Monthly Digest - AUGUST 2018
September 04, 2018 | Dear Producer, No. 21
MUST READ
While most producers are too weighed down in their own legal woes to read about the larger entertainment legal system, it is important to take note of two important cases announced this week.
First, Olivia de Havilland, Now 102, Will Take 'Feud' to Supreme Court with a petition that could forever impact biopics and docudramas and posing the question, what does "actual malice" mean when the genre is by definition untrue?
In the piece Justice Department To Review Decades-Old Rules for Movie Studios, the LA Times gives a brief history lesson of the landmark Supreme Court case known as the Paramount Decree that forced studios to end their ownership of theater chains, finding that the studios had illegally conspired to fix prices and monopolize the distribution and theatrical markets. However, on August 2, 2018, the Justice Department announced that it has opened a review of the case, which has regulated the ways studios distribute films to theaters for the last 70 years, leaving art house theaters and smaller indie distributors worried about the fate of their business.
However, Amazon did not exist in 1948 when the Paramount Decree case took place and is reportedly angling to purchase the prestigious art-house chain Landmark Theaters. Is it a coincidence that the Paramount Decree is now being reviewed when Amazon is announcing that they are entering the theatrical exhibition space or is there something larger at play going on?
Meanwhile, indie filmmakers are still struggling to find an audience and in a series of interviews organized by the New York Foundation for the Arts, Indie Filmmakers Break Down Their Approaches to Engaging Audiences in Unexpected Places.
Adding to the conversation of films struggling to reach an audience, The Wrap posed the long overdue question Indie Distributors So White?: How Lack of Diversity Impacts What Films Get Released.
Taking distribution matters into her own hands, Megan Griffiths Sets Independent Release for SXSW Teen Drama ‘Sadie’ and I suggest signing up for the film's newsletter to following along their Adventures In Creative Distribution.
And if you are someone who is considering taking control of the distribution of your film, check out These Are the 8 Best Movie Marketing Campaigns of 2018 (So Far) by ADWeek for a lesson in marketing.
Lastly, it was reassuring to see so many people stand up for actor Geoffrey Owens and share their personal struggles about the life of being an artist. I have been juggling three three jobs the last few months while developing projects on spec and it is easy to become discouraged by the lack of sustainability in our industry. I created Dear Producer to combat that feeling, so that none of us feel alone, and to encourage each and every one of you to challenge our industry to create better business practices for artists.
Keep Going,
Rebecca Green
Editor-in-Chief
ORIGINALS RECAP
JESSIE CREEL: The Producer/Financier Relationship From Both Perspectives
Show Me the Money!
