The "ABCs of BBM": Round 965! (Rules in first post)

[memento]

If James Schamus let it be known what his other accomplishments were besides producing and screenwriting, he would say: a published film historian, holding a faculty position at Columbia University, and currently the head of the film company Focus Features.

=aside= Paul
The weekend probably felt like a New York minute.

=aside= Meryl

[Fran]

If James Schamus wanted to say something nice about his Brokeback Mountain experience, he would say, "This was probably the most pleasant film shoot that Ang and I have ever worked on. There was almost an inverse proportion between our lack of money and the abundance of spirit in our crew and cast."

=aside= Meryl
Have a nice trip!

[Ellemeno]

If James Schamus had wanted to executive produce a film about a gay Turkish 17 year old, he would have chosen to work on Lola + Bilidikid (1999).

[southendmd]

If James wanted to executive produce a film exploring dysfunctional families at Thanksgiving, he would start with The Myth of Fingerprints.

[Fran]

If The Hollywood Reporter published an article which appeared to second-guess the marketing minds of the "Milk" filmmakers since, unlike "Brokeback Mountain," the film was not screened at festivals, Focus Features CEO James Schamus would set the record straight with the following letter to the editor:

To the Editor:

Slow news day, eh? As the CEO of Focus Features, I read with interest your October 28 front page article "Politics? Focus won't 'Milk' it," about our marketing of director Gus Van Sant's film about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to major public office in America. The author's thesis is simple: because the film was not, like "Brokeback Mountain," screened at festivals, Focus is somehow hiding the film and is thus avoiding openly presenting its political content. That's a pretty serious charge, especially made by a reporter who did not call us to get his facts, so to speak, straight.

First of all, to the charge of "hiding" the film (for which, given its post-production schedule, we have only had finished prints at hand for a couple of weeks - a fact conveniently missed by your reporter), I can only say that I happen to be writing this while on my way to the airport for a flight to San Francisco, where we shall world-premiere the film tonight at the Castro Theatre, across the street from the storefront where Harvey began his political career. We determined early on that the only appropriate place for the world premiere of “Milk” was San Francisco. The event is a benefit for four LGBT youth groups; our benefit committee is chaired by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, and includes every major LGBT leader in Northern California and virtually every major statewide elected official, including Senator Barbara Boxer, Assemblyman Mark Leno, and Treasurer José Cisneros. The premiere is timed to the final week before a crucial election, one which includes an anti-gay state proposition much like the one Harvey Milk vanquished 30 years ago. The after-screening gathering will be held at San Francisco's City Hall, and today has been proclaimed "Focus Features Day" by the Mayor – who clearly didn't get The Hollywood Reporter in time to understand our underhanded, apolitical approach to marketing the film.

Immediately on the heels of the premiere, a series of word-of-mouth screenings will be held over the next few weeks in every major city across the country. We will also be holding premieres of "Milk" in New York, Los Angeles, and Portland.

But if a journalist is to write about our marketing campaign, might he consider actually talking about...our marketing campaign? The trailer for "Milk," for example (see it for yourself at www.milkthemovie.com) is, not just in my opinion, probably the most inspiring piece of movie marketing about genuine (as well as out) politics ever created. It has been the most explosively received and appreciated trailer in the history of our company, posted on hundreds of sites, and played and playing in theaters nationwide in front of more than a dozen movies.

Following the debut of that trailer way back on September 12, our marketing campaign mobilized an early online media push timed to all four presidential race debates – the mornings after, we had specially commissioned "Milk" ad buys on the political pages of the websites of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, The Huffington Post, and many more. Our banner ads and 60-second spots were all about the film and what it and Harvey represent. Speaking of which, beyond the trailer, check out the rest of our website; it's already filled with scores of stories from people across the country, linking their own lives to Harvey Milk's transformational politics.

I expect that more thorough journalism on our "Milk" campaign will be published in THR soon.

James Schamus
New York City

[memento]

If James Schamus were to hold an executive position in a film company, he would be CEO of Focus Features, the arthouse offshoot of Universal Pictures.

[southendmd]

If James wanted to work with Todd Haynes, he would executive produce the art-house film Poison.

[Fran]

If James Schamus wished to address accusations that the publicity strategy for Brokeback Mountain has made a conscious effort to "de-gay" and play up the heterosexual aspects of the movie, particularly the "For Your Consideration" ads in industry trade magazines, he would respond as follow:

I think it's a measure of the film's success that there is this real sense of ownership (and examination) of everything we do. I think these kinds of discussions are legitimate. On the other hand, I gotta say, from day one, when we first started to make the movie we said we will never apologize for this movie. It's what it is. At its core it's a gay romance. From the moment the trailer's finished, you know what this movie's about. From the very first images of it. We never ever, ever wanted to step away from it or apologize for what this movie was. And I think we've stayed really true to that, every step of the way with this campaign.

At the same time, this movie is epic in its emotional scope, and part of that is that the relationships encompass the entirety of these guys' lives. And their experiences include the characters that are played by Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway, who, by the way, deserve their Oscar nominations.

I don't ever want to misrepresent the film as only being about the so-called controversy surrounding its central relationship. I want to represent the story's entirety. Ang always pays extra careful attention to every piece of the emotional dynamic, which includes these marriages and includes these children and includes their whole lives. Not to mention some things that really aren't discussed, which are in many ways revolutionary, which are class issues. You don't see working class characters portrayed in mainstream American cinema that often. So all these dynamics add into what is still absolutely the central dynamic — their relationship.

[There were] a few paragraphs of post-Globes coverage in the New York Times. [The writer] Sharon Waxman created this impression that because of some "resistance" we're meeting with the "broader public" we've started putting ads in the papers that emphasize the heterosexual relationships. Which is complete and utter bullsh*t. It's unbelievable.

In fact, up till now, we've had two months, almost two months of advertising in main markets like New York and Los Angeles, and so when we started to refresh the campaign in just New York and L.A. and include a broader scope of imagery, just a couple of times, Waxman called that out as if we're going into Kansas and Wyoming and trying to fool people [as to] what the movie's about. In fact, from day one, we have said we are going to market this movie the same way in Little Rock as we do in New York City.

[Ellemeno]

If James Schamus had had a hankering for being interviewed by Peter Guber (ex-studio chief at Columbia Pictures and ex-CEO of Sony Pictures) and Peter Bart (editor in chief of Variety since 1989), he would have gone on their TV interview show, Sunday Morning Shootout, in 2007.

[memento]

If James Schamus were to executive-produce several Good Machine features that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, he would executive-produce Edward Burns' The Brothers McMullen, Tom Noonan's What Happened Was..., and Todd Haynes' Poison.