Taking the indie out of IndieWood
Is Kevin Smith fiddling while “IndieWood” burns?
On the Web page for his Catholic Church satire Dogma (www.viewaskew.com), the New Jersey filmmaker shrugs off the crisis his film is causing not only to distributor Miramax, but all of independent film.
Smith, an icon to the indie world for Clerks and Chasing Amy, is cockily stating Dogma will premiere at Cannes next month, even though the festival’s program announcement is still two weeks away. He’s also confident of a major release this fall – Dogma posters reading “October 1999” are already on-line.
There’s also numerous on-set photos, a copy of the script (which he’d prefer you didn’t read) and his own self-effacing report of a Dogma test screening (he admits the three-hour film is too long).
It’s pretty sly for a byte guy. But he should flip his baseball cap back the right way round, because his cherished indie status is fast fading.
Last week, Miramax bowed to pressure from its corporate parent, Disney, and announced it would do the unthinkable: sell Dogma to another (read: braver) distributor. Disney declared Dogma – with its vulgar humour about beer-spewing angels, high-fiving Christs and profane apostles – was “inappropriate” for any of its labels.
Miramax leads the pack of Hollywood-owned independent film companies – called IndieWood by the online indie film site IndieWire (www.indiewire.com). Until now, Miramax has fought the good fight on behalf of indie films, even if the term “indie” – in the age of a $40-million Shakespeare In Love – is now as meaningless as “alternative rock.”
When they first butted heads with Disney, over 1995’s parent-shocking Kids, Miramax honchos Harvey and Bob Weinstein maintained their independence by creating a new arm’s-length label, Excalibur Films. IndieWood rival October Films made a similar move last year when it used the production company Good Machine to put out Todd Solondz’s controversial (and brilliant) Happiness.
This time, even though the Weinsteins are going to use the sleight of hand of first buying it back from Disney themselves, they’re going to then sell it to a third party distributor, with no connection to Disney – not even an arm’s length one like Excalibur.
With Dogma, the Weinsteins would rather sell than take the heat, even though so-called anti-Catholic films never arouse the masses the way the Nervous Nellies fear – remember the bogus fuss over Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation Of Christ and Jean-Luc Godard’s Hail Mary?
From a business perspective, you can’t blame the Weinsteins. They can make way more money by churning out brainless teen fodder like She’s All That than by championing a filmmaker like Smith, who attracts more heat than money.
IndieWire has been playing “Taps” not only for Dogma, but for other signs that IndieWood is being swallowed by Hollywood.
Last week saw the gobbling of October Films and Gramercy Pictures (the PolyGram affiliate that released Fargo) by Barry Diller, the former head of Paramount and 20th Century Fox. Diller, who is now a TV mogul with his USA Networks, plans to roll October and Gramercy into a new company, USA Films.
If that isn’t enough, Karol Martesko has announced he’s resigning as publisher of Filmmaker magazine, the indie Bible he co-founded in 1992. He’s taking up the more lucrative offer of publishing two computer trade magazines, Silicon Alley Reporter and Silicon Alley Daily.
There are still a few people out there for whom the indie flame burns bright. A recent edition of IndieWire called for submissions to the 6th Chicago Underground Film Festival, Aug. 13-19, billed as The Festival For All The Brothers And Sisters Who’ve Had Enough Of The Man. Right on!
