Ed Burns releases Purple Violets on iTunes

Film available on Apple site in one-month exclusive

By Ned Randolph -- Video Business, 11/9/2007

NOV. 9 | Filmmaker Ed Burns will release his latest self-directed and -produced project, Purple Violets, exclusively on Apple’s iTunes Store Nov. 20.

The iTunes Store will be the only place to view the movie for the first month of release. It has no other distribution deals in place, said a spokeswoman for the film.

The film, which screened at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, is the first feature-length movie to premiere on the Apple-owned digital platform, according to production company Wild Ocean Films. It will be priced $14.99.

Purple Violets stars Burns, Selma Blair, Debra Messing and Patrick Wilson in a New York story about two friends in their early 30s who run into the college boyfriends they dumped 12 years ago: one a best-selling novelist and the other his attorney. A series of events lead the four to discover the precarious nature of first loves and path of second chances.

“The specialized movie business has changed so dramatically in the last five years,” said Burns, who first produced and directed The Brothers McMullenin 1995 on a $25,000 budget. “My style of filmmaking is dying on the vine. These small, talky movies have a hard time finding an audience theatrically, so you need to adapt. There are still people who want to see this non-traditional type of film, and now there are non-traditional ways to get them out there. I am extremely thankful that Apple shares this vision and is willing to take the next step with me.”