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There are few industries where project leaders and managers have as little control over results as in the independent film industry. Yet despite being a project-based industry, there is no formal way to impart knowledge to new entrants. The result is a process that is as idiosyncratic as each individual film producer, who follows his or her own path towards attempting to achieve a successful project. Here an executive producer in the independent sector imparts some of his lessons learned.

Recent theoretical work suggests that outside investor control may have costs as well as benefits, particularly in small, entrepreneurial firms. The possibility of investor opportunism can reduce an entrepreneur's incentives to invest personal effort into the firm. I investigate this issue in the context of motion picture financing decisions. Filmmakers face the choice of using studio financing (and giving up control) or of obtaining independent financing (and retaining control). I find that independent financing is more common when a filmmaker's private artistic stake in a film is high and also for films requiring a relatively high level of creative effort.

THE ORIGINAL STAR WARS film was shot in 1976. For its time, the special effects were impressive, but limited. That is why George Lucas set so much of the action [...]

The Internet technology has effected various innovations in the entertainment industry, most notable of which is the increase in cross-promotion of entertainment firms between their traditional operations and their Internet sites. The medium is now being widely used as electronic catalog for sales of recorded music and videos even as a new technology called MP3 has allowed digital downloading. Other technology-related developments are in the works within the industry, such as the mergers between telecommunications and cable companies and the growing use of digital videodisks and its variation, the Divx.

The success of recent black films has revived black cinema, but the struggle to produce movies not depicting 'hood' violence continues A young hispanic mother from the Bronx struggles to [...]

The Republic For Which He Stands Not long ago, Russell Goldsmith recalls, he got a call from a talent agent at a major Hollywood agency. In 1987, that agent represented [...]

High concept The Internet was supposed to broaden the distribution of independent films from art house to our house. Didn't happen. Now Madstone Films has come to the aid of [...]

Just a year old, film studios at old airport help produce $41.5 million, 700 jobs for local economy Austin's film industry just debuted figures that are lighting up the local [...]

Three brothers organize Whoopass Entertainment film, creative production firm Three Texas brothers have made their way from California's film scene back to their Lone Star roots. Their goal: to Whoopass. [...]

In 1992, the documentary film The Last Party ushered in the optimism of Bill Clinton's presidency through actor Robert Downey Jr.'s personal transformation from politically apathetic actor to astute observer, [...]

ON SCREENS: 'Almost Famous' appeared almost invulnerable. The expected big fall movie launch is based, autobiographically, on writer/director Cameron Crowe's life as a rock journalist. Up until recently, the Hollywood [...]

Jugglers multitask faster'n greased lightnin' and feel the weight o' the world on their shoulders. Joe Elias has a lot going on. He's trying to get a brand new business, [...]

Warner bros.' theatrical division went to the far corners of the American psyche to rebuild its business last year. In the process, the studio boosted box-office sales 35% over the [...]

Astro Boy. Fifteen-year-old Shawne Kleckner had never heard of him when his boss at a Des Moines computer reseller asked him to track down some episodes of the old TV [...]

NEW YORK--Stephen Dickstein, the former head of commercials at Propaganda Commercials who was dismissed following a contract dispute in July, has formed Partizan Entertainment, a joint venture with Partizan Films [...]

SINCE ITS INCORPORATION IN 1981, CALIFOrnia's Regency Enterprises Inc. has steadily grown into a successful lighting distributor. CEO and co-founder Ron Regenstreif says although financial success has been a good [...]

Bruce Davey and Mel Gibson's production company Icon Productions was able to sign a deal with 20th Century Fox that allows it to retain distribution rights outside of the US. Davey's accounting background has helped the duo and their company make savvy deals like this one.

Members of the US filmmaking industry attended the Cannes Film Festival to vie for the Palme d'Or, the festival's top award, and to convince European Union (EU) officials to drop their plans of prohibiting US filmmakers from entering the EU market. The US motion picture community felt the pinch after France imposed restrictions on the showing of non-European films on EU television and requested for a TV directive that will add new limitations. US independent producers say sales of US productions have already dropped from $753 million in 1993 to $670 million in 1994 as a result of the restrictions.