Dear Friend of the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre,

Thank you for joining more than 2500 concerned citizens who have signed the petition urging the board of the American Cinematheque to hold a public meeting, explain the problems facing the troubled non-profit, halt any potential sale of the Egyptian Theatre and be transparent about its plans moving forward. The petition is directed to the board, to the local city councilmember's office, and to the California Attorney General, who was already investigating the American Cinematheque before it sought to sell the theatre.

Today, the possible sale of the Egyptian Theatre and a link to our petition appear in the New York Times, in an article about Netflix’ efforts to please high profile directors like Martin Scorsese and Noah Baumbach, whose latest projects are produced not by motion picture studios, but by the streaming giant.

But because national theater chains, quite reasonably, want to stay in business, none of them will book the Netflix productions without a contract ensuring a reasonable gap between the last screening and when the film starts to stream online. But Netflix refuses to honor that traditional gap.

So Netflix is shopping for physical venues where they can program anything they want, and doing “four wall” bookings in independent theaters like L.A.’s Egyptian, still owned by the non-profit at last report.

In New York, Netflix has contracted to screen Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” in the landmark Belasco, a Broadway stage theater. Preservationists and sound engineers have expressed serious concerns to us about their plans to quickly update the traditional theater for cinema audio. Also in New York, Netflix has leased a single screen film theater, The Paris, which recently shuttered, to screen Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story.”

And at the Egyptian, “The Irishman” is booked for two solid weeks at the start of November, resulting in a blackout of programming for the American Cinematheque. Despite claims from the nonprofit board that Netflix would only use the theater during the week and let the American Cinematheque program from Friday-Sunday, “The Irishman” is playing all week long.

On Twitter, film fans are complaining about poorly attended American Cinematheque screenings at the Aero in Santa Monica, which would have been packed if programmed at the Egyptian in Hollywood. The Los Angeles rush hour traffic struggle is real!

We feel hopeful that six months after the sale of the Egyptian Theatre to Netflix was announced to the trades as a done deal, the nonprofit still owns this Los Angeles landmark.

And over in Eagle Rock, Vidiots have announced plans to reactivate a terrific little neighborhood theater as a repertory house and video rental shop. Some nonprofits get it, others still might!

Please continue to share the petition with friends who love the American Cinematheque and want to see it thrive in the historic Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. And stay tuned for additional news as we have it.

Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim Cooper & Richard Schave
Friends of the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre