After all, if that many people would pay anywhere from $36 to $180 for the fundraising event, surely there was potential for viewers to flock to the cinema.
The only snag in the plan was that cbc holds first window exploitation rights in Canada. However, the pubcaster congenially agreed to a release at Toronto’s Carlton Theatre beginning Feb. 6, followed by simultaneous one-screen openings in Montreal and Vancouver Feb. 20.
A grassroots marketing campaign will target Jewish organizations, archival film societies and the cinephile community.
cbc has slotted the two-hour special for March 8.
Writer and director Simcha Jacobovici envisioned the $1.3-million film as a theatrical documentary. But financing it as such proved ‘outside the constellation of possibilities.’
Based on Neal Gabler’s hotly debated book An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood, the film’s premise is that a group of Jewish immigrants became the first movie moguls and shaped the ideals of the American dream. The film goes on to delve into the treatment of Jews and blacks by Hollywood.
Finding a distributor willing to take on a documentary for theatrical release is always tough, but the controversial subject matter of Hollywoodism made it that much more so.
The rule of thumb is that docs don’t make money at the box office and distributors anticipate making up shortfalls with tv sales after theatrical. Given the touchy nature of the subject matter, Jacobovici says distributors questioned whether they would cover their investment in broadcast licences.
Unable to find a distributor for a theatrical release, coproducers Elliott Halpern and Jacobovici, along with exec producers Michael Levine and Monty Montgomery, were forced to go straight to the broadcasters.
Here, they also met resistance.
While many networks considered a prebuy, several deals were vetoed by top executives who were concerned about the sensitive subject matter, says Jacobovici.
However, cbc and Channel 4 came on board and a&e picked up u.s. rights, planning to air the doc the night before the Oscars as part of its ‘Insight Into Hollywood’ programming theme. Behaviour put up a distribution advance and a sale was made to zdf/arte.
Jacobovici considers the American market as the only real loss in terms of a theatrical life. u.s. distributors such as Sony Classics have now been showing interest in the film, albeit too late with rights taken by a&e.
As for Canada, Jacobovici says the theatrical release could continue after the cbc airdate if box-office numbers are strong enough. With the Hollywood topic so mainstream, he thinks that just might happen.
The precedent has been set in the u.s. where documentaries with broad appeal have aired on television then moved onto the theater circuit. Into The Hearts of Darkness, the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, was broadcast on pbs before hitting the big screen, as was Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam, which premiered on Cinemax.
Documentaries rarely can afford the big-buck promo campaigns required to fill seats, so rather than looking at tv as a competitor, Jacobovici says the broadcast may boost awareness of a film. Spurred by word of mouth, tv guide listings, and network promos, a buzz can be generated that lasts beyond the tv airdate and leads viewers into the theater.
Although recognizing that in terms of revenue, television is the main market, Jacobovici is optimistic of Hollywoodism’s theatrical potential.
‘We have broken conventional rules in the past. People thought we were nuts when we booked the Princess of Wales – `You will likely only get a few hundred people, why not book a small theater?’ And I said because there are going to be 2,000 people and we filled the place.’
The fundraiser screening has already given the film a heightened profile in Toronto.
And if Hollywoodism nabs an Academy Award nomination, as many anticipate it will, that profile will stretch.