Soderbergh challenges 'out of whack' studios

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Soderbergh challenges 'out of whack' studios
Sep 23 6:52 AM US/Eastern


By Anne Thompson

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The movie business is "out of whack," director Steven Soderbergh says. "The studio model has to be rethought."

Never one to talk idly about such things, the national vp for the Directors Guild of America has banded with dot-com entrepreneur-turned-movie mogul Todd Wagner to try out some radical new ideas.

This month, they are showing their first collaboration -- the digital movie "Bubble" -- to receptive film festival audiences and critics at the Venice, Toronto and New York events. Shot for $1.6 million, "Bubble" is a far cry from "Ocean's Twelve."

The two make unlikely allies. Brainy Hollywood insider's insider Soderbergh, with partner George Clooney, runs production company Section 8 on the Warner Bros. lot. Together, Soderbergh and Clooney have produced a wide range of movies, from the star-studded big-budget "Ocean's Eleven" series to such indie films as "Criminal," "The Jacket" and Clooney's sophomore directing effort, "Good Night, and Good Luck," which opens the New York Film Festival Friday. That's how Soderbergh got started talking with rangy Hollywood outsider Wagner, whose 2929 Prods. helped to finance their indie films.

Ever since jumping into the entertainment business in 2002, Wagner and his outspoken partner, Mark Cuban (http://www.blogmaverick.com), have been openly challenging established modes of distribution in Hollywood. They're building a high-tech, new-model, vertically integrated studio. Their 2929 Prods. and digital production house HDNet Films produce low-cost movies; HDNet Film Sales raises financing for them overseas; Magnolia Pictures Distribution books them on the 200-screen art-house Landmark Theater chain; and for the first time, with "Bubble" in January, the high-definition cable channel HDNet Movies will air the films at the same time that they go out through their nascent DVD division.



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