posted 06-07-2004 01:23 PM                       

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MADSTONE FILMS

Madstone Films

Madstone Films, the brainchild of film industry veteran Tom Gruenberg and investment banker Chip Selig, is described by its founders as an “incubator” for new digital cinema content. The concept is to put 15 novice filmmakers on the payroll for a two-year period with annual salaries of $50,000 and a full benefits package. How's that for a radical departure from independent filmmaking?

According to Gruenberg, Madstone will shoot and post all projects digitally, retrofit 50 movie theaters across the U.S. with digital cinema systems, and show its product in those theaters. While budgets for these features could support 35mm production (typically, $500,000 to $1.5 million each), the decision was to stay 100% digital and exploit this new form of cinema.

Madstone will provide a collaborative work environment for filmmakers at its Madison Avenue location, believing that the free exchange of ideas, opinions, and suggestions can only result in a better product. The first three filmmakers to come on board are Joan Stein (student Academy Award winner for One Day Crossing), Aaron Woodley (director of short films Bed and Breakfast and The Wager), and Lisa Siwe (director of Happy Birthday and Other Catastrophes).

Nathaniel Bonini, chief technical officer of Madstone, and Jon Thompson, vice-president of international markets, are responsible for implementing the projection end of the process. “We're following the logical demographics that would maximize revenue streams, and not necessarily going head to head with existing theater chains,” states Thompson. “Digital cinema makes sense because 35mm release print quality has gone up and down so much over the years.

“The random quality is a real problem with 35mm prints — even the best movie houses are not providing high-quality projection consistently,” he claims. “Technicolor was far superior to Eastmancolor, but studios cut back to Eastmancolor to save money. Release prints today are very inconsistent in quality. Digital cinema could get us back to the days of Technicolor quality.”

“We're looking at what TI has done with DLP Cinema and want to take it to another level,” says Bonini. “We're happy with the image quality, but feel we can improve on what they started with. If you look at the typical mall cinema image, there already is parity with e-cinema. As far as resolution is concerned, we consider contrast ratio and pixel depth a greater issue. Any system that does not reproduce the look of the director's finished digital product is inadequate in our minds.”

How about production formats? “We won't shoot in film at all. We'll probably use the Panavision/Sony 1080p24 system,” says Bonini. “We're also looking at other formats — after all, it's up to the filmmakers to choose a digital format best suited to expressing their ideas. Madstone will enable directors to use any equipment they want to produce their projects, as long as the format is digital.”

A major concern today, of course, is how theaters will be equipped with electronic cinema projection systems. “Right now, Madstone is looking to acquire a theater chain,” Bonini explains. “The fact is, wherever there is a high-speed data link, we can send the films. The telecommunications infrastructure has become faster and cheaper, so sending content to distributors electronically is better for everyone in terms of cost and quality control.”

“We can also work with competing exhibitors, provided they have e-cinema systems in place,” Thompson adds. “The business arrangements [buy, lease, or rent] will vary from theater chain to theater chain. Our responsibility is to develop the network and get the best looking images on screen. As for the cost of converting to e-cinema, the current buzz is that the studios may get stuck with the bill for upgrades. It's a trade-off — look at the savings in release print costs.”

Will electronic cinema really open up a new world of creativity? “One of the neat things about digital acquisition is the tools we've been seeing in music videos for years, with products like Discreet offerings,” says Bonini. “This is something that someone will really have a field day with. After all, DJs can sample music and don't need a whole band to record. With [similar sampling] technology, you could create amazing and compelling digital films.”

“Let's face it, a director's ideas may be good, or they may be crap,” says Thompson. “But e-cinema shows an idea can stand up on its own and is not limited by film production and projection methods. It comes down to this: If the director made a bad film, don't blame it on the projection system or server technology. We'll make sure those will be top-notch.”

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Fledgling exhibitor/distributor/producer Madstone, long a proponent of digital cinema, appears to be rethinking its digital-cinema efforts.

“It now seems that there will be a lack of digital content in the near term, so for the time being we are projector agnostic,” Madstone CEO Chip Seelig said in a Variety story published March 4.

Two years ago Madstone’s plans called for retrofitting plexes nationwide with digital projectors, and then supplying them with digital movies.

The company, which still plans to produce about one digitally-shot movie annually, currently operates conventional cinemas in San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Cleveland, Albuquerque, N.M., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

Madstone has already announced plans to open six new multis this year, including sites in Atlanta and Salt Lake City. The firm also plans to build by 2004 a new multi in Baltimore.

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