BREAKING: Word Circulates that Discovery Films is No More

With two major films due in the coming months - Werner Herzog's ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, which THINKFilm is to release, and James Marsh's acclaimed Sundance winner MAN ON WIRE due from Magnolia - word is spreading that Discovery Films may be about to close and in fact may have already ceased most operations.  It appears that Executive Producer Andrea Meditch has already exited the company.

In conversations last week and over the weekend, four separate people told me that the closure of the Discovery Films unit will be announced shortly. 

Focused on theatrical, high profile documentary projects, Discovery Films had previously produced Herzog's GRIZZLY MAN and was involved with IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON.  There are extremely high hopes for the theatrical potential of MAN ON WIRE, considered by many to be one of the top nonfiction films of the year.

In a February piece in the Hollywood Reporter about the theatrical aspirations of cable networks (Discovery Films was a unit of the Discovery TV networks), it was reported that Discovery planned to be involved in 2-4 films per year.

There had already been considerable speculation about Discovery's ongoing sponsorship of the AFI Silverdocs film festival, with word circulation that Discovery would scale back its participation in the festival.

The news about Discovery Films comes on the heels of a tumultuous week in indie film - the shuttering of both Picturehouse and Warner Independent as well as Cablevision's apparent purchase of Sundance Channel.  All of the developments have to potential to have a major effect on nonfiction filmmaking.

Comments

[Arne]

I know in some ways all these developments sound difficult for the doc world, but I actually think they are necessary and helpful corrections. Perhaps with the folding of specialty units of large conglomerates, independent distributors who actually care about the movies they distribute will be able to thrive more readily. And the specialty houses that are left will stay closer to the ground. It's always been my feeling that the more these larger companies spent zillions on a potential doc-hit and then pulled it into ignominy when they didn't perform up to expectations, the worse things got for the bulk of documentary filmmakers. Perhaps a smaller, boutique-type distributor like Zeitgeist or Balcony or Shadow or new companies that may crop up in the vacuum will be the ones to benefit from docs that do moderately good business instead of them being bombs for bigger companies at the same Box Office levels. Warner Independent, et al, tend to distort our expectations and perceptions of doc-distribution, mostly because the companies they are owned by couldn't care less about holding your important movie in a theater for one more week so 100 more people can see it.

[Erin Donovan]

I'm disheartened by all the grim news for indies this week but ultimately agree with Arne.

We're in a period of transition with all the potential new outlets to connect viewers with films -- it just feels like a waste of time, talent and resources to see these distributors try to sell docs by cramming them into the narrative mold.