In The News

“As Hollywood crawls toward some version of normalcy amid the coronavirus pandemic, we at Variety have been curious about how the day-to-day work of film and television production would resume. After an invitation from two indie film producers — Maurice Fadida and Eric B. Fleischman — to visit the set of The Knocking”, I was able to observe the meticulous new protocols in action.

However, a major takeaway from my time on the set of “The Knocking,” Fadida and Fleischman’s low-budget horror project from writer-directors Matt Leslie and Stephen Smith, was a fierce commitment to filmmaking in the most unpredictable circumstances. Here are some glimpses from life on a post-COVID film set.”

“The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Public Programs is accepting applications for the Media Projects program. The purpose of this program is to support collaboration between media producers and scholars to develop humanities content and to prepare documentary film, television, radio, and podcast projects that engage public audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways. All projects must be grounded in humanities scholarship. Media Projects makes awards at two levels: Development and Production.”

The deadline for this funding opportunity is January 5, 2021.

From the job description: “The Photographer/Videographer will photograph and videotape high-quality images and productions for use in University of Maine and University of Maine at Machias communications and marketing efforts, including student recruitment publications, annual reports, news releases, magazines, promotional and informational displays, scholarly journals, websites and social media content, and other projects as assigned.

Job location is Orono.

The guidelines offered are meant to be used in conjunction with “The Safe Way Forward” issued by the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and Teamsters and the “Basic Crafts and the Industry White Paper” issued by the Industry Wide Labor Management Safety Committee Task Force.

Areas covered include:

1. Summary of COVID-19 Safety Mandates
2. Greenlight / Startup Questions
3. Prepro Recommendations
4. Red Light Protocols
5. Code of Conduct
6. Health and Safety Dept Description
7. Budget Considerations
8. Notes from the Field

The Maine Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD) in partnership with the Maine Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) will provide grants of up to $5,000 for businesses with five or fewer employees, with an owner whose income is in a low to moderate range as defined by the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).