From: kenneth wayne peralta (email suppressed)
Date: Wed Feb 11 2004 - 10:39:08 PST
n : gossip (usually a mixture of truth and untruth) passed around by word of
mouth.
nick zeddıs 2-feb posting and 4-feb amended postings re. donnell media
center permissions / fees are based on a recounting of our experiences when
attempting to arrange screenings of jackıs films for mary jordan in late
spring 2002.
we were told at that time by jerry tartaglia (franklin media) that we needed
to pay a rental fee to screen the (un-catalogued jack smith) films at dmc.
upon inquiring separately with the dmc, we were told the films could not be
screened without first receiving permission from both franklin media and the
plaster foundation inc. (jim hoberman fielded this inquiry). mary jordan
inquired via telephone with the dmc again last week, and was again told that
advanced permission from the plaster foundation was required to screen the
films.
a grant of permissionı at that time of our 2002 inquiry was to include a
rental fee payable to franklin media per jerry. i remember the proposed
fee to be between $125 - $175 per print, but canıt say for certain without
searching old journals. we chose not to pursue screenings under these
conditions.
we were told franklin media has distribution rights to jackıs smithıs by
jerry himself and all of inquiries re. licensing and distribution of jack
smithıs films have been referred to jerry by j.hoberman (though jerry told
us this arrangement was never ³formalized²). as to franklin being a
³...conduit for funds...,² given franklin media is a licensor of the works
from the stewards of jackıs archive (or owners from the hoberman/arcade
point of view), normal practice would suggest payment to the estate for the
benefit of these licenses. we have no specific knowledge as such, but as
others pointed out in their posts, this is standard licensing practice.
jim hobermanıs 6-jan-04 press release seems to confirm this by stating ³The
Plaster Foundation derives most of its revenue from the sale, rental, and
leasing of Smithıs films...²
we licensed jack smithıs films and photographs for use in maryıs film
through an agreement with franklin media that was also executed by jim
hoberman for the pf inc. whether the fee we paid is ³exorbitant² is
obviously a subjective judgment, and irrelevant to the bigger issues at hand
surrounding the archive. we are pleased to feature jackıs films, and
grateful for our supporters to raise the budget to cover the licensing fees.
no one associated with our production has further knowledge of nor interest
in the business relationship between the plaster foundation inc. and
franklin media. if i, mary jordan, or anyone else involved with this
production conveyed to nick zedd that jim hoberman received rental fees for
us screening jack smithıs films at dmc, then we make due apology on behalf
of our entire production to nick zedd for misleading him with wrong
information, and to jim hoberman for this mis-information being conveyed
publicly. it canıt be true since we did not pay the proposed rental fees.
since jerry tartaglia and jim hoberman (via jerry) are on this list, either
of them could shed light on the flow of funds had we actually paid the
proposed 2002 fees to screen at dmc.
the donnell media center told us in another phone conversation last thursday
they purchased a ³full set² of jack smithıs films from the ³people doing the
restoration work² (franklin media), but would not say which films were
purchased. until all of the films are ³catalogued² into the collection,
none of the jack smith films at dmc will be available for public screening,
except in ³extraordinary circumstances² according to the person on the
phone, who did not elaborate further.
after cataloguing, all films will be available to the general public to
screen without any fees, just as all other films in the dmc collection. the
dmc is not certain when the films will be available, as budget cuts are
reported to have created a substantial backlog of library cataloguing.
the idea of a ³secret deal² between jim hoberman and the dmc is not
something we have heard before. mary jordan assured me she did not make
this assertion. it is indeed unfortunate this rumor was publicly
distributed. if somehow this was inferred by nick zedd from a conversation
with mary jordan, then we offer due apology to the donnell media center, jim
hoberman, and nick zedd for any role this production may have had in
propagating this rumor. we have no reason to believe this is true, and don't
even know if dmc management knew of the rental fees requested of us to
screen jack smith's films at dmc in 2002.
finally, the rental fee figures conveyed to nick zedd by mary jordan were
provided to mary by a third party who cited facets multi-mediaıs website
(www.facets.org presumably). obviously any information we could provide re.
rental fees would be second hand at best. this could easily be cleared up
if franklin media and canyon cinema would post their standard rental rates
for jack smith films, or at least give some direction to how this
information can be learned. hopefully this might even lead to further
screenings of jack smithıs work.
kenneth wayne peralta
producer, locusta penguina
mary jordan, director
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.