CCA News
Movieline Chats with Film Chair Rob Epstein to Identify Current Trends in Hollywood for Documentary Filmmakers
Posted on Monday, March 28, 2011, by Jim Norrena
Celebrated documentary filmmaker and chair of CCA's Film Program, Rob Epstein, whose not one but two Academy Award wins (Times of Harvey Milk, 1985; Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, 1990) have catapulted the openly gay filmmaker to ineludible master status both within and outside the LGBTQ community, was recently interviewed by Movieline.
The following excerpts are taken from the Movieline interview with Epstein, which can be read in its entirety at the Movieline website:
ML: In the time since the Celluloid Closet movie, how do you think Hollywood has changed?
RE: Oh, I think Hollywood’s changed a lot. I think things are much more open there, just in terms of, internally, how Hollywood functions. The mechanics of Hollywood are different now, because people are out in their professional positions, which when The Times of Harvey Milk won the Oscar, that wasn’t the case. It was a very brave thing for Academy voters to vote for it at that point. It was a real statement, but I think we’re in different territory now. In terms of what comes out of Hollywood as product, television’s a lot more advanced with regard to presenting gay characters than the movies are, but that’s because television doesn’t have to sell tickets, which is what it comes down to.
ML: As a documentary filmmaker, do you see things getting better as far as docs getting distribution and finding audiences? It seems like its become a more viable genre for theatrical distribution over the last decade.
RE: Absolutely. I think distributors are more open, but they’re looking for that film that’s really somehow breaking the mold in terms of what it’s about, and those are the ones that really break through. But it’s interesting, I was just looking at the box office receipts for the Oscar[-nominated] shorts that are playing in theaters now, and it’s doing really well. It’s been in theaters for a couple of weeks and the gross is over $1.2 million for documentary shorts, so that’s great.
About Movieline
Movieline is the premier movie and television site with the vitality and immediacy of a Hollywood-centric blog coupled with more expansive pieces on the entertainment world and pop culture. The site boasts daily and weekly features from movie and TV reviews to insider interviews and breaking stories.
Founded originally by Anne Volokh as a local Los Angeles-free magazine in 1985, Movieline went on to become a beloved national entertainment magazine known for its obsessive devotion to movies, irreverent celebrity interviews, and arch commentary about life in Hollywood. Movieline.com picks up where the magazine left off, delivering the best entertainment reporting in new, relevant and fresh way on the web.
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