InkTip Owner Makes First Film, Focuses on Politics

ENTERTAINMENT – Mark Madler In the documentary Jerrol LeBaron made about the divisive state of politics in the U.S. these days, there is one thing missing: the politicians. It was a conscious decision on the part of LeBaron, who was making his first film with “Fools on the Hill.” He judges a person based on what they do and not their words. Frankly, any politician’s words aren’t worth much today. “When you look at what they are doing to our country and state, I do not care what they think,” LeBaron said. As the owner of Tujunga-based InkTip, Jerrol matches up screenwriters with producers who can get their work onto the big screen. So when looking for a director for “Fools,” LeBaron turned to InkTip client Jed Rigney, a Studio City resident who has done rewrites for feature films and created a web series. Rigney, LeBaron believed, would bring the right amount of humor and entertainment to the heavy topic of his film. Rigney had never done a documentary before and questioned whether he was the right person for the project. But he took the job. LeBaron and Rigney are happy with the film, and now are working to get in front of distributors. “We were pleased with telling Jerrol’s story and the reason why Jerrol is doing what he is doing,” Rigney said. LeBaron self-financed “Fools,” which took him to North Dakota for several months as he collected signatures for a ballot initiative requiring lawmakers to actually read the bills they vote on. Footage of LeBaron is interspersed with interviews with political activists, a few politically-activated celebrities and regular citizens. Both LeBaron and Rigney emphasized how interview subjects came from across the political spectrum. The topics raised in “Fools” are ones members of the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street will find appealing — economic stimulus, bank bailouts, immigration, etc. “We, as a people, agree on most things, the fundamentals,” LeBaron said. “It is how the government is executing (the fundamentals) that causes us to get mad.” Final post-production on “Fools on the Hill” was completed in early December. LeBaron and Rigney want to get the film into film festivals. And now that it’s finished, more attention can be given to distribution, whether in theaters, on DVD, or through video-on demand. There are distributors expressing interest in the film, making LeBaron and Rigney anxious to get its relevant message out to a wider audience. LeBaron also came away with a greater appreciation of what full-time filmmakers go through and the risks they take to get their vision on screen. “It was a small budget, and to be honest, I did not look (at the expenses),” LeBaron said. “To this day I do not know how much it took.” Image Enters Syndication Business With more than 3,000 titles in its library, Image Entertainment Inc. is going into the syndication business to get its programming before more viewers. Limited television exposure for some of its genre material — comedy, music and urban titles — just wasn’t cutting it for the Chatsworth-based home entertainment distributor and producer. So company executives believed the time was right to put together syndication packages. “With all the competition coming from cable, the smaller station groups want programming and are looking for it,” said John Hyde, the company’s vice chairman. Image created a new division to handle syndication and tapped television veteran Don Golden as its head of sales. Golden’s past experience includes Fries Entertainment, and divisions of Carsey-Werner Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. Rather than sell individual titles, Image will package its programming for the television groups to broadcast. The first package will be all feature films with such performers as Ed Harris, Michael Caine, Jodie Foster, and Winona Ryder. How often Image will make new packages available will depend on acceptance in the industry, Hyde said. “It is a matter of finding the right stations,” he said. Creating the syndication division is evidence of the turnaround at Image since private equity firm JH Partners took a controlling share in the company in January 2010 and put Hyde and Ted Green, chairman and CEO, in charge. Image experienced a period of turmoil in 2008 and 2009 with two botched mergers and decreased sales as consumers spent less on home entertainment. Plus, the company had a mountain of debt that put it on the brink of bankruptcy. Green and Hyde cut overhead and made partnership deals and acquisitions that put the company onto firmer financial ground. With 2011 coming to a close, Image continues to see positive results, Hyde said. “In all areas, hard goods, Blu-ray, digital and in broadcast, there have been strong sales,” Hyde said. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected]