Gregg Goldstein in The Hollywood Reporter writes about an innovative film marketing class based around John Sayles’s Honeydripper.

From the piece:

“Stomp the Yard” producer Will Packer and Emerging Pictures founder Ira Deutchman are teaming with Clark Atlanta University to launch a film marketing and distribution course for African-American college students across the country.

The class will be based around the marketing plan for John Sayles’ upcoming musical drama “Honeydripper” starring Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen and Sean Patrick Thomas. Lectures will be organized by Clark Atlanta marketing professor Charles W. Richardson Jr., led by industry professionals, (including Rainforest Films’ Packer) and distributed on the Internet.

Before Emerging Pictures releases the Sayles film in New York and Los Angeles on Dec. 28, select students from participating schools will help develop and implement a grassroots marketing campaign with their professors and the film’s distribution team. It will continue throughout the platform release in Atlanta and Chicago on Jan. 18 and a wide release the following month.