Hot on the heels of announcing that Martin Scorsese’s untitled Rolling Stones documentary would be released through Paramount, the studio is trumpeting a four year first look deal with the director. The deal is for Scorsese to “direct and produce entertainment across all platforms including feature films, made-for-DVD, digital content and television for Paramount Pictures and Paramount Vantage.”
Paramount’s CEO, Brad Grey, was one of the producers of Scorsese’s latest hit, The Departed. “I have had a great personal relationship with Brad Grey for several years now and am looking forward to working with him at Paramount, a studio rich in cinematic history and responsible for making some of my favorite films—“Sunset Boulevard,” “Shane” and “The Heiress,” among others,” said Scorsese. Man, that’s what I love about Scorsese – he appreciates the studios as institutions, a kind of square way of looking at the business. Still, if you’ve been lucky enough to wander around a studio backlot you realize how awe-inspiring some of that history is.
This deal doesn’t chain Scorses to Paramount – he’ll still be working out of New York City – and he’ll be able to make movies for other studios. Paramount will have the “opportunity to co-finance and co-distribute all Scorsese-directed films” for the length of the deal.
I love this news, mainly because it shows renewed industry belief in the man who I think is the greatest living filmmaker. Hopefully this is the beginning of an artistically profitable relationship.