One Week Later, Mostly Sadness Over Gibney v. THINK

With the firing of the starter's pistol in the case of Alex Gibney, et al v. THINKFilm (and the subsequent war of words between Gibney and THINKFilm topper Mark Urman), the past few days have mainly been a chance for a variety of folks to weigh in on the situation, and the response, not entirely suprisingly, is mostly sadness all around.

indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez kicked things off earlier this week with a detailed piece on Gibney's lawsuit and a further response from Urman:

"'We believed in Alex's film, we invested and incurred debt to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, so that he could win an Oscar. He did not thank us on Oscar night and he certainly shows no gratitude today," Urman said this weekend. "His film was resoundingly uncommercial and yet we supported it and got it into the history books. How sad that victory was not enough for Mr. Gibney.'"

David Poland weighed in on Monday, acknowledging that his Movie City News is owed money by think - "All of us...know that the bills are not being paid." - and concurring that Gibney's lawsuit is likely an effort to get the rights back to TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE:

"Alex can blame THINK for not spending enough money promoting the film after the win. He can argue that there was a bigger theatrical life for his film and that THINK blew it. But it would be a real feat to prove actionable negligence, unless he has some specific inside info that has not yet become public.

I would assume that this whole thing is simply a play by the very, very smart Mr. Gibney to get back the rights to his Oscar winning movie from a company he is disappointed with and who he fears, reasonably, might soon sell off his property to someone else. And I would assume that Mark Urman, who has been pushed hard by Gibney and is under enormous pressure in a community that he has been a respected and hard-working member of for a long time, is slapping back at Gibney because he has just had it.

(....)

So in closing… Gibney’s claim is goofy, yet the effort is understandable and, I am pretty sure, honorable. Urman’s smackback is goofy, yet the reaction is understandable, and I am pretty sure, honorable. Gibney would not be the first person to scream, “Cut me loose of this nightmare,” before an anticipated ax falls. But his actions do make it harder for others to trust Think as the company tries to move into the future. And if producers won’t get into bed with the company, the company can’t stop itself from dropping out of business in time."

Later, Cinematical's Kim Voynar described herself as "very torn" between "one of my favorite documentary filmmakers" and "one of the most prolific distributors of indie film in recent years".  The title of her post wondered if we all shouldn't start cutting THINK a break:

"I hope very much that the folks at THINKfilm are able to straighten things out at their end, reach agreements with all the filmmakers and advertising firms with whom they have disputes, and come out with their heads above water, in a position to continue championing films. With the folding of Picturehouse and Warner Independent, the world of indie filmmaking is feeling a massive crunch right now, and the last thing indie filmmakers need is to lose THINKfilm, whose president, Mark Urman, is a pretty brilliant guy and a real champion of independent filmmaking."

Early yesterday, the NY Times covered the story in an article from Charles Lyons.  There wasn't a great deal of new information in the piece, which ties the "feud" between Gibney and Urman to a larger set of woes in the indie film world (and a much blogged about speech by former Warner Independent head Mark Gill at the LA Film Festival last weekend).  The bottom line for those of us in the documentary game should come as surprise to no one:

"While never a major player in independent dramatic films, THINKFilm has quietly made its niche a cache of smart documentaries. A reduced THINKFilm would make it even tougher for independent documentary filmmakers to find a distributor, and a reduction seems likely."

Variety's Anne Thompson followed up with a posting this afternoon that fleshes out some of the financial troubles within the THINK/Capco family:

"By all accounts, while library-builder Bergstein has long held a reputation for poorly managing “distressed” enterprises, ThinkFilm was “funky,” as one employee put it, ever since its formation seven years ago. When Bergstein bought it in October 2006 for $18 million plus $5 million in debt, the specialty distrib only got fudgier. When the Toronto office was shut down recently, four years of unpaid minimum guarantees on several straight-to-video films were revealed.

Bergstein has too many fingers in too many pies. He has plowed tens of millions of dollars that could have been used to pay ThinkFilm’s bills into such pictures as The Wendell Baker Story, which flopped, the Jennifer Lopez film Bordertown, which went straight to video, the genre film Bad Meat, Taylor Hackford’s Love Ranch, and David O. Russell’s Nailed, the film production from hell, which has been shut down four times for not meeting its payroll. “Millions of dollars go into the bank from The Devil Knows You’re Dead,” says one ThinkFilm exec. “Then it evaporates and we can’t pay our bills. All our money went to David O. Russell. The walls keep moving, the writing changing. We owe so many people so much money.'"

Meanwhile, films that once were slated for a release via THINK - including Sundance hit MOMMA'S MAN - are quietly being shifted to other distributors.  There've been reports of difficulty surrounding the supposed-to-be-imminent theatrical release of ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED.

Sadness all around.