EXCLUSIVE: David Gordon Green and John Sloss are partnering in Brand New Story, a new concern that will work with top brands and Hollywood storytellers to finance, develop, distribute and market long-form content that finds ways to integrate brand ethos into entertainment properties at a time when viewers…

Emmy nominations may only have been released yesterday, and I know it’s still just July, but with the opening of Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood today I am declaring July 11th the new official start of the Oscar season (at least for this year) with a film that I predict will occupy one of those prized Best Picture slots…

The rallying cry for transparency in VOD reporting fell on receptive ears Sunday at the 2014 Produced By conference, where Cinetic Media's John Sloss appealed to the financial interests of the producers in the room regarding the mounting importance of VOD and digital distribution. "The promise of transparency creates…

EXCLUSIVE: Cinetic Media has hired longtime indie film marketing and publicity exec Ryan Werner, giving him the title of Senior Executive. Werner takes the post after working New York and building campaigns for indie films for the past 17 years. The move was confirmed by Cinetic founder John Sloss. He said that this…

EXCLUSIVE: John Sloss, whose Producers Distribution Agency is releasing the provocative unauthorized Disney World-shot Escape From Tomorrow, reports that in its first two weeks, the film grossed $139,334 in theatrical revenues — and $120,560 in VOD/digital grosses — for a total take of $259,894. VOD, he said, was…

EXCLUSIVE: Producers Distribution Agency has signed on to release the SXSW Audience Award-winning documentary Brooklyn Castle. PDA is the releasing arm hatched by Cinetic Media's John Sloss and Bart Walker that selectively takes on art house fare. Brooklyn Castle marks its fourth release, after the successful docus Sen…

A high point of Sundance’s annual party circuit — Cinetic’s Monday night bash at Zoom on Main Street — is apparently off. Insiders tell me that unless a last-minute sponsor comes forward, the party “likely” won’t be held. Sad, because it regularly brought out Sundance Film Festival heavy hitters while head John Sloss…

When Emilio Estevez launched The Way at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival, reaction was encouraging for the film he directed and which stars his father, Martin Sheen, as a grieving dad who walks The Camino de Santiago to honor his dead son. The movie’s good, but it is also the kind of well-intentioned picture that often…

EXCLUSIVE: A deal is near for Millennium Entertainment to acquire U.S. distribution rights to the Los Angeles Film Festival opening-night pic Bernie. I’m told that it will be the first significant grab for former Film Department co-head Mark Gill since he took the reins of Avi Lerner’s company (UPDATE: reps for the…

Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American distribution rights to We Need to Talk About Kevin, the Lynne Ramsay-directed pic that was a competition film at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Oscilloscope will release the film in the winter, with an awards campaign. The acquisition was made from Luc Roeg’s…

EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features has closed an acquisition deal for worldwide rights for Pariah, the Dee Rees-directed coming of age story of a 17-year old African American teen from Brooklyn trying to find her place in the world, and coming to terms with her identity as a lesbian. Besides the acquisition, Focus has also…