Criterion Channel President Peter Becker Hopes the Spirit of FilmStruck Can Live On
By Anna Menta Twitter @annalikestweets Apr 8, 2019 at 8:00am	 181 Shares
Photo: Getty Images ; Illustration: Dillen Phelps
On November 30, 2018 film buffs everywhere said goodbye to FilmStruck. When Warner Media announced the discontinuation of the streaming service—which was from Turner Classic Movies, and housed the Criterion Collection library of classic films—it was met with angry tweets, mournful blog posts and a thoughtful eulogy in the New York Times. Now, just over four months since that painful farewell, a new streaming service has risen—like a phoenix from the ashes—to take its place. Or at least, that's how Criterion Collection President Peter Becker hopes people will see the newly launched Criterion Channel.
"We were in Filmstruck for the long-haul," Becker told Decider in a phone call last week. "When it shut down, we were as crushed as anybody." Emboldened by the online outcry, Becker and his team immediately threw themselves into the new service, which is launching today, April 8.
"We lost our home," Becker said, "so we had to build a new home."
That new home is an independent streaming service from and by the Criterion Collection. It's intended to, as the press release reads, "pick up where FilmStruck left off." For $10.99 a month—or $9.99 a month, for those who signed up before April 7—subscribers will have access to both a permanent and rotating film library. This is all being done with special approval from WarnerMedia, which will be launching its own, separate streaming service later this year. "We still have a relationship with TCM and Warner," Becker clarified, "And as their streaming plans unfold, we expect to be a part of those."
Exactly which and how many films will be available on the Channel is a tad murky—it's at least 1,000—because, like with every streaming service, the world of film licensing is complicated. According to Becker, you won't quite get the entire Criterion Collection of films that you can buy on Blu-ray and DVD, which Becker estimates is now close to 1,300 films. Or at least, you won't get them all at once.
"We can't just have [Wes Anderson's 1996 film] Bottle Rocket parked at the Criterion Channel forever, because we can't afford to do that," Becker explained. "The whole collection includes films from major studios that will rotate through on the short term licenses." By "short term," Becker added, he means "at least three months, and sometimes longer—six months, two years, five years, etc."
The homepage of the Criterion Channel that subscribers will see starting April 8.Courtesy of the Criterion Channel
You will get over 4,000 pieces of videos, including films and supplements, personally curated by people like Channel Programmer Penelope Bartlett, rather than an algorithm. "Algorithms are amazing, they've allowed us to do a lot of incredible things with our lives," said Becker of the recommendation process used by Netflix, Hulu and other major streaming services. "But an algorithm is not a great tool for discovery or for launching a moviegoer. Netflix and any other data-driven service are going to find things you want to watch based on sophisticated understandings of things that you've liked in the past, and now they're also going to produce things based on that information, too. It's an amazing business. Lots of people are having good experiences with those services. But we fundamentally see this as about people—and as people as audience members."
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Like FilmStruck, the Channel's homepage will focus on "thematic programming," tied to the days of the week: Tuesdays are short features, Wednesdays are for women filmmakers, Fridays are for double features and Sundays are for spotlights. "The big Sunday spotlights will tend to be usually six or more films—think of it as a movie marathon," Becker explained. The first spotlight will be 11 noir films from Columbia pictures, starting with My Name Is Julia Ross (1945).
You'll also get interviews, shorts and original programming like "Meet the Filmmakers," a docuseries commissioned by Criterion Collection that pairs up newer filmmakers with more established ones, like Robert Townsend and To Sleep with Anger director Charles Burnett. (As part of the Burnett series, you'll also be able to stream To Sleep with Anger, My Brother's Wedding, and Hollywood Shuffle in full.)
"That has brought in a community of filmmakers much earlier in their careers, and that also means we suddenly have access to a much greater diversity of voices," noted Becker. "Criterion was always looking twenty years back, and honestly, in the 21st century, a lot more people have access to tools to get their voices heard than did in the 20th century."
Actor Danny Glover in the 1990 film, 'To Sleep With Anger.'Criterion Collection / THE SAMUEL GOLDWYN COMPANY
Becker's very aware of the fact that many FilmStruck subscribers weren't there for the interviews and the shorts—they were just there for the films. And he knows FilmStruck subscribers have concerns about that missing Turner Classic Movies collection. "One of the most important things for us was to reassure people who love FilmStruck not just for Criterion but because they could watch classic Hollywood Pictures there," said Becker. "[Those gaps are] getting filled in by major studios and our independent partners. One of the things we learned from working on FilmStruck, and then having FilmStruck shut down, is that this is something that we can't do it alone."
So far, those partners include Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate, IFC Films, Kino Lorber, Cohen Media, Milestone Film and Video, Oscilloscope, Cinema Guild, Strand Releasing, Shout Factory, Film Movement, and Grasshopper Films. Like FilmStruck before it, the Channel doesn't seem to be user-friendly when it comes to exactly what and how many films are available to stream. While the April spotlight and thematic programming has been revealed—highlights include Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides, Charlie Chaplin's The Kid and four David Lynch films (Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Mulholland Dr.)—a complete list of titles in the library, permanent or rotating, has not been provided to the press. On the day that Decider spoke to Becker, which was one week before the launch, Becker hesitated to give an exact number, not wanting to misspeak. (Later, a rep confirmed that subscribers will be able to browse a complete list of films when using the desktop version of the service.)
But at the end of the day, there's simply no other streaming service out there doing what FilmStruck, and now the Criterion Channel does: Providing access to the classics. Netflix, in particular, has faced flack for its ever-shrinking classic film library in the face of the streaming giant's focus on original programming. And for true film lovers, it's hard not to feel like that, alone, is more than worth it.
A look at the Criterion Channel page for the 1990 Academy-Award winning documentary, 'For All Mankind.'The Criterion Channel
"We learned a lot from FilmStruck," Becker said. "For the first six months at FilmStruck I don't think we had a Roku app." (The Criterion Channel will be available via desktop, or through an app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, iOS, and Android and Android TV devices.) And they're still learning, with more changes to come down the road, promised Becker. "We're reconnecting the films and audiences as rapidly as we can, so we haven't had the time to apply all the lessons that we learned."
Before FilmStruck launched in 2016, Hulu housed the Criterion Collection. Becker said the algorithmic approach of Hulu meant "the only people being served our films were the ones who are already watching our films. The ones who were there watching Family Guy were not getting served our films, because there's no resemblance between Family Guy and our films. So we weren't able to benefit from the scale." It's better, Becker went on, to have the collection consolidated in one location, without an algorithm, and serving a smaller, niche audience looking for classic films. He just hopes there will be enough people looking to keep the service going this time around.
So what can film lovers who don't want a repeat of FilmStruck do? "Subscribe and stay subscribed," said Becker. "We take very seriously the responsibility to make it worth every penny. Keep being adventurous. And share the word—we need people to talk about movies. Share with us what you want to see."
Sign up for the Criterion Channel here, for $10.99 per month or $99.99 a year.