Why MGM’s Film Plan Misses the Big Picture

Reading the article “MGM Tries on ‘Urban’ Mantle” (April 8) was like deja vu all over again.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has stumbled upon a business plan that identifies the urban audience as a viable niche for feature films. This same strategy rescued several of the major studios during the so-called blaxploitation era and spawned such stars as Pam Grier, whose “Foxy Brown” character is now being updated by Halle Berry.

The formula in this plan remains essentially the same -- produce films with budgets well below the average cost of a major studio release, market it to the urban audience with fervor, and hope it crosses over to enough of a “mainstream” audience to create a franchise.

I’m all for a plan that creates more work for all the talented African American filmmakers out there, but I hope to see the day when such films can succeed or fail with production budgets close to the average big-screen studio budget and marketing plans that allow them to reach a worldwide audience.

Until that day, these films will remain something akin to second-class citizens despite the best efforts of studios such as MGM.

Philip S. Hart

Los Feliz