Amir Malin: Navigating the Intersection of Creativity and Business in the Film Industry

There is perhaps no greater test for the union of art and business than making a hit movie. It’s a storytelling on a global scale that costs millions of dollars and faces fierce competition for consumers’ discretionary dollars. In fact, it’s the very tension between artistic directors and finance-minded executives that often leads to box office bombs.

But for industry veteran Amir Jacob Malin, the challenge of marrying creative work to business sense has always been the best part of his job.

Throughout his decades-long career in the entertainment sector, Malin has consistently managed to straddle the line between left- and right-brained thinking to deliver both commercial and critical successes.

During his tenure, he helped transform a home video company into a hit studio, shepherded directors’ careers from obscurity to mass appeal, produced hit movies, and led companies to unprecedented success.

The making of a great executive

How does he do it? Perhaps it’s the unique approach Amir Malin has taken throughout his career that allows him to consistently make decisions that are both lucrative and artistically compelling.

Malin talked about his background at a finance panel discussion at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003. That approach was shaped early. While his professional training comes from Brandeis and Boston University School of Law, his artistic sensibility was shaped in screening rooms on Long Island.

A native of Great Neck, New York, Malin grew up around the children of movie executives in the days before the industry was completely rooted in Los Angeles. Many of his fondest memories involve watching yet-to-be-released films in the comfort of his friends’ homes.

During these special viewings, something about the art form connected with him, and Malin soon found himself spending his high school weekends driving to Manhasset to watch movies by Truffaut, Polankski, or Hitchcock play at the local art house theater.

As the years passed, his youthful sense of wonder crystallized into a deep passion for movies. But it was the time spent learning from his father, an entrepreneur, that revealed his natural acumen for business. He knew early on he wanted to combine both sides of himself into a career.

A vision for success

One of the clearest examples of Malin’s two-sided approach to movie industry came from the 1999 dark horse blockbuster, “The Blair Witch Project.” Famously shot on a paltry budget by three University of Florida students, the movie almost didn’t see wide distribution. It was only thanks to Malin and his colleagues at Artisan, who were the first executives to recognize the film’s commercial appeal.

Just hours after seeing “Blair Witch” at the Sundance Film Festival, Malin and his team inked a $1 million deal with the filmmakers for the rights to the film. There was just one problem — everyone thought they were wrong.

Inspired in part by the movie’s creative “found footage” style of filmmaking, Artisan spearheaded an innovative rollout plan. Under Malin’s guidance, the studio curated and spread an unofficial mythology of the film, using the early internet of 1999 as the grounds for a guerilla marketing campaign that carefully implied the movie was real recovered footage from a young documentary team.

Malin also made sure the movie opened slowly, showing on very few screens in major metropolitan areas in order to build buzz and attract excitement.

The stunts worked.

Despite its low budget, untested filmmaking team, and lack of interest from any major studio, “The Blair Witch Project” went to net $140 million at the American box office. It also cemented Artisan as a serious studio and Malin as a sharp executive with a keen artistic vision.

The end result

Building off the success of “Blair Witch,” Malin went on to secure or produce a series of independent and off-beat movies. Hits like “Requiem for a Dream” and “Van Wilder” followed, further establishing both him and his company as leading voices at the cutting-edge of filmed entertainment.

Financial success followed close behind. When Artisan was finally sold to Lions Gate Entertainment in 2003, Malin had presided over an unprecedented turnaround. The final sale brought a nearly 700 percent return for the original Bain Capital led shareholder group.

Just as remarkable as his success was his process. Despite working in the movie industry, Malin largely avoided Hollywood. He continued to live in New York, preferring to take trips to the West Coast when they were necessary. His position outside the bubble of Los Angeles allowed him to see the industry more clearly from afar.

Like all of his decisions, it was both shrewd and creative, the perfect blend of artistic vision and business knowhow.

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