On Friday, it was revealed that the long drama over the death of FilmStruck resulted in the birth of The Criterion Channel subscription service, seemingly providing film fans a chance to watch the classic, indie, foreign, and otherwise notable films from the comfort of their home, just as they did with the former service. But how did it actually come together? Who was on the front lines fighting for film fans? Well, the answer is pretty incredible, and not at all surprising — Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Edgar Wright.
The trio of filmmakers seems to be the driving force behind the resurrection of FilmStruck, albeit under this new name. And according to a report from THR, it all started with a discussion between Scorsese, Spielberg, and Wright.
“I heard Steven and Martin Scorsese were talking to Warner about it, and I asked what I could do. [Spielberg] said, ‘Well, if you want to, round up your buddies,’” said Wright.
And round up his buddies, Wright did. The “Baby Driver” director reached out to Guillermo del Toro and Rian Johnson, and encouraged them to do the same. Then a draft of a letter to WarnerMedia chairman Toby Emmerich began to form, with 21 people signing it. In addition to the filmmakers above, the letter was signed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Barbra Streisand, Christopher Nolan, and Alfonso Cuaron, among others.
Del Toro helped out every way he could, telling THR, “I reached out to five or seven filmmakers and actors at dinners, phone calls or emails. The letter took a while so we kept at it at social occasions.”
While Wright worried that a letter emailed to Emmerich would end up in the executive’s spam folder, that didn’t actually happen. A source close to the matter told THR that the executive saw the letter and “addressed it internally.”
Wright also reached out to Karyn Kusama, who is prepping the release of her upcoming film “Destroyer.” Kusama said about the matter, “How are we going to see these movies? It’s an incredibly important part of film history and understanding the language of cinema. To not have access to these movies, to imagine that they’ll disappear into this black hole. It was a no brainer to say, ‘Oh, yeah, as filmmakers let’s try and do something.'”
With all that hard work being done, and a subsequent additional letter with 30 more signatures was sent to WB, the studio was ready for a compromise. The result? The Criterion Channel subscription service that was announced Friday.
And for del Toro, he told THR that the Criterion Channel is a “perfect not-missing-a-beat solution.”
Let’s just hope that all these filmmakers’ hard work pays off and the film fans pick up the slack, keeping The Criterion Channel around for years to come. We can’t let down Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, can we?