But there’s one catch: sources tell NEWSWEEK that October’s founding partners, Bingham Ray and John Schmidt, fear they’ll lose their autonomy under Diller and are planning to cash out as soon as he takes over. So what will Diller get for his money? Without October’s visionaries, he won’t get much more than salesmen, trucks and a couple of brand names that he’ll use as a platform to build a new independent from scratch. Unlike October Films, which produced mostly low-budget, highbrow entertainment, the new company will likely make mainstream features that could run on Diller’s Sci-Fi and USA channels after they play in theaters. Diller’s new venture is unlikely to be an immediate threat to Miramax. After all, it took the Weinsteins nearly two decades to build their company from an obscure art-house distributor into Hollywood’s most powerful independent.
