The Studios Are Refusing to Distribute? Imagine That

The award-winning documentary about the successful union effort at Amazon's JFK 8 warehouse in Staten Island, Union has been unable to find a studio willing to distribute the film.

There could be a number of reasons for this, the increasing hostility of the studios towards unions generally, the fear of retribution from Jeff Bezos, etc. 

Basically, studio executives are being chicken-sh%$s:

To someone not completely enmeshed in the state of the entertainment business, the documentary Union might seem like it has the trappings of an attractive nonfiction sales title: a dramatic story arc culminating in a history-making news event, close access to key players, a charismatic central character, glowing reviews and a premiere at a prestigious film festival.

And yet the film, which documents how an unconventional grassroots group organized the first-ever U.S. union at an Amazon warehouse, is coming to select theaters on Friday without the backing of any major entertainment companies. Months after the Brett Story and Stephen Maing-directed film screened at the Sundance Film Festival and won a special jury award there, the filmmakers announced they had turned to theatrical self-distribution in the absence of any major studio or streamer deals. With the move, a press release in June noted, the team was “recognizing the difficulties faced by political documentaries in distribution of late.” 

Social-issue documentaries have had a rough time of it lately, with longtime impact-driven company Participant Media shutting down in the spring and consolidations reducing the number of buyers interested in this kind of fare in the space. But Union, with its detailed portrait of a consequential American labor story, is an especially salient example. The filmmakers’ current self-distribution plan may ultimately target their intended audience just as effectively, or even more, than a conventional, mainstream release. But their story also offers a glimpse into the bind that some nonfiction filmmakers are facing in a cost-cutting, risk-averse market. 

Naah, the executives are chicken-sh%$s, and they are still suffering from butt-hurt from the strike earlier this year.

This was never goping to make a lot of money for the studios, but it would have made money nonetheless, but they won't want their workers to get uppity, I guess.

Yet another reason why the big studios should be broken up.