UPDATE:
Film distribution is hard work. Perhaps even harder than making the film. It's also a skill that's beyond most independent filmmakers who consider themselves artists rather than marketers.
Most filmmakers begin the behemoth process of film distribution with great energy and enthusiasm. But if they don't find success, if the challenges are just too tough, they call it quits. They stop trying and the film dies.
Before the above happens, consider partnering with CINEMAflix DISTRIBUTION. Let us do it all for you. We will hold your hand, walk you through the deadly mine fields, and show you the way to successfully and economically distribute your film.
We follow a set process: First we book your film in a well-known art house theater in New York and/or Los Angeles. We then hook you up with a talented publicist who will contact the film critics, write and send press releases, set up interviews (when possible), reach out to selective organizations and clubs, and compile and distribute production notes. We'll also encode and prepare your film for the digital platforms and cable VOD. As an extra bonus, we'll market DVDs of your film with the major DVD wholesalers. In other words, we thoroughly and comprehensively cover all bases.
NEWS BRIEF:
Conde Nast has hired Dawn Ostroff to adapt to TV and the digital platforms the thousands of articles that appeared in their magazines, particularly GQ, VOGUE, THE NEW YORKER, and VANITY FAIR. They opened their first major film, the $38 million firefighter drama, 'Only the Brave,' based on a GQ feature about the tragic inferno in Arizona that killed 19 firefighters. Conde Nast has 35 movies in development with such A-listers as Alexander Payne and Frank Marshall.---Tatiana Siegel, The Hollywood Reporter.
THE START OF THE HOLLYWOOD BLACKLIST:
On November 25, 1947, heads of the top Hollywood studios met at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and decreed that actors and writers involved in any past or present communist activities, will be banned from working in films. They cited the Hollywood 10, who refused to cooperate with the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). All 10 served up to a year in prison and were fined $1,000.00. Much of the country was totally convinced that there was indeed a commie threat. The House of Representatives voted 346 to 17 to approve the contempt citations of the Hollywood 10.
In 1951, HUAC found a way to round up hundreds of Hollywood commies. They now required film industry professionals to name names. If they refused, they were not allowed to work. Actor Larry Parks, who launched his career with outstanding performances in two Al Jolson movies, pleaded with the panel:
Don't present me with the choice of either being in contempt and going to jail or forcing me to crawl through the mud to be an informer. I don't think this is American. I don't think this is American justice.
He drew not an ounce of sympathy from the panel. In desperation, he named names.
Philip Loeb, a beloved actor, was forced to leave the TV sitcom, The Goldbergs, and eventually committed suicide. Dozens of blacklisted actors and writers lost spouses and suffered irreparable financial losses. Writer Lillian Hellman refused to name names and eloquently stated the following before the Committee:
To hurt innocent people whom I knew many years ago in order to save myself is, to me, inhuman and indecent and dishonorable. I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashion.
Hellman was unemployed for the next 8 years.
Elia Kazan was not at first a friendly witness. After a few career setbacks, he named names. One of them was Philip Loeb. After Kazan's testimony, writer Dalton Trumbo wrote that Kazan is one of those for whom I have the utmost contempt because he carried down men much less capable of defending themselves.
The carnage of ruined lives started to end in 1960 because of a few courageous people who refused to ban talented actors and writers who were unfairly blacklisted. Alfred Hitchcock hired actor Norman Lloyd for his television series. Otto Preminger announced that Dalton Trumbo was the writer of his film Exodus. Kirk Douglas forced the studio to recognize Trumbo as the writer of Spartacus. Producer Sam Spiegel revealed that it was blacklisted Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman who wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Actors Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Danny Kaye, and director John Huston actively protested the accusations made by the HUAC.
In all the years of investigations and hearings of the film industry, HUAC failed to find one single active Communist and no evidence of anyone in Hollywood trying to undermine the government. What it did accomplish was wreck lives and destroy careers. Patrick McGillan, who wrote a book about this period, stated that it was a cultural holocaust, a tragedy from which the industry has never fully recovered.
FILM EXCHANGE:
A few weeks ago I threw out the question of whether you would be willing to pay $30 to watch a film on TV that was currently playing at a nearby theater. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Yes, they were willing to do so because many people could gather to watch the film on TV at the same time. So the cost on a per-person basis was considerably less than the cost of a theater ticket. Not surprising when a few New York theaters are now charging $18.
