And The Oscar For Most Inspiring Film Distributor Goes To...

What is it like to lead a film distribution company that specializes in artful documentaries? What are the challenges at a time when consumers have more movie-viewing choices than ever before?

On the eve of the Oscars, Elizabeth Sheldon, president and CEO of Juno Films, a privately held company based in Princeton, New Jersey, spoke to me about the joys and struggles of thriving in a competitive marketplace for movies.

Bruce Weinstein: What does a film distributor do?

Elizabeth Sheldon: Film distribution is akin to publishing in that producers and directors create an intellectual property and then seek to publish it as widely as possible. For film, there are many different platforms including festivals, theatrical, streaming video on demand such as Netflix or HBO Max, TV, TV on demand, educational and DVD.

The goal of a distributor is to release a film as widely as possible to generate the greatest viewership possible and the maximum revenue. Another analogy is that it is like running an orphanage for beloved children who need more attention and resources than the beleaguered parents can provide. 

Weinstein: What are some of Juno’s most successful films?

Sheldon: There are different ways to judge the success of a film. Rob Garver’s What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael, [about the late New Yorker film critic], will be our top performer from 2019, mainly because it's going to play 30 to 50 markets by the time we're done.

Jedd and Todd Wider’s God Know Where I Am has definitely been a home run. We won an Emmy for it in the TV and news documentary section, and it was broadcast on PBS and Netflix. In terms of audience impact, it's probably had the broadest reach because of the channels that we licensed it to.

Theatrical release is a small piece in the overall landscape. When we acquire a film, there are different ways to to measure a success. Max Powers’ Don’t Be Nice, about the Bowery Slam Poetry Team, played very well in the festival circuit, and we qualified for an Oscar. Box-office revenue is just one marker of many.

Weinstein: Is there a film you acquired that you strongly believed would be a hit in theaters but wasn’t?

Sheldon: We picked up a zombie film, Caroline Hellsgard’s Ever After, that I had high hopes for. Manhola Dargis gave it a rave review in The New York Times. The Guardian said it was one of the top 10 films zombie films ever made. It didn’t find an audience....It’s ahead of its time.

Weinstein: Speaking of the Times, the Arts section recently had an article about how the #MeToo movement is changing the way Hollywood does business. Have you ever felt you missed an opportunity because of your gender?

Sheldon: There have been both causal and not-so-subtle ways that men reminded me of “my place” in an organization and outside of it.

Weinstein: How so?

Sheldon: In my first job out of graduate school at Princeton, I reported to a traditional older man. He was genial and paternal. He invited me into a meeting with two male film producers and after being introduced I was asked to fetch coffee for the guests.

I said, “No.” It was an uncomfortable moment and in my mind I kept repeating, “You are a Fulbright scholar and a Princeton grad. You went to Mills College. You were not hired to serve coffee.”

Perhaps I picked up the right to say “No,” at Mills, an all female college where I learned not to assume that a man would take the leadership role, or perhaps from my father, who was hands down a trail-blazing feminist.

Weinstein: So what happened?

Sheldon: Fortunately, my boss's secretary who was far more seasoned and gracious than I was popped in and inquired who wanted theirs black and if anyone cared for sugar.

This was the same secretary who my second week on the job invited me out to lunch and informed me I would never succeed at that company because I had a young child. It isn’t only men who bring their personal beliefs regarding what women can and cannot do to the office. 

Weinstein: I hear that a lot.

Sheldon: Other times during my professional career I was repeatedly instructed to not to tell anyone that I went to Princeton or that I was a Fulbright scholar among my colleagues or in public or that I was voted one of the 50 most powerful people in documentary film. I was not to “rock the boat.”

Weinstein: How did these experiences affect you?

Sheldon: Eventually, I realized that I am a rower and that rowers wake-up in the morning to rock the boat.

That is when I accepted that certain cultures could not be changed and that I would only die of frustration if I were to seek to be the catalyst. I moved on. It was easier than waging a war that I wouldn’t have won.

Weinstein: What are some of the implications for women in other businesses?

Sheldon: In negotiations women can be perceived as not serious business people. One female producer accidentally shared a note that her co-producer had written her regarding my proposal where he repeatedly referred to me as “the girl.” Clearly, no one is going to give a “girl” distribution rights to a film. I was in my forties and a COO. 

I think all women make choices as they go along in life regarding which battles we fight and which we ignore, while keeping our self-respect in tact.

Weinstein: Is our culture changing for the better, in your view?

Sheldon: All of my male peers who helm distribution companies have investors. Until women entrepreneurs have equal access to capital, the film world will not change. Film culture will not change until there are women controlling the pipeline and green lighting films.

If there were women on the business side making the decisions as to which films are produced, featured at key film festivals, and released, my guess is that we would have more films that appeal to both women and men, assuming that men are broad minded enough to watch films that are not only about the glory of conquest, whether it is military, economic or sexual. 

In short, there would be more people like Greta Gerwig and Kelly Reichardt and perhaps a rebound at the box office. Black Panther comes to mind as to what happens when a new voice breathes life into an old genre. 

I want Juno Films to be a catalyst for this cultural change.