I just posted this item last week about creators taking control of their own distribution, and then I see this article about actress Elizabeth Banks doing the exact same thing! Not to blow my own horn, but blow I must.

The holy grail for established talent is to pursue their passion without the intrusion or oversight of the proverbial suits. Often, at studios and networks, it is some twenty-something with a friend or family member in the business who landed a job that gives them veto authority. Often, projects are evaluated not by how good they could be, but by providing sufficient “plausible deniability.” In other words, if a movie bombs at the box office or in the ratings, were their sufficient reasons (read “attachments”) that a superior couldn’t blame them. A famous example was the 1990 film “Havana” that was famously packaged by CAA featuring multiple Oscar winners, yet bombed at the box office.

I’m quite sure (although open to being proven wrong) that Kevin Spacey and David Fincher signed on to “House Of Cards” with Netflix because of the artistic freedom they would be given, as opposed to any major television network. Don’t underestimate the frustration that artists encounter with these so-called suits.