for both music and film. For filmmakers, the scrappy (ahem) and indie feel of the festival in the early days, was a welcome respite from the often-stuffy feel of other festivals at the time. As the popularity of…

  • It’s Short Film Season At Kickstarter With “Long Story Short” In March

    Unless you happen to be really close to seeking funding for your next short film, this is information that might be most helpful to tuck away for next year. Nonetheless, March means the return of “Long Story Short” at Kickstarter. Of course you can put your short film project on kickstarter any time of the…

  • The 2026 Oscar-Nominated Shorts Are (Maybe) Coming To A Theater Near You

    We previously shared one of this year’s Oscar-nominated shorts that you could watch online. Well good news: A program of three feature-length presentations will be made available in theaters across the country. Each program: Live Action, Animated, and Documentary, are presented with introductions from Taikia Waititi. Most theaters showing all three programs have staggered their…

  • Be Part Of Our Experiment In Community Building!

    One of the great things about Scrappy Cinema is that we’re “human-sized.” Meaning, we can reply to all of our emails, respond on Instagram, and take the time to really learn more about people who choose to follow us here and on Instagram. (Thank you, by the way!) So now I’d like to try to…

  • A New Year Means A New Batch Of Works In The Public Domain

    The new year means a new batch of movies, songs, illustrations, and paintings have entered the public domain. In fact, we previously mentioned the Internet Archive’s Remix film contest, promoting the use of public domain materials. A quick copyright primer: United States copyright law, is, to put it mildly, not perfect. But one of the…

  • (Some) Successfully Funded Kickstarter Projects Headed To Tubi In Partnership

    Getting an independent feature made is only half the battle. Next comes the long, winding road of distribution. Well Kickstarter and Tubi hope to help. Back in June, the two companies launched “The Filmstream Collective,” a fund provided by Tubi, intended to help fund near-final projects, and get them across the finish line. The new…

  • Italian Producer Claims To Have Used An AI Director, And I’m Rolling My Eyes

    One of the guiding principles in starting this site was to write minimally about AI. Why? For one, it is covered relentlessly everywhere. Secondly, the term “AI” is often misused and applied to a wide range of things in the film world, from cataloging footage to generating “complete” films. Simply saying “AI is bad” or…

  • John Waters’ Adult Summer Camp Coming To An End

    Well, John Waters fans, it looks like you’ll only have one more chance to attend what must be (hey, we never made it) a rollicking good time. Launched in 2017, in the mountains of Connecticut, the three-day event combined a cabin stay, with Waters film festival with camp activities for adults, but with Waters twists:…