David Bergstein Tagged Articles at Cinematical

By now, we've all heard about the woes of THINKFilm, and how it has affected a myriad of filmmakers, from Alex Gibney suing over the company's treatment of Taxi to the Darkside, to David O. Russel's Nailed getting nailed over and over again. If you missed some of this, click here.

Now THINKFilm head David Bergstein has talked about the drama with The Hollywood Reporter, and he seems to be on a different planet than the rest of us. Check out the following quotes:

"There is always an adjective that precedes us: 'Beleaguered,' 'financially distressed,' and none of these people know anything."

"Our business plan is not so much about the movie business. It's really to build a global digital distribution business. It's based on the expectation that in the not too distant future most content will be delivered digitally and on-demand."

"Some of what is out there is true. The vast majority is not true. And for the stuff that is true, my answer is 'So what? So what if X, Y, or Z might be owed money?"

What a stellar attitude to have. I imagine those filmmakers and films attached to THINK are feeling all sorts of special and secure with that attitude guiding them. Check out the THR link for more particulars on the insanity.

It's been clear for several weeks now that the independent distribution company THINKfilm has been suffering from some money troubles. Around the time the Cannes Film Festival kicked off this month, blogger AJ Schnack assembled reports from various sources that the company owed a lot of money to many different places. Now, Nikkie Finke reports that Allied Advertising Ltd. filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court today against THINKfilm owner David Bergstein, claiming that THINKfilm failed to pay for Allied's advertising services in a timely manner, while the distributor pretended that wasn't the case. A serious problem indeed.

It's a little unfair, however, for Allied to complain about THINKfilm's decision to continue doing what they do best -- buying films. The lawsuit says that the company embarked on a "lavish film licensing buying spree at various film festivals around the world," rather than exclusively focusing on paying off debt. It's worth noting that THINKfilm remained fairly withdrawn at Cannes this year, and while they did pick up theatrical rights for Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired at Sundance, the film already had a television deal in place with HBO. Meanwhile, the company has dropped Battle in Seattle, which it originally purchased at the Toronto Film Festival. The "buying spree" sounds like needless exaggeration on Allied's part. Whatever the case, given THINKfilm's track record (they did guide Ryan Gosling to his Half Nelson Oscar nod), one hopes they'll survive this nasty legal snafu.

In an effort to expand and prove they can now roll with the big boys, THINKFilm was bought by film financier and producer David Bergstein for an undisclosed amount of money. (Yeah, that means it was a lot.) Bergstein has been on the move recently, having snatched up Capitol Films (one of Britain's largest film production, financing and sales companies) earlier this month. He then merged Capitol with his own production company, Mobius Pictures.

Says Bergstein, "The collaboration will allow us to pursue our grand vision, including becoming more involved in production, wider releases and rapid expansion." Seeing as THINKFilm has always gone after "interesting" projects, but never really had the dough to move up in the food chain, I'd say this is a pretty sweet deal for them ... IF they stay true to their reputation and continue to pursue films that are often deemed "too controversial" for other major production companies and distributors. While no one from THINKFilm is losing their job because of this sale and (right now) they're still committed to high-quality independent films, one only hopes they remain that way in the future. I'd hate to see films like Shortbus and Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red-Light Kids get the shaft because THINKFilm is now too good for that kind of material. So, what do you, er, think?