All these wonderful things

John Horn Ponders Struggling Theatrical of Green Docs But Forgets, Ahem, EARTH

So we wake up this morning to a tweet from The Auteurs Daily that read:

John Horn: Enviro docs struggling at box office.

Oh my. 

We knew right away that Horn, a favorite of ours, would be trying to wrap the somewhat disappointing numbers for THE COVE (should it have been a $4 million grosser instead of, what appears will be, a $2 million dollar grosser?) into a larger sky-is-falling treatise on the difficulties besetting theatrical docs.  We've been here before - remember when Horn declared that the failure of YOUNG@HEART (which stopped a hair short of $4M) was proof that documentaries had lost "theatrical muscle".

THE COVE's difficulties are central to Horn's latest article, which is headlined Environmental movies have a green problem: money, but the rest of the piece is kind of a muddle.  Sure, FOOD INC. is doing "remarkably well" according to Horn ($3.6 million to date) but why didn't the Oscar nominated THE GARDEN do better ($27K)?  Horn doesn't see much theatrical future for DIRT! THE MOVIE but anticipates NO IMPACT MAN could be a big hit.

Faux-Outrage of the Week: Youth Culture is Killing THE HURT LOCKER

It all started with a throwaway line in a John Horn column.

You remember John Horn, the LA Times writer who we like to pick on for declaring YOUNG@HEART an unmitigated disaster (what with box office topping out just shy of $4 million).  Well, in a recent column, Horn wrote about the surprising success of Kathryn Bigelow's excellent new film THE HURT LOCKER, which - at the time - had just passed $7 million and seemed like it was eluding the box office troubles that beset other Iraq War films (both narrative and documentaries).

In the midst of praising Summit Entertainment (the upstart distributor behind the TWILIGHT franchise) for their handling the release of the film, Horn suggests a possible dark lining for his silver cloud:

"For all of the film's early commercial and critical achievements, Summit now faces a HURT LOCKER test nearly as tricky as the film's central theme of disabling Iraqi improvised explosive devices. Younger moviegoers are not flocking to the film, which could limit its ticket sales."

Something about that last line has shaken both Roger Ebert and blogger Jeffrey Wells to their very core, leading both to write hysterical, sky-is-falling screeds against young people for turning their backs on such cinematic excellence.

Says America's favorite film critic in a posting entitled - get ready for it, "THE GATHERING DARK AGE":

"If I mention the cliché "the dumbing-down of America," it's only because there's no way around it. And this dumbing-down seems more pronounced among younger Americans. It has nothing to do with higher educational or income levels. It proceeds from a lack of curiosity and, in many cases, a criminally useless system of primary and secondary education. Until a few decades ago, almost all high school graduates could read a daily newspaper. The issue today is not whether they read a daily paper, but whether they can." (emphasis his)

Wells goes even further:

"Excuse me? The Young and the Empty are paying to see big-studio CG crap but they're steering clear of a genuinely cool, gripping and seriously thrilling film that is unquestionably among the year's best and which runs circles around the filmmaking chops of Michael Bay and Stephen Sommers? And the youth of the nation can't be bothered? There's really and truly something wrong with these guys, honest to God. A deficiency in their souls."

Balderdash.

Variety Axes Vet Anne Thompson, Fest Editor Mike Jones in Layoff

Monday, Variety announced that it was laying off 30 employees, with editor Peter Bart claiming, "The modest staff cuts will in no way compromise the editorial integrity of Variety or Daily Variety."

By late afternoon, however, it was clear that the two most visible and trusted Variety reporter/bloggers - particularly to those of us in the indie film community - were amongst those let go: veteran reporter Anne Thompson and Variety.com Film Festival editor Mike Jones, an indieWIRE and Filmmaker Magazine veteran.

Thompson, who wrote her Risky Business blog for The Hollywood Reporter before she decamped for Variety and launched Thompson on Hollywood, is particularly bewildering.  Few are able to balance coverage of studios and indies as well as Thompson does.  And, true to her being a real reporter, she has better sources and a more inquisitive mind than nearly anyone who writes about the industry on a regular basis.

In a posting on her blog announcing the news, Thompson held out hopes for the continuance of her blog:

"Variety and I are in talks about continuing to host the blog, but I am also fielding other interest. For the past few months I have been actively involved in a web start-up which is in stealth mode; details will be available soon. And I will continue teaching film criticism at USC and hosting Sneak Previews at UCLA Extension.

And then there's that book...

Stay tuned. The blog isn't going anywhere."

As of early Tuesday morning, Jones had yet to post on his The Circuit blog about the layoffs.

Update: Tuesday night - As Ray Pride notes in the comments, Jones posted his farewell this morning and it's a beaut:

"The blossoming depression is now an inevitable part of all small talk.  Hard to even call the talk small.  Yet in the wake of a 70,000-plus job loss yesterday, the magnitude of what the country faces threatens to make the individual story smaller.  It's important to remember the stories above this drone of newspaper statistics and bad news avalanche.  The news will get worse.  We'll rely on filmmakers and artists to make some sense of it all, or to at least shift our gaze.  Which is frankly just as good.
 
And that task is the film festival's job -- to put up stories in that great black box, on that giant screen, with that enveloping sound system, and under the influence of a room full of moody strangers.  All without a pause button.  Film festivals are cinema's art gallery and in an economic crisis it is a cheap temple to worship at.  For me, it's the best worship around."

Esther B. Robinson Bemoans Time Out NY's List of 40 (Mostly-White) Icons

Esther B. Robinson, longtime fixture of the independent film scene in New York and the Cinema Eye nominated director of A WALK INTO THE SEA: DANNY WILLIAMS AND THE WARHOL FACTORY, recently sent a letter to friends to call attention to Time Out NY's recent listing of 40 favorite folks from the last 13 years in New York.  I'm reprinting her email here, with her permission:

Dear Friends,

Two weeks ago Time Out NY  featured the Top 40 list of New Yorkers who have made a "lasting, positive impact" on NYC in the last 13 years. The cover featured a group of prominent individuals who have in fact made a positive impact on this city, but only three people of color made the list - Jay-Z, Derek Jeter and Junot Diaz.  

To make matters worse..... the editor's response as to why there were so few people of color mentioned, was New York is "a city whose cultural elite have been mainly white." The entire response gets much worse (see link below).

I am writing because I think it is essential that people write Time Out (especially if you have a personal connection to any of their writers and/or editors), send a response to Editor Michael Freidson, post a response at the link below and forward your response widely to people that will care and respond.

What is revealed in the Freidson's letter (linked to above) is the closed cultural world of Time Out.

Same As It Ever Was: Hating the East Coast Media in Robert Drew's PRIMARY

It's always a good time to reacquaint oneself with the Drew Associates masterworks PRIMARY and CRISIS, but watching them anew in the midst of a presidential campaign (aided by Docurama's recent release of the two films in a Robert Drew boxset) is always an eye-opener.

For anyone who thinks that the McCain/Palin campaign's battle against the media or "east coast elites" is somehow new to our political dialogue, there, in the midst of the Wisconsin primary of 1960 stands Senator Hubert Humphrey:

"Now gentlemen, I am one of the candidates in your Wisconsin presidential primary race.  We’re going to have an election here, Tuesday, April the 5th.   Now this election is obviously a very important one in terms of your state.

Now my friends, during my service in the United States Senate of twelve years, I have given more time, more attention to matters of agriculture than any other one subject.  Now Senator Humphrey is not out here just to please you by these comments.  I say that Wisconsin has lost hundreds of millions of dollars of sales.  I say that the businessmen of Wisconsin have lost hundreds of dollars worth of business because of reduced farm income.  And I charge here that not a single candidate in this primary election has paid any attention to the farmer at all, except Hubert Humphrey.   And I make that statement without any boast or any claim. 

Random LA Times Thoughts on the Plane Back to Branson

En route to my country home in Branson, MO, two things from today’s LA Times worth noting (you know how I love my hometown paper).

The first is a front page story on how filming of MTV’s reality series “The Hills” (to which current doc hit AMERICAN TEEN is oft-compared) is angering residents who happen to live near character Lauren’s Hollywood home.  Seems that the address (not surprisingly) popped up online and fans have been showing up at all hours looking for the show’s stars (not to mention the paparazzi and production vehicles that are crowding the area that residents claim, pretty laughably, used to be like “Mayberry”.

So after reporting the resident’s complaints about feeling exposed, what does the Times do?  They helpfully provide a map of the house’s location AND a photo of the front of the property.

As my brother said to me, “wow, dick move, LA Times.”

Meanwhile, over in the Calendar section (it bears repeating that the previous story was on the front page), tucked away in the back, Jan Stuart’s special for the Times review of David Gordon Green’s PINEAPPLE EXPRESS never mentions, that’s right, David Gordon Green.

Now, I get that Judd Apatow and Seth Rogan are the marquee names here, but can you really write a review of PINEAPPLE without talking about how the film is the big budget, mainstream debut of one the indie film world’s favorite sons?  Really?

And did I mention that he directed the film?  Wow, dick move, LA Times.

COMMENTARY: Big Dreams for Filmanthropy at SnagFilms, But is it the Cure For What Ails Nonfiction?

As has been reported here and elsewhere, Ted Leonsis, the co-founder of AOL and, more recently, a documentary film producer whose films include NANKING and KICKING IT, took the indie film world (and particularly the doc sub-genre of same) by storm last week by announcing the launch of a new docu-centered online/alt-distribution platform called SnagFilms, and the simultaneous announcement that SnagFilms would be the new owners of indieWIRE.

As the burgeoning deal came to light late Wednesday night, many indie film watchers were trying to make sense of the developments.  One must qualify that because of the multiplicity of personal friendships involved, no one I spoke to wished anything but good for the new venture, particularly for the partnership with indieWIRE as well as hopes for more distribution options for documentary films.  But that didn't mean there weren't questions, some of them obvious - like how, aside from a deep-pocketed benefactor (specifically one with some doc producing chops), would this online venture stand out from previous efforts?

Further, a jaded blogger/filmmaker/craft advocate might hope that SnagFilms would contribute to the growing focus on the filmmaking of nonfiction features - in addition to an admirable goal of advocating for films and causes (not necessarily in that order).  The site's seeming focus on filmanthopy (as promoted by SnagFilms' founder) and social justice films may raise red flags among some filmmakers (including yours truly) who note that there already exists a substantial support structure for projects with an activist bent.  While SnagFilms execs Stephanie Sharis and Andrew Mer told me that SnagFilms was interested in the "full breadth of documentary filmmaking", they also said that SnagFilms' mission involved outreach and a focus on films that are "on the front lines of new journalism". 

One wouldn't want to dismiss "Filmanthropy" - a buzz word at festival panels over the past few years - outright.  For one thing, it's a source of funding when other mouths of monetary flow have been stilled.  Further, the ability of a film to shine a light on an issue oft ignored is a laudable goal.  But after all the sturm und drang over Errol Morris' revelation earlier this year that he occasionally gives money to his subjects, is there no one raising an eyebrow over the increasingly direct link between some nonfiction films and charity?  Has no one else been bothered by seeing "join our cause" or "sign our petition" or "go to the charity's website to give" in the closing credits of an increasing number of films lately?

Shouldn't the film itself spur someone to act by its skillful making rather than by proximity of a "donate now" button?

Regular readers of this spot know that I'm not arguing that we are journalists or that we are required to take an unbiased view of the world.  Hell, advocate for your subject to your heart's content, with my blessing (not that you'd need it).

But - and this is just a theory, so be sure to treat it as such - if there was a downturn for docs last year, it might be argued that some art house audiences weren't interested in paying good money at theatres for taking their medicine.  This may, in fact, be a great reason to advocate for what SnagFilms hopes to become.  Films could be seen directly - and more immediately - by an audience limited not by their plans for a Saturday night, but rather only by their acceptance of SnagFilms' widget.  Those looking for a  "Women's Issues" film can seek one out, same for those in search of titles related to "Health" or the "Environment".  Is it bad form to wonder aloud if instead of breaking films down by issues, we broke them down by style - Comedy, Drama, Suspense, Musical, Educational, Investigative, Cinema Verite, Reality - not unlike we do with the other film art forms.  If we're trying to broaden the acceptance and/or definition of what nonfiction can be, should we not make clear that nonfiction is not solely (or primarily) about solving the world's problems?

So, somewhat unusually for my occasional commentaries: I'm going to end on a somewhat neutral note as I raise a cautious glass in toast to friends on all sides.  Here's a hope that SnagFilms can indeed shine a light on great, neglected films, and on art generally, and bonus points if occasionally an issue or cause (or a great artist or an interesting character) gets attention in the process.  And may the indieWIRE we've come to rely on for its editorial independence and have come to admire for its transparency gain everything it needs and lose nothing it has.

INDIE FILM DOUBLE PLAY: Ted Leonsis Launches SnagFilms, A New Doc Distrib Platform, Buys indieWIRE

Major news rocked the documentary film world last week when Ted Leonsis, co-founder of AOL and, more recently, a documentary producer whose films include NANKING and KICKING IT, simultaneously announced the launch of SnagFilms, a new online distribution platform dedicated to documentary film, as well as SnagFilms' acquisition of indieWIRE, the essential online news resource about independent film and filmmaking.  Eugene Hernandez, editor-in-chief of indieWIRE since its inception 12 years ago, remains at the helm of indieWIRE, reportedly with complete editorial freedom from his new masters.  SnagFilms replaced AOL TrueStories, which went dark with the launch of the new service.

Last Wednesday, SnagFilms execs Stephanie Sharis and Andrew Mer described the service as a way to get documentary films to consumers via "over a million virtual movie theatres".  The service, by which one can watch feature length documentaries for free via a downloadable widget, launches with a library of several hundred films - perhaps the most famous of which are Morgan Spurlock's SUPER SIZE ME and Ondi Timoner's DIG!, but which also includes such noted films as SUMMERCAMP!, CAN MR. SMITH GET TO WASHINGTON ANYMORE?, BLACK WHITE + GREY, WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY?, OFF THE GRID and HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD  SnagFilms' reported goal is to grow the library substantially in the first year. 

According to two people familiar with SnagFilms' deals, filmmakers receive money based on how many ads are viewed in the course of watching a film.  Ads are sprinkled throughout a film, with each representing a new payment for a filmmaker.  Watch an entire film and the filmmaker gets the maximum payment, which one person pegged at just over a dollar.

The advertising is likely necessary to make the films available for free.  Still, it doesn't make it any less surprising to happen upon plugs for Oreo Cookie Bites and Ritz Crackers in the midst of SUPER SIZE ME or WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? 

According to Sharis and Mer, no original content is planned for the site, at least during the first year, with SnagFilms focusing on acquisitions of completed films.  Expect to see Sharis and Mer upping the company's profile at film festivals this summer and fall (Mer will be attending BritDoc in Oxford next week).

While Leonsis' dive into the indie film waters has been rumored since late last year - he had expressed dissatisfaction with THINKFilm's handling of NANKING and by last December had called for new distribution opportunities for nonfiction:

"Mr. Leonsis seemed dissatisfied with the current distribution models for documentary films, and sobered by his experience with Sundance. Of the 3,287 films submitted to the festival in 2007, he noted, only 64 were accepted for competition, and only 16 were American-made documentaries, roughly a dozen of which would receive any kind of theatrical release. Yet, he said, there are dozens of theatrical distributors, cable channels and DVD companies looking for nonfiction films and a potential audience of millions to watch them on the Internet. “When you see a bottleneck like that,” he said, “you see a real opportunity.”

Mr. Leonsis declined to elaborate on his own plans, but suggested that a confluence of Internet technology and advertising dollars might soon allow for documentaries to be seen by wider audiences outside traditional theaters and DVDs. “There’s $30 billion of advertising in search revenue, and they want to put it into YouTube videos, so you know there’s going to be some breakout things here,” he said."

Similarly, indieWIRE had been quietly looking for a new buyer for nearly as long.  Still, the marriage of the top indie film website with an active distribution portal surprised many indie film watchers.  Of chief concern to many was indieWIRE's independence, but according to an article co-written by Anne Thompson in Variety, Eugene Hernandez insisted that his editorial autonomy be written into the deal.  Hernandez also become VP in charge of editorial content for SnagFilms.

In one of the first fruits of the union, indieWIRE co-founder Mark "The Rabbi" Rabinowitz launched Docsider, a new blog dedicated to coverage of documentaries, just as both deals were announced.  (Full disclosure, I am friends with folks on both sides of this deal and have written for indieWIRE in the past.  Indiepix, which sponsors this blog's festival coverage and is a partner in the Cinema Eye Honors, is one of several production/distribution companies to allow their films to screen on SnagFilms.)

Sharis and Mer told me that the current upheavals in indie film and the dwindling options for nonfiction filmmakers were essential to Leonsis' desire to launch SnagFilms, which he founded and funded personally, despite the new company being a succession of AOL TrueStories and receiving backing from fellow AOL co-founder Steve Case. 

"Really, what Ted found when he was amongst documentary filmmakers at Sundance was that the statistics (of films being produced) was staggering," Sharis and Mer said.  "The number for production was going up and the number for distribution was going down.  He wanted to address that bottleneck."

Each film on the SnagFilms website has its own webpage, which will allow viewers to purchse a DVD and may ultimately feature original content via indieWIRE, one element of the deal that seems to still be in the planning stages.

Driven by Leonsis' view that documentary can be a powerful tool for social justice causes, there will also be a way for viewers to donate money to a cause.  While ultimately SnagFilms hopes to be able to direct funds toward a specific cause or organization featured in a film, it launches with a single philanthropic partner, Global Giving.

More background:
indieWIRE announces the deal
indieWIRE's Letter to Readers
Eugene Hernandez talks with Ted Leonsis
Hollywood Reporter on the news

A note from your blogger:  The acquisition of indieWIRE by a doc-centered entity and the launch of said doc-centered entity will, of course, prompt a variety of thoughts from these corners.  For personal thoughts on this week's big news, go here.

Why Does the LA Times Hate America? (Or: How to Use Selected Box Office Numbers to Validate Last Year's Theories)

My travel from the past week has prevented me from weighing on John Horn's piece in the LA Times last week.  Titled "Documentaries lose box office muscle", it was yet another of those "nonfiction sky is falling" pieces that conveniently ignores the current success that documentaries are having at the box office in an effort to paint the genre as truly hurting:

"Critically acclaimed films about provocative subjects struggle to make money all the time, but rarely have so many lauded documentaries consistently failed to connect at the box office. The recent nonfiction returns have been so bleak that several distributors are growing wary about taking on such highbrow works, an alarming development in a pop culture universe already dominated by "American Idol," James Frey and US Weekly."

I've often quarreled with the LA Times' coverage of documentaries, but Horn's piece is truly something for the archives.  For one, he posits the curious conclusion that YOUNG@HEART - a film that is well on its way to grossing 3.5 million - is yet another black eye on nonfiction box office performance.  It's a stretch, it is, but one that Horn continues to ride into a column yesterday, in which he exclaims that YOUNG@HEART was "dead on arrival".

Although Horn gets Steve Gilula, the COO of Fox Searchlight, to go on record saying that the distributor was disappointed given the acquisition deal (which Horn pegs at 1.5 million) and marketing costs, he closes with much seriousness on a capper from Gilula that is laughable to anyone who knows the history of Fox Searchlight's dabbling in doc features:

"I believe," says Gilula, "that we will be very cautious in considering future documentaries."

Yes, that's right kids, the company that hadn't bought a doc in more than a decade (Horn erroneously calls YOUNG@HEART Searchlight's first doc pickup) is officially now "very cautious" about acquiring nonfiction.  Someone alert the media.  (To his credit, at least Horn gets one fact right - YOUNG@HEART sold at LAFF last year, not Sundance, which the Times screwed up in an article earlier this year.)

Guess who else is skittish about documentaries? Why none other than Sony Pictures Classics' Michael Barker:

"'It's unlike anything I've seen before," says Michael Barker, whose Sony Pictures Classics has released the documentary duds STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, JIMMY CARTER MAN FROM PLAINS and MY KID COULD PAINT THAT, none of which grossed more than $250,000 theatrically. "Unless you have movie stars like Michael Moore or Al Gore associated with your film, you can't sell tickets.'"

Not mentioned by Horn is the fact that SPC picked up not one but two nonfiction titles at Cannes - James Toback's TYSON biopic (a star certainly, but not an Al Gore kinda star) and the critically acclaimed animated film WALTZ WITH BASHIR.

In short, there's lots of issues to ponder in nonfiction - what happens if we lose THINKFilm?  why are political docs underperforming?  are there better avenues for release than the classic multi-tiered theatrical/dvd/cable model? - while still acknowledging that docs overall are having a much better than average year (In keeping with his meme, Horn fails to mention EXPELLED, U23D or SHINE A LIGHT in his piece).  And even a newspaper in the shadow of the mighty studio system - where $50 million can be a massive bomb - should know better than to call YOUNG@HEART DOA.

"All these wonderful things indeed" - Jeffrey Ressner Responds

We wrote yesterday about the curious article by Jeffrey Ressner at Politico.  Seems Mr. Ressner didn't care for us questioning his journalistic bona fides.  Grab yourself a Hendricks and tonic and get ready for some grade A-minus outrage directed at yours truly:

"I'm reminded of that scene from Annie Hall, in which Woody Allen pulls Marshall McLuhan out from behind a movie theater standee to answer some dolt in line who is going on and on about McLuhan's theories.

To quote a line from that scene -- you know nothing of my work.

I usually don't waste my time answering hacks, but your entry today was so boneheaded and wrong and false that I have no choice but to address it.  I guess blogs are like assholes -- everybody's got one.

I was particularly struck by your statement: "Ressner never admits in the piece that he invited the hand-picked crew."

I never "admitted" it because it's not true. I didn't "invite" anyone to the movie. There was no "hand-picked crew."  The only thing that is even remotely accurate about this sentence is the spelling of my name (thanks, by the way, for that.)

The people quoted in my piece were not "my guests."  I came alone to the screening -- none of the people quoted in the piece were "brought" by me. As far as I know, they all purchased their tickets with their own money.  My "absolutely nonsensical piece of criticism" does not exist -- I interviewed the conservatives and the movie's director, then quoted a trade review and another comment about the film made by blogger Jeff Wells.

There are so many inaccuracies and falsehoods in your dumb blog posting that it would take me another half hour to go over them all, and life is too short.

My number is listed in the phone book. If you were any sort of honest writer or decent reporter, you could have called me up to ask me anything at all about my story and I would have been happy to answer your questions. You could have also emailed me, because I read the emails that are sent to me at my Politico email address linked in the story.

All these wonderful things indeed.  "What the hell is up with Jeffrey Ressner's article at Politico" you wrote. You could have asked me, but instead you decided to make things up and write an article based on your own imagination and zero facts.  Even your fucking headline is wrong, you ignorant tool."

I should stipulate that Mr. Ressner is correct on at least one point.  My sources (yes, I have them) agree that the Republican operatives in question had their tickets in hand as they waited outside the screening.  However, more than one person told me that the GOP'ers greeted Ressner when he arrived, he entered the screening with the group and they all sat together during the film.  All coincidental, I have no doubt.