Cartilage Films Sets Out to Champion Small Indies
Jasper Basch on the power of theaters, scrambling for 'Skinamarink,' and distributing 'Free Time.'
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Jasper Basch started Cartilage Films in 2016, as an agency that handled theatrical sales for distributors that didn't have theatrical arms in house. After putting the company on hold for a few years while working for Greenwich Entertainment and then IFC Films, Basch, who currently serves as Head of Distribution at Variance Films, recently resurrected the company—but with a twist. “Rather than being a theatrical booking agency, I pivoted it into being a boutique distribution label where I get to just work on movies I want to work on that might slip through the cracks of more traditional distributors.” Cartilage’s first title, Ryan Martin Brown’s microbudget comedy Free Time, recently began a theatrical run in select theaters in NYC and LA. And the film is indicative of the space Basch hopes Cartilage can have some impact: Small, scrappy indies that have played well with audiences, but lack resources. I was curious about Basch’s path in the world of distribution, his view of the current landscape, and his ideas on how to distribute small movies sustainably, so I called him up this past week to chat.
Nothing Bogus: How did you get into distribution?
Jasper Basch: My entire career has been distribution-focused. I knew early on in my life that I liked movies. I never really had an interest in being a filmmaker. I've always been interested in how I’m seeing the movies I want to see. Why are there some movies that, in middle school, I had to download off of Limewire or buy bootlegs of from the kung-fu stand at the mall, or have my parents drive me into the city to see? In eighth grade, we were learning how to write persuasive essays, and my persuasive essay was "Why Battle Royale Should Be Available In the US." So I've always been interested in how movies become available to audiences. And then I went to college, got a business degree, and wanted to apply that to championing movies I felt passionately about.
I'm curious about the potential you see in working with these smaller films.
I think back to when I was growing up, and small movies were still being released more regularly. It wasn't all just content that was being used to satisfy a streamer that needed a large volume of content. And I couldn't wrap my head around the notion that there wouldn't be audience appetite for a movie that's smaller but still quite good. So I'm doing this with the belief that using modest resources, there's still the opportunity for modest reward. It may be very modest resources and very modest reward but there's no reason a film can't sell itself if audiences have a chance to learn about it. It's a challenge getting press to focus on a film that doesn't have major talent or the highest festival pedigree going in. And a lot of festival pedigree is also informed by there being talent to get into the festival. So it's cyclical in that way. But I believe inherently that a film can be sold on its strengths and presented in a way that people would be interested in. So why couldn't it exist on a much smaller scale? We're not going to spend a ton of money, we're not going to make a ton of money, but that's still valuable. It may not support an entire business on its own, but I'm not in a position where I need this to support me.
How do you find those audiences? And if you have very limited resources, where do you place those resources for these smaller films?
On a film like Free Time, a handful of people had caught the movie in the festival circuit and had become champions for it. What was important to me was getting people to see it—because we believe that if people see it, even if it's a small fraction of people who go crazy for it, there will be a segment who go crazy for it and can be our champions and generate word of mouth and buzz for the film. With Free Time, people did do that. People became really passionate about the film. And in our positioning, and what we elevate and boost, we had such strong reaction that we were able to share. I think enthusiasm is infectious, so we just hope to communicate that enthusiasm.
I'm very fascinated by the question of what ends up breaking through and why. So I wonder if you have thoughts on that, and how you actually make that happen.
Well, I'd have to defer to my publicists on how they puled off any of the successes they've had on Free Time, because it blows my mind. But it's probably similar to how I handle my distribution and distribution pitching. People may trust me, and I've worked with a lot of these people for years, and so they're more inclined to consider something if I'm presenting it as opposed to if a stranger were presenting it. But even just taking those limited quotes and reviews that exist and emphasizing that those are positive, and so that therefore if these people liked the film you might like the film, I found that super helpful. [The film’s writer-director] Ryan [Martin Brown] also cut a really strong trailer for Free Time, which I think communicates the tone and the plot really nicely. That helped a lot in getting people to consider the title. But more than anything, it's persistence.
I know you were involved with Skinamarink, which really took off last year. So I'm wondering why you think that one caught fire, and then what you did specifically to help it.
Skinamarink was with Shudder when it got leaked two summers ago. Shudder had recently acquired the film, and then it leaked online and had kind of become this underground illegal sensation, and that was not intentional. I know people said Shudder did that, and we did not. But what we did see was an opportunity where everyone was talking about it. So we turned around the theatrical release as soon as we could just to go off the excitement and enthusiasm that existed. My role was that I got the theaters for that film, and also developed so much of the strategy too. So that was a crazy month and a half turnaround. Getting all the theaters, getting all the materials created and ready. Navigating all the corporate red tape to even get this to happen. In the US, it went on over 800 screens if I remember correctly. We wound up releasing it in a few different continents, which we handled in-house modestly. It was similar to Free Time, though, in that we saw enthusiasm that existed and in order to get people on board with the release, just relayed that enthusiasm. The enthusiasm for Skinamarink was enormous, so that was an easier obstacle, but it's a similar concept: Letting enthusiasm be infectious.
In all these different jobs you've had, what have you learned about the importance of theatrical in terms of building that word of mouth?
I think a theatrical release is probably the best marketing tool for all your ancillary downstream releases. With that said, that's doing a real theatrical. If you open a theater in a void and have no intention of promoting it or publicizing it, you might as well have not done that. I think a well done theatrical release elevates a title to a higher level, where you then see the reward for it downstream, on your digital or home media release.
How do you know what theaters to place things, especially when you get out of the big cities and more into the middle of the country?
I guess it's the same principle. With Free Time, we're not targeting random big box theaters. This is not going to be in a suburban 20-screen AMC. Everywhere we're playing this film exists in the arts sector and they promote and advertise their films to regular arthouse moviegoers. Everyone who's being targeted for this film has an existing audience who can be activated, who we think would be receptive to seeing it. If the movie took off in ways that blow our minds, then we'd pivot and add commercial theaters as well. But that's an extraordinary circumstance. The goal is really targeting arthouses that have built-in marketing and PR infrastructures to reach the localized arthouse moviegoer.
In your time doing this, have you noticed any trends in terms of what films do well, changes in moviegoing, or anything else?
It's interesting, we're still in a period where we're recovering from COVID. Box office is still not at the 2019 numbers. Horror movies seem to be doing quite well. That's an audience that likes to go to the theater. Where traditional older arthouse is not doing as well still. I've been really excited by seeing mid-budget studio comedies doing well. Those seem to generally land and do what they're supposed to do. I've been encouraged by that. The Lost City was a sleeper hit, but even No Hard Feelings doing $50 million, even if that's an underperformance, it's probably not a significant underperformance relative to the other underperformances these days.
Are there aspects of distribution you think filmmakers should be thinking about in pre-production?
Well they should have all their music cleared. Hire an on-set photographer, or just take on-set photography if you can. Other than that, just don't sell yourself short until you need to. Before a filmmaker puts a film for free on YouTube I'd ask them, "Why not do something bigger? Have you talked to distributors?" It's possible that going on YouTube is what's right for the film, but I don't want filmmakers to sell themselves short.
Some cool things happening this week…
In NYC, New Directors/New Films kicks off Wednesday with Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man, playing at MOMA and featuring a director Q+A.
If you’re in LA, the inaugural Los Angeles Festival of Movies starts Thursday (and runs through Sunday). Opening night is Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow.
And if you’re in any major city you should really do yourself a favor and catch Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, because it’s—and I’m going to flex some extremely advanced Italian here—molto bene.
Listings
Melina Valdez is available for graphic design / illustration / pitch deck work. Here is a link to Melina’s portfolio.
There are a few different casting notices out for a new Savanah Leaf short film called BIRTH. Find them here.
Juan Pablo Rivera Garza’s new short film, The Daughter, is in search of an 18-22 year old woman for an undisclosed role. The film will be shot in Vermont and New York City in late July and early August. Apply here.
If you would like to list in a future issue, either A) post in the Nothing Bogus chat thread, or B) email nothingbogus1@gmail.com with the subject “Listing.” (It’s FREE!) Include your email and all relevant details (price, dates, etc.).