Yesterday, in a blog entry entitled "Monopoly Capitalism," I quoted from an e-mail sent to me by Mark Cuban (the very wealthy gentleman who recently bought the Landmark Theater chain), and then proceeded to deconstruct his argument. His response to my blog entry (see the comments section of the aforementioned entry) was to include the entire thread of our e-mail correspondence, which began shortly after he peremptorily decided to pull my film from all Landmark Theaters in markets in which Comcast (with whom Mr. Cuban is at war) also has a presence. He did this despite the fact that the Landmark theaters in question had already agreed to play my film, and despite the fact that the film was due to open four days later at the Landmark Theater in Berkeley, a screening which we had publicized and promoted for weeks. He did this because Comcast has refused to carry HDNet (which Mr. Cuban also owns), and because my film is being distributed by IFC Films which has a same day video-on-demand deal with Comcast.

In the spirit of thoroughness, I am posting my reply to Mr. Cuban.

Hey Mark,

I had thought of putting the entire thread up, but then decided it was too long, and that it made more sense to only quote from the thread, so as to leave more room for analysis. I'm certainly not averse to publishing the entire thread, and am glad that you did. I feel l've failed to persuade you to reverse your decision, however. We obviously don't see eye to eye on this one. I've made my best case for my point of view, and I assume you've made the best case for yours, and neither of us seems to be swayed by the other's arguments.

The only thing I don't understand is why you don't want me to contact Comcast and put the question to them directly of why they won't carry HDNet. Is it because you think it would be futile? It probably would be, but I could at least blog about it and let people know what is going on. It was you who initially suggested contacting Comcast to put pressure on them, and I was willing to do this. I'm not sure why you no longer want me to.

As for IFC, it's not like I know the back story. I don't. I don't know what IFC knew or did not know. All I know is that the people I've been dealing with at IFC have been kind and straightforward and generous, and I feel indebted to them. I also feel confident that they sincerely believed that Landmark was willing to play the films at the theaters in which they had agreed to play them. I don't think there was any duplicity on IFC's part, and I don't see any reason to pressure them to reneg on their agreement with Comcast. I don't think that's the ethical solution to the problem. I think the ethical solution to the problem would be to try to persuade Comcast to carry HDNet, or if they won't, to find another way to pressure them that doesn't involve sabotaging an innocent bystander's film grosses. I can understand your desire to boycott Comcast. But before you owned Landmark it was a theater chain that played movies because it thought those movies were good and/or because it thought those movies could make money. Now, Landmark is no longer a theater chain that plays movies because it believes in those movies. Now it plays (or pulls) movies because those movies could hurt (or help) Comcast. This is the equivalent of a turf war, and has devolved into a power struggle between rival gangs as opposed to an attempt to determine what's best for the film community as a whole.

And this is the essence of my disagreement with you. Your position has no social conscience. It's just about what's best for HDNet. But HDNet doesn't exist in a vacuum, and HDNet shouldn't only be about the bottom line. My impression was that HDNet was set up to make politically and aesthetically progressive films. But to then engage in a turf war to maximize HDNet's bottom line seems to me antithetical to the whole idea of what HDNet was supposed to be. In this case, I believe that the means do not justify the ends.

I, personally, think that you would get a lot of points from the independent film community if you reversed your decision about pulling my film from Landmark theaters in cities in which Comcast also operates. I don't think it would be seen as backing down. I think it would be seen as being sensitive and responsive to the film community as a whole.

In any case, I have no animosity towards you whatsoever (even though your actions so far will make my life more difficult), and I wish you both health and happiness.

Sincerely,

Caveh