RIP: WIP, Picturehouse and....

By Steven Zeitchik

So what really happened in Thursday's WIP-Picturehouse shocker? Borys Kit and Gregg Goldstein have the full scoop in today's THR. Among their more telling revelations is that, if you were surprised, you're not alone -- the principals were right there with you. "The decision to cease operations was made only about a week ago, and many inside the company were caught off-guard -- including Cohen, who said she was having meetings about a merged division with Berney as recently as Friday," they write.

Bob Berney and Polly Cohen, both talented execs, will find good gigs, and we hope the same is true for the many good staffers at both companies. The longer-term lesson, and in some ways what's more sad, is what all this shows about the business. Weepiness isn't entirely warranted; there's still plenty of money and many new companies. Agencies are putting together packages at  record rates. Independent production shingles, buoyed by tax rebates and star interest, are robust. Films funds are as active as ever. But what's increasingly clear is the particular model of the specialty biz -- the idea of a dedicated unit for a certian type/budget of film which both lives within and operates parallel to a studio -- is undergoing a radical transformation, if not an imminent contraction.

It was only a decade or so that the model was essentially invented, and the last five years or so when it's reached full flower, with big commercial hits and untold numbers of statues. But in the last year the picture has started to look a little different . Paramount Vantage is spreading into broader genres and is so production-driven it's practically a mini-studio. Ditto for Focus. Sony Classics is sui generis. True, Searchlight and Miramax are on top of their games, thought the former's slate is a little thin in the near term and the latter is very prestige-driven, a good model it's refined nearly to perfection but one that means it doesn't play nearly as much in the finished-film market that's often the specialty-biz's lifeblood.

In quality and range, specialty films are as strong as ever. And yet the business is on the cusp of a major transition. Welcome to the paradoxical film world of 2008.