CASTLE HILL student report
My internship position was at an independent film distribution company called Castle Hill Productions. It is located in Manhattan at 1414 6th Avenue Suite 1502. I had two main key supervisors at Castle Hill. Arthur Schweitzer who is the Vice President of International Distribution, and Ivory Harris who heads the Acquisitions department. The president and owner of Castle Hill Julian Schlossburg is concerned primarily in the theater aspect of the industry and produces plays, I worked every Tuesday and Thursday at Castle Hill Productions from 9:30-6pm and any other day that I didn't have to attend class.
Castle Hill makes the bulk of there money by acquiring newly made films as well as older films, buys the distribution rights and markets them domestically and internationally. In some instances a film may garner a theatrical debut instead of the direct submission to home video or cable.
Initially I began my intern by working with Arthur and his assistant Sharon. Arthur is in charge of getting films sold internationally in many different foreign markets. When I first arrived they were getting ready for the American Film Market. My job was to contact key people in other distribution companies both foreign and domestic. This included territories all over Asia, Europe, and South America. I would send companies catalogs of films that were available in stock, along with press kits that I also had to make. The press kits were made up of flyers of different movies, film biographies and press releases and business cards.
I was also in charge of dubbing tapes in the different formats, and sending them out to potential buyers who showed interest at the film markets. Arthur was out of the country most of the time I was there. Every other week he was away finding buyers for Castle Hill. The screening cassettes had to be shipped by me of course. I had the tapes shipped through the various carrier services such as Fed Ex or Chronopost. I had to pack the shipment carefully because I didn't want the tapes to get ruined during travel.
While Arthur was gone I worked with Sharon his assistant organizing the office that looked like a whirlwind hit it after getting ready for the markets. The films that we had in stock had to be cataloged and alphabetized, the files had to be reorganized, more flyers had to be ordered. Some of the duties I had to perform as an intern were very menial. I had to do my share of photo copying and errand running around the city delivering and picking up necessary films for distribution.
While Arthur was out of town there were times Sharon would show me the contracts that were used when deals were made. They were very simple in nature and a standard form of agreement for
many distribution companies. She would take me through the contract step by step in order to make sure I understood the acquisition process, how Castle Hill was involved in the process and what the standard profit was for distributing in particular territories.
On days that were very slow I was allowed to view some of the movies that were being considered for distribution. If Castle Hill was thinking about a potential prospect they would allow anyone who worked there to take a look at it and hopefully give it an open and honest critique. The theatrical viewing for the bigger movies were held as an event in a theater in downtown Manhattan, I am sorry that while I was there they did not have one. I was invited to the opening of the play Castle Hill produced under the direction of Julian Schlossburg the president. The play was titled Taller than a Dwarf and it starred Matthew Broderick and Parker Posey. The play bombed when they opened in Broadway and it also didn't do too well in NY.
The staff at Castle Hill was very small, there were about twelve people working in the office. They were very nice and accommodating to me as I tried to get myself situated in the office. They answered all of my questions, taking time from their schedule to explain their job description, how long they had been at Castle Hill and what their view of the film industry was. Some of the staff had been there for a short time a couple of years while others had been there for more than twenty like my other supervisor Ivory Harris. There were a couple of other departments that I did not get the opportunity to work with because of the limited amount time I had at Castle Hill. There is the television distribution department that dealt mainly with supplying films to broadcast and cable companies domestic and abroad. There is the theater department that produces new plays they buy scripts and hire directors etc, and there is also the acquisitions department that screens potential films and makes the deals that enable Castle Hill to keep their film library current and up to date.
While interning under the supervision of Ivory in the acquisitions department, I learned a lot about the different formats for film and video. When a film was purchased it would be edited to their liking (Castle Hill does not distribute films with coarse language or violence). Copies would be made in the different grades of videos so that it would be readily accessible to those companies overseas who are not up to date with film technologies.
In the Acquisitions department I would follow up on what tapes we had in house and which ones were sent out for processing. Each time a tape left the office or came into the office, it had to be verified in a logbook. I enjoyed working in the Acquisitions department more that the Distribution department mainly because the office was much bigger and it had windows. I also learned how to send out tapes to be processed, if they wanted to change the sound or picture quality to a particular film an order had to be written up with the specific details of what exactly was to be done and how. This process was important because it cost hundred of dollars to create new editions of old tapes and orders shouldn't have to be processed twice. I didn't get a chance to stay with them long because the semester was drawing to a close.
I was invited back to Castle Hill if I ever wanted to do another internship. They could not offer me a position being that the office was so small they really didn't have any room for expansion. They also couldn't afford another salary; they thrive off of the free labor that interns provide. I liked Castle Hill because it was small and I got a lot of hands on experience that I normally wouldn't with a bigger company, and it was a very friendly atmosphere, plus they provided a stipend that really helped out. I didn't like Castle Hill because the offices were very claustrophobic and I would have to run downstairs in order to get a breath of fresh air. I highly recommend Castle Hill to anyone who is trying to get involved in the area of film distribution. They are always looking for help and they are willing to train you to do a job that you would command a great salary in the bigger distribution companies.