Party Guys

“As long as we were taking care of our third parties, the rest was used for general corporate purposes”: Shooting Gallery co-founder Steve Carlis expounds on his financial philosophy in “Everything Ventured, Everything Lost” (by Rachel Abramowitz, Sept. 23).

Had Carlis and his fellow executives treated the films and filmmakers they corralled with the same consideration as their “third party” investors, Shooting Gallery’s demise might have taken another turn.

Having served as the “godfather”/producer’s representative for more than three years for “Croupier,” Shooting Gallery’s most important distribution success, I think it is apparent that had they seized the opportunity to maximize the film’s potential with a marketing infusion that any other distributor blessed with an unexpected hit would have supported, the film’s $7-million North American gross could have approached the $23-million take of “Memento,” a later, critically acclaimed, multi-viewed thriller that was also released by a new independent.

However, every suggestion about implementing a TV campaign or testing a substantive print buy (the largest mainstream ad was an infrequent quarter page) was met with either stonewalling or dismissal.

Now knowing the financial shenanigans that were the underpinnings of Shooting Gallery makes their mantle of being the saviors of unreleased films reprehensible. It also explains their arrogant attitude once deals were concluded. Many of the excellent films in their series could have produced box office results had they fulfilled their promise of marketing support, which was the most attractive element in their acquisition proposal.

The tragedy of the Shooting Gallery story is that the unique, though flawed, distribution formula could have significantly helped the showcasing of worthy films. But the executives’ true talent had nothing to do with the films they chose, which became tools for self-promotion, at which they were masters ... for a while.

MIKE KAPLAN

President, Circle Associates Ltd.

Santa Monica