A Big Question About The Small
MSNBC (the THB reader, not the network) wants to know whether you all think that Lionsgate continues to qualify as an independant.
Where do you put the line?
May 6, 2024
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
What qualifies as a studio these days? What criteria we using? Budgets? Money?
It’s better for the business if there are more studios, not fewer, so I say go ahead and count them.
The line for me is the one at which I stopped considering Miramax even a Dependent, the big budget movie. I’d put that at anything over $70mil.
I doubt Lion’s Gate has crossed that threshold yet.
Ya, i doubt they’ve invested that much in a film. Although with Crash this year they came awful close methinks with sending around 200,000 dvds to various groups, and spending heaps more on ads. But, yeah, the film was a pick-up for a pretty small amount.
But really, they’re not owned by a major, so they’re independent.
No, Lionsgate is definitely an indie. The line would have to be money and muscle. Their current slate is filled with horror and sprinkled with some family films and quirky dramas. To have higher budget films (above $50 million) means they can attract more mainstream scripts and mainstream directors, means they can attract stars, means they can get their people booked on national talk shows, means they can get choice theaters in the major markets, etc. They are no where near that, and the reason they’ve splurged on Crash is that it is a stepping stone to that end.
Yes, I still consider Lionsgate an independent even though they’re kind of where New Line was before it was bought by Time Warner (at least I’m assuming there was a time where it wasn’t part of the bigger corporation…is this a correct assumption?)
Lions Gate is right on that threshold of becoming a big money studio player. They’re almost in the door.
Yeah, New Line was doing Nightmare on Elm Street and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before they got bought.
New Line is still doing slasher movies and dopey teen comedies. The difference is that they’re also doing Terrence Malick movies now.
“Independent” in this industry means not having ties to a major. Fine Line, Focus, Fox Searchlight, Miramax, Par Classics, SPC and WiP are not independent. Neither is Picturehouse.
Slasher films and teen comedies make money. Which every studio or indie wants.