Dave Matthews crashes into indie film distribution

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Not that long ago, rocker Dave Matthews stumbled across “Kenny,” a mockumentary about a guy who installs portable toilets. Matthews loved the Australian film and mentioned it to friends, but no one had ever heard of it -- not surprising, because the film’s 2008 release grossed less than $70,000 in domestic theaters. “It was such a gem,” Matthews says in an interview. “Had people known it existed, it could have found an audience.”
The experience helped convince Matthews, who has acted in several movies and had started producing independent films such as “Choke” and “Savage Grace” through his Art Takes Over Pictures, that it might be time to examine -- and possibly try to improve -- how non-studio movies are marketed and distributed. “There really is a hole at the moment,” Matthews says, “in the world of commercially viable but smaller films.”

On Wednesday, Matthews and his ATO Pictures announced that they were launching a distribution outfit that could very well release the next “Kenny” or its equivalent. The first film to be released by the new company is another Australian movie, director Bruce Beresford’s drama “Mao’s Last Dancer,” which premieres Aug. 6.

In addition to financing and developing movies, ATO Pictures is now looking for films to acquire and distribute in partnership with Samuel Goldwyn Films. Founded in 2002, ATO recently hired Cinetic Media sales agent Sarah Lash to head its acquisitions arm, and she is currently attending the Cannes Film Festival in search of potential ATO titles. The ATO team includes industry veterans Temple Fennell, Johnathan Dorfman, Peter Newman and Greg Johnson.

“There are a lot of movies that have commercial potential -- or may have commercial potential -- but distribution today makes it very unlikely they’ll get meaningful distribution,” Matthews says.

Rather than aim for “Juno” and “Little Miss Sunshine” art house blockbusters -- “We don’t have to have that level of success,” he says -- Matthews said his company’s ambitions are more modest, filling a void for more personal movies that has largely been vacated with the closures of Miramax, Warner Independent, ThinkFilm, Paramount Vantage and countless other specialized film companies. “We feel it’s possible -- and we’re not alone -- to fill a gap that is growing inside the movie business,” Matthews says.

Matthews and his eponymous band have been able to cultivate and communicate with thousands of music fans through an online community that might serve as a model for how ATO can generate moviegoer interest in its release slate without spending millions of dollars on advertising.

“There’s a way to access an audience on a very personal level that doesn’t require your changing the color of the moon for a weekend,” he says of the often costly, TV-saturation movie marketing campaigns. “I’m really excited about it,” Matthews says. “It’s an opportunity to become more involved with something that I love -- the ultimate art form of modern times.”

-- John Horn

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