Misfire: The Rise and Fall of the Shooting Gallery (2013)

"Misfire: The Rise and Fall of The Shooting Gallery", is a documentary about the independent film company responsible for art-house hits "You Can Count On Me" and "Laws of Gravity". It was a company that rose to the top echelons of the independent film scene in the 90s before financial risk-taking caused its spectacular crash. In 1991 a group of young filmmakers banded together in a NYC loft to make personal films at a time when the "golden age of independent film" was underway with the emergence of the Sundance Film Festival. As independent film became a household word, The Shooting Gallery found ultimate success with the Academy Award winning, "Sling Blade". But success came at a cost. Many of the original founders of The Shooting Gallery left as business self-interest replaced the earlier common purpose. Soon the Shooting Gallery was rapidly becoming a "new media" company whose very expansion was being funded by Wall Street money generated by the Internet craze of the go-go 90's. It was in this expansion that the seeds of the Shooting Gallery's demise were sewn. As Hollywood began cashing in on this new "Independent Film" genre, the indie landscape shifted by the late 90s. The Shooting Gallery lost its way, eventually collapsing in massive debt and questionable business practices. "Misfire" is a universal story about young men with dreams who achieve too much success too quickly. Add to that greed, hubris and financial mismanagement and you have the "Enron of independent films".