The Legacy of Independent Cinema and the Rediscovery of Riverbend

Now, Let me bring up a point that has to do with independent cinema, independent filmmaking, correct to then in the 80s.

This was 1980.

It's correct to then and correct to now.

Every independent company that makes a movie, their dream is that a major company will distribute it.

This is the dream.

You make a movie because it's very hard to distribute a movie.

It's very difficult to distribute.

So the dream is that a major company, Universal, Paramount, one of them, Columbia, will pick it up.

It's called picking up.

Pick it up for distribution.

Canon was a young company.

And by then, they already made a few movies.

And the procedure is that the independent company makes a movie.

They show it around to all the major companies, distribution company.

Hopefully, one of them will pick up.

One of them.

So Canon was making movies by then, New Year's Evil, I don't know, a couple of horror pictures, and they show it, and none of their movies were ever picked up by a company, by a major.

And now they are showing, this movie was called Revenge of the Ninja, they're showing this movie, MGM likes it.

Wow, this was a big change.

MGM decided to pick it up for distribution.

So for the company, for independent company, it was a big deal.

And Canon, you remember, Stephen, Canon was not the only company that was crowned in the national CKA.

There are Many, many of those companies at the time, because this was the business of low budget, either horror picture or action pictures were very popular at the time.

I mean, what the independent companies, as much as they loved home video... and they made a lot of money in home video, they tried to avoid a movie going straight to home video and not play theaters.

There's a cache to playing theaters.

Now, Let me bring up a point that has to do with independent cinema, independent filmmaking, correct to then in the 80s.

This was 1980.

It's correct to then and correct to now.

Every independent company that makes a movie, their dream is that a major company will distribute it.

This is the dream.

You make a movie because it's very hard to distribute a movie.

It's very difficult to distribute.

So the dream is that a major company, Universal, Paramount, one of them, Columbia, will pick it up.

It's called picking up.

Pick it up for distribution.

Canon was a young company.

And by then, they already made a few movies.

And the procedure is that the independent company makes a movie.

They show it around to all the major companies, distribution company.

Hopefully, one of them will pick up.

One of them.

So Canon was making movies by then, New Year's Evil, I don't know, a couple of horror pictures, and they show it, and none of their movies were ever picked up by a company, by a major.

And now they are showing, this movie was called Revenge of the Ninja, they're showing this movie, MGM likes it.

Wow, this was a big change.

MGM decided to pick it up for distribution.

So for the company, for independent company, it was a big deal.

And Canon, you remember, Stephen, Canon was not the only company that was crowned in the national CKA.

There are Many, many of those companies at the time, because this was the business of low budget, either horror picture or action pictures were very popular at the time.

I mean, what the independent companies, as much as they loved home video... and they made a lot of money in home video, they tried to avoid a movie going straight to home video and not play theaters.

There's a cache to playing theaters.