By Margaret A. McGurk
The Cincinnati Enquirer

If the founders of River Coast Films get their way, the local filmmaking community is about to get a major shot in the arm.

The five company founders have launched an "angel fund" to recruit investors who will commit a total of $10 million for regional films.

FOUNDERS

The board of River Coast Films includes: • Joseph Dehner, a civic activist, partner in the Frost Brown Todd law firm, and an expert in international affairs. • Mike Katchman, a vice president of independent distributor First Look Pictures and a movie business veteran who previously worked for Lion's Gate, Orion and MGM • Greg Newberry, advertising agency owner and award-winning independent filmmaker. • Norma Skoog, attorney, arts patron, owner of Growth Management Advisors consulting firm, veteran member of the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Film Commission. • Jack Streitmarter, owner of Sound Images production firm and chairman of the board of the film commission. To contact River Coast Films, e-mail katch1@aol.com

According to Greg Newberry, who has been working on creating River Coast for several years, the company will seek out projects with well-developed plans and commercial potential to recommend to the investors.

"We're not going to be looking for scripts," he said.

Mike Katchman, a Cincinnati-based movie industry executive and a co-founder of River Coast, said the firm will host a private party for potential investors on May 8, in hopes of securing final commitments. The aim, he said, is to give interested investors a comfortable way to enter a high-risk business.

"People will realize that this is a fun industry, there is a lot that can be done and a lot that can be done in this town. You don't have to go to Los Angeles to get into the movie business," he said.

The company will target feature-length film projects that meet criteria such as:

• A significant regional investment in production and post-production facilities, equipment, locations and/or talent.

• A distribution agreement in place, or a plan to secure distribution.

• A production team, script, budget and plan.

• For completion funds, 90 percent of principal photography completed.

Bernadette Gilotta, an independent filmmaker and co-director of the Ohio Independent Film Festival, said the idea is tantalizing.

"If their intention is to help build a regional film community, it's incredibly important. ... If all they want to do is bring Steven Spielberg or Tom Hanks to Ohio to make movies, that's no big deal.

"But if their intention is to nurture and propel regional talent, these guys are angels, they are godsend."

TC Rice, vice president of distribution for specialty distributor Manhattan Pictures, said he had heard of no other organization like River Coast.

Rice compared the project to European film boards, which supply public funds to projects that pass artistic and commercial muster.

"The logic is there that it could work," he said. "If these guys are above board, it's worth trying out."

River Coast's founders intend to focus on low-budget movies as a way to offset the daunting odds against turning a profit.

Phil Borack, owner of Tri-State Theatre Service movie booking company, is well aware of the risks in financing movies. He produced the 1978 movie Harper Valley P.T.A. with about $1 million raised from friends in the business. It was a hit, and he raised another $3.5 million with public share sales to make Chattanooga Choo Choo in 1984; the film flopped.

"So here I was with a 50/50 batting average," said Borack, "and I couldn't raise the money publicly for a third film." He has not made another movie since.

Getting a film in theaters is an enormous hurdle, Borack said. "I think there are between Sundance and Telluride (film festivals) something like 1,000 and 2,000 films submitted every year. A hundred of those get in. ... The 100 that get in, maybe five of those get played (in theaters).

"A lot of movies get made, but they never get shown," Borack said. "They're very expensive wallpaper."

Newberry and Katchman said River Coast will avoid that fate by being highly selective.

For its first project, "We will try to have every possible positive aspect to make it work," Katchman said, "the right talent, the right script.

"We have the time to search high and low and get that 'right' project."