I haven’t been posting much recently due to an overall work crunch — the putting to bed of the new Fall issue of Filmmaker, and two new films my company is producing both going into production. Hopefully I’ll get back into the blogging swing of things in the next few days, but I couldn’t help posting this piece in Variety about Paul Dinello’s film Strangers with Candy. According to the trade, Warner Independent is not releasing the film, which was slated to open October 21, “out of concern that the producers didn’t secure all the needed rights, including for such items as posters and props.”

As a producer, arguing with directors (usually first-timers) about clearances is something I do all the time, with directors being angry that they can’t just “show the world.” Stories like this are my ammunition to enforce the accepted rules of rights and clearances within the industry. Of course, studios have been known to nitpick clearances in order to drop films they feel won’t perform or that they overpaid for. I have no idea whether that’s the case here or not, so hopefully soon they’ll be word on what items of set dressing are preventing Strangers with Candy from hitting the theaters.