‘Look, Ma, I’m A Corporation!’

Fenwick, James

doi:10.4324/9780429058332-5

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“…Such an approach, announcing a new contract with a key industry player like Douglas/Bryna and the financing of a project that would never be made, was not uncommon. Douglas and Bryna had undergone a similar experience when they signed a contract with UA in January 1955; UA subsequently announced several projects that were never made (Fenwick 2020a).…”

Section: Beyond the Kirk Douglas Papersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, Douglas, as the company's CEO, had no contractual motivation, with none of his projects being signed to any one studio. The 1955 contract with UA, however, provided both creative and financial incentive (Fenwick 2020a). Second, Douglas himself was overworked and overcommitted and, therefore, he was unable to provide his full attention to the projects being developed by Bryna.…”

Section: Kirk Douglas and Bryna Productionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following its incorporation in 1949, there were attempts by Bryna to produce several films, including The Shadow, a project that was to be filmed in the UK and co-star Jane Wyman alongside Douglas(Fenwick 2020a). But Bryna did not enter active production until the mid-1950s with the release of The Indian Fighter(1955), following the signing of a six-picture, non-exclusive contract with United Artists (UA).…”

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A production strategy of overdevelopment: Kirk Douglas’s Bryna Productions and the unproduced Viva Gringo!

Fenwick¹

2020

Shadow Cinema

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In 1969, after nearly twenty five years in the business and over fifty screen appearances starting with The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Milestone, 1946), Kirk Douglas took the decision to begin donating his personal and business papers to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research (WCFTR). Over the next decade, Douglas continued to donate his papers, leading to the division of the original collection into seven broad categories: correspondence and personal papers; financial and business records; television; theatre; radio; motion picturesproduced; and motion picturesunproduced. Taken together, the Kirk Douglas Papers cover one of the most important and transformational eras in American film history, commencing with the twilight years of the studio system in the 1940s, through its break-up in the 1950s, and the eventual conglomerization of the Hollywood studios in the 1960s. At the same time, the papers reveal Douglas's own centrality to these transformations following the incorporation of his own independent production company in 1949, Bryna Productions. Douglas was one of the first actors to form his own company in the post-World War Two era, precipitating an industrial trend that reached its apogee in the mid-1950s.The Kirk Douglas Papers (KDP), as the collection was eventually named, are quite revealing, with correspondence and other documents that unveil the man behind the screenpersona. What we find is an actor, producer, writer, philanthropist and diplomat who frequently displayed a furious level of perfectionism, determined to ensure his projectsin

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Section: Beyond the Kirk Douglas Papersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Kirk Douglas and Bryna Productionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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