David Poland on the Trouble with Trouble

It's worth noting a piece written tonight by David Poland on his new Hot Button blog about our writing here on the travails of THINKFilm (as well as Nikki Finke's writing on the financial state of Capitol Films and the Weinstein Co.).  While Nikki gets the brunt of David's ire (no surprise there), he offers a caution for us, as well:

"There are two stories on the web today that may be 100% true… but also concern me deeply. It’s not about pulling back the curtain. That’s the job. But there is a kind of malignancy in the idea that what has always been gossip is now being published by bloggers as “news”… and then, followed up on, even without any real confirmations of anything nefarious, as a way of self-glorifying… even getting down to the “send me your complaints about people who pay you late so I can humiliate them too!” gamesmanship. But who can blame Ms Finke for her gutter urges. They have gotten her so much attention so far!

When AJ Schnack sends out a blog entry as "BREAKING," when it is, in fact, neither breaking or news, you have to wonder. Again… the unnamed sources who are trying to get paid – and there has been quiet talk that Think paid Alex Gibney off almost completely after he ran a threat through Stu Van Airsdale at Defamer –  may be telling the story 100% straight.  Or they may not. 

The reason there are rules in journalism on sourcing is not because some crazy ass sources are not sometimes right… but because once someone is smeared in the press, it is hard to take it back.

Capitol and Think may be going under. They may not. But the feeding frenzy around their troubles tends to make a lot of assumptions… some of which may be true and others which may not be."

I responded to Poland's post on his site, but the gist of it is this:

I think it would be a huge blow if THINKFilm were to bow out of the indie film world and particularly a blow to the potential of nonfiction theatrical distribution (even if the company is not as interested in docs as they were a year and a half ago).  However, no one is served (particularly filmmakers and vendors who have working relationships with THINK) to pretend that a situation is rosy (or benign) if it is becoming malignant. 

There are always rumors and people are always slow in getting paid.  Sometimes it feels like the whole indie film world is one paycheck away from boarding up the windows.  I've had the personal experience of losing tens of thousands of dollars when a distribution company went bankrupt without notice.  It was certainly not pleasant (in fact, it's a burden that continues to this day) but I don't think I've ever mentioned it here.

It's been a rough couple of weeks.  I've written two pieces - this morning's story about THINK and one about the shuttering of Discovery Films - which had not been reported elsewhere.  In both cases, I sought and received confirmation from someone who didn't have a rooting interest in the outcome before printing the stories.  If there are mistakes - or if someone has a different take - I hope you'll contribute to the discussion.

It should be noted that Variety has now gone to press with a new story that backs up my post from Wednesday morning.