- Robert Greenwald's latest film, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's
War on Journalism, went straight to video. But this documentary, which
attacks Fox News' purported fair and balanced reporting, is no summer sleeper.
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- Greenwald's Los Angeles production company has sold more
than 50,000 copies of the DVD on the Net since the film had its world premiere
on July 13 at The New School University in New York City. Five days later,
it was shown at more than 3,000 house parties organized by MoveOn.org.
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- Outfoxed has been one of the three most popular DVDs
on Amazon.com's best-seller list since July 13, said Kristin Mariani, a
company spokeswoman. "It's a real-time barometer," she said,
adding that Amazon updates its top-seller lists every hour. "The fact
that it has remained in the top three indicates a high level of customer
demand."
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- As the 58-year-old film producer and director walked
to a screening of his film for members of Congress in Washington, D.C.,
Greenwald told Wired News, "Theatrical release is the least important
part to this film."
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- The film was produced with the intention that it be available
to liberal-oriented groups and their members. (The DVDs cost only $10.)
Wes Boyd, MoveOn.org's co-founder, said the progressive political group
screened Outfoxed at its house parties to organize supporters to sign petitions
asking the Federal Trade Commission to prevent Fox News from using its
trademarked slogan, "Fair and Balanced."
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- At the July 18 house parties event, party hosts set up
either a conference call or a Web connection to a panel discussion on Outfoxed.
Greenwald, who made Steal This Movie, a 2000 film about '60s political
radical Abbie Hoffman, and Crooked E, a TV movie about the Enron scandal
that aired on CBS last year, hosted the discussion. Other panelists included
Boyd; Chellie Pingree, executive director of Common Cause; and Al Franken.
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- Of the 25,000 guests who attended the house parties,
hundreds submitted questions to the panelists. After the presentation,
MoveOn.org asked the guests to sign up to do volunteer work. "It's
a great organizing tool," Boyd said.
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- The first time MoveOn.org held interactive house parties
was after the release of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Through a conference
call, Moore was able to reach more than 30,000 guests at 2,300 house parties.
Fahrenheit 9/11 is now the top-grossing documentary, with about $90 million
in box-office receipts.
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- Greenwald and Boyd discussed making a film on Fox News
in spring 2003. Boyd said he realized Americans were concerned about the
media after an outpouring of support for the group's online petition opposing
the Federal Communications Commission's new rules on media consolidation.
"It left us scratching our heads," he said. "It was an unusual
kind of response on an issue that seems so wonky."
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- To produce Outfoxed, MoveOn.org and the Center for American
Progress, a liberal policy organization founded by John Podesta, a former
Clinton aide, each donated $80,000. The total budget was around $300,000.
Greenwald said he never intended to make money from the film. He said he
hopes to make enough to pay the loans back. After that, he will donate
free copies of the DVD to college libraries -- as well as Fox News employees,
he said.
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- Some progressive groups are selling Outfoxed as premiums
to raise money. For a $30 donation, AlterNet will throw in a copy of the
DVD. BuzzFlash is making the DVD available on its site for $17.
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- In a week, BuzzFlash sold 1,000 copies of the DVD. "It's
selling like hot cakes," said Mark Karlin, the site's editor. "BuzzFlash
readers feel about Fox News the same way that dissidents felt about Pravda
in the old Soviet Union. Fox News claims it is 'fair and balanced'; Pravda
claimed it was the 'truth.'"
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- Greenwald's first documentary released at MoveOn.org's
house parties was Uncovered: The Truth About the Iraq War. MoveOn.org sold
Uncovered DVDs for $25 to raise money for its anti-Bush ad campaign. It
brought in $1 million.
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- Greenwald expected to sell a modest 2,000 copies of that
film. Eventually, 120,000 copies were sold, and on Aug. 20 it will be released
in theaters in New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. Within a month, it
will be in 200 theaters around the country, said Phillipe Diaz, founder
of the film's distributor, Cinema Libre.
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- In September, Cinema Libre will release two other Greenwald
documentaries: Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election and Unconstitutional.
Diaz said he expects to have the films in 100 theaters by Election Day.
Diaz and Greenwald are already discussing releasing Outfoxed in theaters.
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- As an indication that the movie industry is changing,
Greenwald noted that The New York Times' film reviewer A.O. Scott reviewed
his documentary, which was shown at a MoveOn.org house party in a bar in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
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- "It has become a phenomenon," Greenwald said.
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