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Page 12 The Skanner March 23, 2016 News cinema.” But many of the film- makers speaking out for the service (including Ron Howard and Brian Grazer) are advisers or shareholders. Others without a financial stake, such as James Cameron and Christopher Nolan, have denounced it as a misguided effort that will devalue the big- screen experience. The six major studios declined to comment about the Screening Room. But numerous interviews with studio executives, who request- ed anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter, described the presentation by Parker and Akkaraju (a former SFX Entertainment ex- cont’d from pg 12 ecutive) as polished and interesting enough to warrant consideration, but said the service was doubtful to gain studio participation. Major theater chains, which split box-office revenue with distribu- tors, were also courted by the Screening Room, which proposes to give them a hefty cut of each $50 rental. The two larg- est chains, AMC The- aters and Regal Cinemas, declined to comment. Mark Zoradi, chief exec- utive of the third largest chain, Cinemark, said “any day-and-date prop- ositions must be criti- cally evaluated to avoid the devaluation of the exhibition window and all subsequent revenue streams of our content providers.” The National Organiza- tion of Theater Owners, a trade organization, ac- knowledged that “more sophisticated window modeling may be needed for the growing success of a modern movie in- dustry.” But NATO added that such changes should be developed by distribu- tors and exhibitors -- the traditional twin powers of the movie industry -- “not by a third party.” Nevertheless, the stir caused by the Screening Room promises to be the all-consuming topic at NATO’s annual conven- tion, Cinema-Con, in Las Vegas in April. Some studios and even exhibitors may want to hedge their dependence on theaters, where all but the most prepackaged blockbusters often strug- gle to find audiences. Paramount Pictures has recently experimented with a shorter theatrical window (usually 90 days) for a pair of low-budget horror films: “Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” and the fifth “Paranormal Activity.” Neither performed well, however, nor did the im- provised day-and-date release of Sony’s “The In- terview.” But for the first time, the question of theatri- cal release isn’t just up to studios and exhibitors. Netflix has been aggres- sively buying up new movies for its streaming service, though it’s had difficulty getting them into theaters. Many sim- PHOTO BY JORDAN STRAUSS/INVISION/AP, FILE Hollywood In this Jan. 9, 2016 file photo, Sean Parker arrives at the 5th Annual Sean Penn & Friends HELP HAITI HOME Gala in Beverly Hills, Calif. Some 17 years after Napster shook the music industry Sean Parker is now rattling the movies. The Screening Room, a startup backed by Parker and Prem Akkaraju, is seeking to upend the theatrical release of movies and bring films, through an encrypted set-box service, directly into the home. ply refuse to screen day- and-date releases. To play last year’s “Beasts of No Nation” in theaters, Netflix had to “four-wall” some theaters, buying up the tickets themselves. The latest upstart, Am- azon Studios, has taken a different tact, however. Soul It has embraced theatri- cal releases for its films, happy to simply add the movies to its streaming offerings after a run in cinemas. Even disruptors like Amazon, it turns out, still like a night out at the movies. cont’d from pg 3 business develop- ment include collective co-working spaces called “The Bridge,” sponsor- ship of Black entrepre- neurs at events like “Pitch Black.” The group would also like to create a pipeline of future tech- nology workers, through science, technology, en- gineering, art and math youth workforce devel- opment. A draft report from the SOUL District website lists four strategies to pursue to make the dis- trict a reality: Study the business market, identify the businesses in the district, identify the needs of the district and to categorize Black-owned businesses in and near the area. Make an inventory of available commercial de- velopment sites within the district Create a list of federal, local, state and founda- tion funds available for use. Create an investment vehicle to acquire the land and develop the businesses using things like investment trusts, small business develop- ment funds, community development funds. The group is now work- ing with the research firm DHM Research to conduct a business and community survey. Tal- ton said they wanted in- put to connect with other community builders and to get a sense of what people would want from the SOUL District. Interested community members can visit www. souldistrictpdx.com to take the survey. Talton says the com- munity is running out of time to secure commer- cial properties for Black- owned businesses and it is “getting less possible every day.” “If we don’t anchor now we are going to lose all the opportunities,” Talton said. “The same thing will happen that happened with housing, they’ll all be gone.” The SOUL District re- port suggested using available land on Martin Luther King Jr. Boule- vard for these Black busi- ness commercial proper- ties. The report said that most of the development over the last 20 years has been affordable housing projects. Talton said this strat- egy takes on gentrifica- tion through the econ- omy — that there has to be good paying jobs and thriving businesses at the foundation. “This is the anti-gen- trification plan. Gentri- fication is all about the economics of the com- munity,” Talton said. “Gentrification is not about displacement, it is about the economics that displaced them. Once people control and par- ticipate in the economic vitality of community, then changes in the com- munity just don’t affect them that much.” If you would like to know more about the SOUL Dis- tric, please visit http:// w w w. s o u l d i s t r i c t p d x . com/.
