This Machine News
D.A. Pennebaker Award Presented To R.J. Cutler At The Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
The D.A. Pennebaker Award was presented to documentarian R.J. Cutler at The Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. The award, formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award, is named in honor of Pennebaker, a past winner. It was presented to Cutler by Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s longtime collaborator and widow.
Billie Eilish Speaks Out About Oscar-Contending Film Documenting Her Rise To Fame: “It Was Not Acting… It Was Real Life Footage”
There’s an emotional realness to singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, a disinclination to disguise experience behind euphemism or pretense. It manifests in her music and in Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, the Oscar-contending documentary that follows her on her journey to global stardom. In the film directed by R.J. Cutler Eilish doesn’t censor dark moments from her past, occasional frustrations attendant to fame, and a major romantic disappointment—young love ultimately unrequited.
Here are the nominees for the 2021 People's Choice Awards
Awards season is here once more, and it's almost time for the ceremony that gives the power to the people. On Wednesday, NBC and E! announced the nominees and the start of voting for the 2021 People's Choice Awards, which span 40 categories and numerous forms of entertainment across movies, television, music, and pop culture.
'Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry' Nominated for 'Best Music Documentary' at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards
Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry Nominated for 'Best Music Documentary' at the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. Winners will be revealed at a gala event Sunday November 14 at BRIC in Brooklyn, NY. National Geographic Documentary Films is the Presenting Sponsor. Catalyst Sponsors are HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix and Showtime Documentary Films.
‘Billie Eilish’ Director R.J. Cutler on How Ted Sarandos Helped Him Predict the Documentary Boom
Before Netflix had grown into a world-conquering streaming giant, “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” director R.J. Cutler would routinely bump into the company’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos on the film festival circuit. Netflix was still a DVD-by-mail rental service at the time, and Sarandos confided to him that “The War Room” – Cutler’s Oscar-nominated Bill Clinton campaign doc – was among its most popular rentals.
‘Dear…’ Showrunner Donny Jackson Inks First-Look With R.J. Cutler’s This Machine
Emmy-winning nonfiction producer Donny Jackson has inked a first-look deal with This Machine, the banner from documentary director R.J. Cutler. The duo has frequently worked together in the past and is currently in production on the upcoming season of Apple TV+ series Dear…, on which Jackson serves as the showrunner. Their previous credits include the Sundance Award-winning The September Issue.
Person Place Thing: R. J. Cutler
His first feature-length documentary, The War Room, was Oscar-nominated. He won an Emmy for American High, a TV series. Years earlier he received this professional tip from his mentor, D. A. Pennebaker: “You’re not a director until you wake up screaming in the middle of the night.” Apparently I am a director. As are we all.
‘Billie Eilish’ Director R.J. Cutler To Receive Pennebaker Honor At Critics Choice Documentary Awards
Emmy-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler will be presented with the Pennebaker Award at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, honoring lifetime achievement, the Critics Choice Association announced Thursday. The presentation will take place Sunday, November 14, as part of the sixth annual edition of the documentary awards show, at BRIC in Brooklyn. During the event the Critics Choice group will hand out a slew of competitive awards, including Best Documentary Feature, Best Director and Best First Documentary Feature.
‘Supreme Models’ Lands At YouTube
Supreme Models, which premieres in fall 2022, is inspired by Marcellas Reynolds’ book Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion. It is a six-part series that will pay tribute to the Black women who broke down barriers and transformed the fashion and beauty industries. It comes from R.J. Cutler’s This Machine and supermodel Iman, and is exec produced by Cutler, Iman, Marcellas Reynolds, Trevor Smith, Jane Cha Cutler, Douglas Keeve, Rolake Bamgbose, and Donny Jackson.
Jenna Rosher / ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry’
Billie Eilish had just turned 18 when she swept the board at the 2020 Grammys, winning five awards, including best new artist and album. If not quite an overnight sensation her stratospheric success and remarkable musical maturity was bred in concert with her brother and song writing partner at the family’s modest home in LA.
‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry' Nominated For Grierson Award
The Grierson Trust commemorates the pioneering Scottish documentary maker John Grierson: the man widely regarded as the father of the documentary. Each year, The Trust celebrates the best documentary filmmaking from Britain and around the world with the British Documentary Awards - more fondly known as the Griersons.
Margaret Yen Joins R.J. Cutler’s This Machine As SVP Of Music
At the production company founded by Emmy-winning documentarian R.J. Cutler (Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry), she’ll work alongside senior execs Trevor Smith and Elise Pearlstein, overseeing and growing Cutler’s slate of music-driven projects.
The Rough Cut Podcast: ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry’ Editors Greg Finton and Lindsay Utz
Editors Greg Finton ACE and Lindsay Utz ACE hadn’t worked together prior to Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, but they each had plenty of experience in the world of unscripted storytelling to bring to the table for director R.J. Cutler’s film. The story centers around singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and reveals the behind the scenes creation process of her debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry' Shortlisted For Grierson Award
The Grierson Trust commemorates the pioneering Scottish documentary maker John Grierson: the man widely regarded as the father of the documentary. Each year, The Trust celebrates the best documentary filmmaking from Britain and around the world with the British Documentary Awards - more fondly known as the Griersons.
‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry' Receives 4 Emmy Nominations
Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry has received 4 Emmy nominations in the following categories: Outstanding Picture Editing For A Nonfiction Program, Outstanding Music Direction, Outstanding Sound Editing For A Nonfiction Or Reality Program (Single Or Multi-Camera) and Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Nonfiction Or Reality Program (Single or Multi-Camera).
In ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry’ Clip, Singer-Songwriter Reveals Event That Led To “Most Depressing Year”
The Emmy-contending documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry creates a remarkably intimate portrait of the young recording artist, following her on tour, at home, revisiting dark moments in her life, negotiating fame and the ups and downs of romantic love.
BELUSHI | Q&A with R. J. Cutler & Judy Belushi Pisano
Q&A for BELUSHI with documentary filmmaker R. J. Cutler and Judy Belushi Pisano, moderated by Pete Hammond.
![Director R.J. Cutler Talks ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry’ & The Beauty Of Cinéma Vérité [The Playlist Podcast]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6060ceed767b907b285bfb6d/1617494959843-1MS5DSWRR32Z16RI7RE7/BIL_Feature_PS_0002R_f.jpg)
Director R.J. Cutler Talks ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry’ & The Beauty Of Cinéma Vérité [The Playlist Podcast]
Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock, you’re probably well aware of the name Billie Eilish. The young singer has become one of the biggest names in the music industry and has a legion of devoted fans around the world. But even if you’re completely unfamiliar with the work of Eilish, you’ll still probably really enjoy the recent documentary, “Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry.”
Netflix Orders R.J. Cutler-Directed Docu Series Based On Book ‘Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise Of Juul’
Netflix has ordered a documentary series based on Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul, the new Henry Holt book by Time Magazine correspondent Jamie Ducharme. Series will be directed and executive produced by R.J. Cutler, who’s coming off the Showtime docu Belushi and Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry for Apple TV+ and Neon. Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will be exec producers for Amblin Television, alongside Elise Pearlstein and Trevor Smith for This Machine, and Ian Orefice and Rebecca Teitel for Time Studios.
Trust with his subject takes R.J. Cutler’s Billie Eilish film to a new level of intimacy
interchangeable. But producer-director R.J. Cutler went back to the source to inspire his Apple TV+ project “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry.” The two-hour, 20-minute film, which premiered in February, tracks the teenage Eilish and her older brother Finneas as they write and record her debut album in a now-famous cramped bedroom studio. The camera follows closely as Eilish performs a string of concerts and eventually triumphs at the Grammy Awards amid all the stress and insecurities of adolescence, amplified by eruptive stardom.