MARCH 26 | Risk-taking and collaboration are crucial within the indie supplier world, making these companies especially appealing working environments for women.
Years ago, few women sat at the top of major studios. But at that time, fledging indies and their modest project slates were open to embracing any talented executive, regardless of gender.
And with slimmer infrastructures, indies demand that one person shoulder dozens of roles and lean on everyone for ideas. Often heads of households, balancing their professional lives with their kids’ activities, female executives can thrive in such a cooperative climate.
“I think that one of the big things that contributed to our success is that we worked hard to create collaborative [initiatives], especially with people who would traditionally be thought of as our competitors,” says Maria Lynn, president of Wolfe Video.
Selling gay and lesbian specialty product since the mid-’80s, Wolfe needed to wield unique business tactics. “We had to explain to people that we weren’t selling pornography when we first started,” Lynn says.
For the last 10 years, Wolfe has sold its own propriety titles as well as DVDs from rivals on its Web site and in its mail-order catalog. Paramount Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment are among those who pay Wolfe fees to gain advertising access to the indie supplier’s 1 million monthly site visitors and 175,000 home mailing addresses.
“Initially, Wolfe only had a couple of titles, so [reaching out to other suppliers] brought a bigger impact to the titles we had,” Lynn says.
At Palm Pictures, reaching out to others within the company itself is having an impact. General manager Lisa Nishimura recently launched a company-wide film screening series in order to gather input from all staffers about which movies to acquire.
“The screenings are open to accounting, financing — we want to give everyone the opportunity to give feedback,” Nishimura says. “Previously, it wasn’t as all-inclusive.”
Leading to success
Staff also has been an important element at Allumination FilmWorks, where CEO Cheryl Freeman feels especially accomplished seeing her company’s rise from scratch. Since launching Ardustry Home Entertainment in September 2002, the company now known as Allumination has increased its staff count by 1,000%. Over the past year alone, Allumination has added five additional U.S. sales executives.
“It’s a lot of hard work; I put in 70 hours a week,” Freeman says. “But if you want something to succeed, you have to keep that pace.”
Susan Margolin, chief operating officer and a principal at New Video, has led her company to success as well. Margolin’s decision to push documentaries on DVD in 1998—well before Al Gore stamped the category with approval—especially drove New Video’s fortunes. The company’s Docurama label now holds 200 titles in its library and is distributing its first theatrical film, Air Guitar Nation, in a few hundred markets beginning March 23.
“When we launched Docurama, people looked at us like we lost our minds,” Margolin says. “We did take risks, and they paid off. Many films have had nice commercial success in the DVD market, like River and Tides and The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.”
Turning to niche
Other entrepreneurial women have done well over the years by releasing quality niche films, such as Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo, co-presidents of Zeitgeist Films, and Jere Rae-Mansfield, chief financial officer and managing partner of Monterey Media.
Rae-Mansfield particularly enjoys handling dozens of different responsibilities when nurturing projects to completion. That willingness to get her hands dirty has helped shape some of her favorite releases, including William Hurt-starring The Blue Butterfly.
“I find the financing, put the crew
together and I don’t mind doing the smaller tasks on the set,” Rae-Mansfield explains. “Women by nature pick things up, and we roll our sleeves up to get things done. That is how I see our indie product.”
She also likes being able to release films that some might deem stereotypically female, stories that are more character-driven and not bulging with special effects.
“Blue Butterfly is about a young man who gets brain cancer, and there is action and suspense, but at the same time, there is emotion and poignancy. It can’t just be thrown in at the studios,” she says.
Rae-Mansfield screened Blue Butterfly at a number of children’s hospitals in order to grant it special attention as an indie project.
“Entrepreneurial factor”
Christine Martinez, executive VP and general manager of Genius Products, echoes many other women that a renegade attitude serves executives well at indie suppliers. In the past year, Genius has inked a flurry of content deals, including the decision to put Discovery Kids TV programming on DVD. In recent months, Genius also has signed on to distribute the DVD product lines of Sesame Workshop, VeggieTales and World Wrestling Entertainment.
“There might not be so much of a gender factor, but there is an entrepreneurial factor” at Genius, says Martinez, who joined the company from Warner Home Video in 2005. “About 90% of the people hired [at Genius] came from very structured organizations. We have latitude. When you look at our portfolio from a year and a half ago to today, we have made huge strides.”
Another former studio executive now running an independent label is Deborah Mitchell, formerly VP of marketing at TCFHE and now president of Entertainment Studios. Formed two years ago, the company has just begun releasing its slate of films and TV product, which includes chairman and CEO Byron Allen’s Entertainers With Byron Allen.
“When I first started at Fox, it was a leaner organization, and it had more of an entrepreneurial spirit, so I feel like I’m getting back to that at Entertainment Studios Home Entertainment,” says Mitchell. “Previously at Fox, I was just doing the marketing for the product. Now I’m running an entire organization, acquiring product, overseeing a sales force, plus the marketing. That’s what’s exciting, being allowed to personally grow.”
2007 WOMEN ELITE: INDEPENDENT SUPPLIERS
|
Cheryl Freeman
Allumination Filmworks, CEO |
Maria Lynn
Wolfe,
President |
Susan Margolin
New Video,
Chief Operating Officer
and Principal |
|
Christine Martinez
Genius Products,
Executive VP and
General Manager |
Deborah Mitchell
Entertainment Studios,
President |
Lisa Nishimura
Palm Pictures,
General Manager |
|
Jere Rae-Mansfield
Monterey Media,
Chief Financial Officer
and Managing Partner |
Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo
Zeitgeist Films,
Co-Presidents |
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