ndy of the Month Club


September 20, 2002


BROOKE GLADSTONE: We're back with On the Media. I'm Brooke Gladstone. Thanks to the internet you can get almost anything by mail order these days, and in December you'll be able to order first-run independent films like the Spanish hit El Bola. El Bola will be the first film sent to member of Film Movement, a new indie DVD of the month club by Lawrence Meistrich, founder of the independent production company Shooting Gallery. He helped bring New York's independent film industry to prominence with films like Sling Blade and You Can Count on Me. Now he wants to revolutionize the distribution of indie films by giving Film Movement members the chance to see previously un-released indies in the comfort of their own homes or in limited theatrical runs. Lawrence Meistrich joins us now. Welcome to the show.

LAWRENCE MEISTRICH: Thanks for having me.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Why do you think that the independent film industry needs a DVD of the month club?

LAWRENCE MEISTRICH: Well it's actually a little bit more than a, a DVD of the month club. Really our concept is to create national access to independent film or specialized film, so if it's opening in Manhattan, it's also opening in Saddle River, New Jersey and Augusta, Georgia and Des Moines, Iowa -- it's just opening in your living room.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: You've only had a, a couple of weeks to start amassing subscribers. Who are they? Where are they?

LAWRENCE MEISTRICH:Well that's the really interesting thing. They are from over. Wappinger's Falls [sp?], Freehold, New Jersey, South Bend, Indiana --and it's been really heartening, cause that's what I had hoped. I, I had hoped that it wasn't going to be like "a New York thing." You know in a town like a Ridgewood, New Jersey that has 25, 30,000 people -- I know theatrically there isn't a business for this, because you need all 25 or 30,000 to go opening weekend just to break even. But I know there's a thousand. I know there's 500 -and that makes perfect sense for us.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Now I know you hate the book of the month club analogy, but do you think it's possible that the Film Movement can do for independent films what the Book of the Month Club does for books? Do you think you have the potential to be not only a profitable venture, but actually a launching pad for indie hits?

LAWRENCE MEISTRICH: You know, I, I, I don't mind the book of the month analogy. The book of the month club got people to read -- and, and varied things --whether it was Oprah's book club or, or some of the more specialized book clubs -- I want people to watch different kinds of movies. I don't think America is stupid. Yeah, I'd love if kids [LAUGHS] - you know, out in a farm somewhere are seeing these films and subscribing and then decide to become filmmakers and bring a Midwestern point of view to Sundance or a Southern point of view or a different view of Manhattan than we've seen 850 times. I would love if that happened!

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Give me an idea about the distribution of indie films now. It is easier than it used to be, right?

LAWRENCE MEISTRICH:I don't believe so. I think it's markedly harder. I think there's going to be a big sort of sea change in the independent film industry because of the cost of marketing. Take a film like-- In the Bedroom -- Sissy Spacek and, and, and that cast can go on Letterman, can go on Leno, can get on Rosie -but is David Letterman going to book the woman from Big Fat Greek Wedding pre-being a hit? Of course not. Once it hits, then she gets on; but it happened after the fact. For most films who don't have that, they are faced with a distributor going all right, for me to really do anything properly in the U.S., I have to spend 2 to 5 million dollars. For me to spend 2 to 5 million dollars I need to think that I'm going to get 10 to 20 out of the box office back cause that's what's going to make my ancillaries more valuable to me, ancillaries being video, pay cable, all of that other stuff. So things start to get put in these boxes. Is there a hook? [LAUGHS] Blair Witch hook. A star hook. A comedic hook -- and things like Big Fat Greek Wedding frankly come out of nowhere. Everybody passed on that movie. The producers paid the distributor to do it. Memento -- same thing. The financiers -- the last two years, the two biggest hits, the producers put up the money to release those films.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Does that mean that the indie revolution that we've been hearing so much about ever since Sundance took off is still pretty much a pipe dream?

LAWRENCE MEISTRICH: I think if you create solutions to the distribution dilemma, it's not a pipe dream. There's still a lot of talented people making a lot of really good works, and they're finding homes at film festivals and finding homes at event places like the Asia Society and BAM and, and outlets like that, but they're not finding a home in broad traditional distribution. What we're trying to say is: We'll go to Sundance for you. We'll go to Cannes for you, and we'll pick the best 12 films of the year. And we'll curate for you -- like a film festival does, and you can watch it at your leisure.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Lawrence Meistrich is the CEO of The Film Movement and founder of the production company Shooting Gallery. If you're interested in The Film Movement you can find it at www.thefilmmovement.com. Thank you very much.

LAWRENCE MEISTRICH: Well thanks for having me. [MUSIC TAG]