Press Releases Archive for October, 2017

Joint. Joint Venture: MGM and Annapurna Pact Joint Deal For U. S. Distribution; Bond In Play?

METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER AND ANNAPURNA PICTURES FORM JOINT VENTURE TO DISTRIBUTE FILMS THEATRICALLY IN THE U.S. MGM Returns to Domestic Theatrical Distribution LOS ANGELES (October, 31 2017) – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Annapurna Pictures (Annapurna) have formed a new joint venture for theatrical distribution in the U.S., it was announced today by Gary Barber, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer…

Read the full article »

Board Of Governors Drops Another Oscar On Alejandro G. Iñárritu

THE ACADEMY’S BOARD OF GOVERNORS AWARDS AN OSCAR TO ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU’S “CARNE Y ARENA”  VIRTUAL REALITY INSTALLATION LOS ANGELES, CA – The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Wednesday (October 25) to present a Special Award – an Oscar statuette – to director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s virtual reality installation, “CARNE y ARENA (Virtually Present,…

Read the full article »

Bold Films Extends $50 Million Finance Pact with Comerica Bank

[pr] Three Year Agreement Will Fund Future Film and TV Slate Los Angeles, Calif., Oct. 24, 2017 – Bold Films renews and increases its revolving line of credit with Comerica Bank, a $50 million dollar debt facility that extends for three years. The deal provides financing for the independent studio to produce four to six…

Read the full article »

Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award to Errol Morris

[pr] DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER ERROL MORRIS TO RECEIVE THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AT THE CRITICS’ CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARDS The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) have announced Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris as the recipient of the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award. Morris will receive his award at the second annual Critics’…

Read the full article »

Get Out Tops Gotham Awards Noms With Four

 New York, NY (October 19, 2017) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s premier member organization of independent storytellers, announced today the nominees for the 27th Annual IFP Gotham Awards. For 2017, ten competitive awards will be presented to independent features and series. In addition to the competitive awards, Gotham Award Tributes will be given…

Read the full article »

SAG-AFTRA Statement on Safety of Women in the Entertainment and Media Industry

“We commend the courage and candor of every woman who has spoken out about the disgraceful, aggressive and inappropriate behavior they experienced with prominent industry employers. We support their right to speak out and we lift up their voices so that their truths can be fully heard. Everyone has the right to work in an…

Read the full article »

Academy Names Nicholl Fellowships In Screenwriting

ACADEMY REVEALS WINNING NICHOLL SCREENWRITERS Scripts to be performed at live read in November LOS ANGELES, CA – Four individuals and one writing team have been selected as winners of the 2017 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition.  The fellows will each receive a $35,000 prize, the first installment of which will be distributed at…

Read the full article »

Press Releases

Quote Unquotesee all »

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