Memphis filmmaking company combines cinematic ambition with new distribution techniques

In the popular imagination, a movie studio is, among other things, a piece of real estate -- a place with sound stages, a backlot and storerooms for cameras, props and equipment.

In truth -- and especially in this digital age of portable cameras and computerized filmmaking -- a "studio" can be more conceptual than physical: a business partnership, with no space requirements beyond an office that could just as well be home to an accountant or lawyer.

"We put our funding toward production instead of bricks and mortar," said Bob Compton, 52, the Germantown millionaire who is the guiding force behind True South Studios, a new multimedia company that is poised to be one of Memphis' most active filmmaking houses.

Incorporated earlier this year, True South Studios recently opened an office Downtown in the EmergeMemphis facility at 516 Tennessee.

The partners in this production and distribution company are chief executive officer Compton, who made his fortune as a venture capitalist specializing in startup technology companies; vice president of operations Les Edwards, 52, a financial consultant and accountant (he handled the payroll for Craig Brewer's recent "$5 Cover" production) and longtime organizer of the Indie Memphis Film Festival; and creative director Dan Treharne, a young Memphis moviemaker who this year wraps up his graduate film studies at the University of Southern California.

The trio currently is reading scripts and making plans for several 2009 productions, including low-budget dramas and comedies that will expand the company beyond its documentary beginnings into blatantly commercial territory.

"The film industry's in such a state of upheaval, the playing field's been leveled," said Treharne, 25, a White Station High School graduate, whose hands-on familiarity with moviemaking is intended to complement the business acumen of his partners.

That leveling is due, in large part, to new technology. A traditional movie camera costs a fortune, but a Red One digital video camera of the type Treharne will use to shoot many True South productions lists at a relatively low $17,500. (Movies shot with the Red camera include Steven Soderbergh's upcoming "Che" biopic and the sequel to "The Da Vinci Code," "Angels & Demons" with Tom Hanks.)

"We're ready to make cinema-grade stuff -- that's the goal, to equal the movies we love," said Traherne, who plans to begin shooting his first

narrative feature for True South -- an arty crime film in the manner of Jean-Luc Godard's "Band of Outsiders" -- in January. "I think we're totally ready."

A modern patron of the arts with a reformer's agenda and a convert's zeal, Compton made what he calls his "jump into the deep end of the filmmaking pool" with "Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination," a 54-minute documentary that warns that the U.S. is losing ground in the world marketplace to such rivals as India and China because of its lack of emphasis on math and science education.

Thanks to Compton's connections, word-of-mouth publicity and general interest in education, "Two Million Minutes" became something of a cause célèbre, earning Compton write-ups in Time and The Washington Post, and meetings with John McCain and Barack Obama to discuss education reform. So far, the film has has sold more than 20,000 copies online, at $25 per DVD.

The success of "Two Million Minutes" convinced Compton that a profitable "new business model" could be developed to bring films to audiences through "nontraditional" publicity and distribution channels.

"I'm a businessman rather than a filmmaker," Compton said. "What I know how to do is find customers -- in this case, audiences -- and reach them through the Internet, through nontraditional public relations, using YouTube, using MySpace, using streaming video, using downloadable clips to iPhones ...

"I've made most of my money when I've invested in industries in turmoil," he said. "You can now produce a near-film quality or, I would argue, film-quality movie at a fraction of the cost of a Hollywood production, and that's got Hollywood in a turmoil."

The success of "Two Million Minutes" has led to three soon-to-be-released, direct-to-DVD followup documentaries, two of which look deeper into education in India and China. The third, "Win in China," demonstrates the increasing enthusiasm for profit-driven enterprise in officially Communist China.

"Two Million Minutes" director Chad Heeter and writer Adam Raney also worked with Compton on True South's upcoming documentary, "Sole of a Hustla," which was screened during a private sneak preview in October during the Indie Memphis Film Festival.

"Hustla" chronicles the international business efforts of homegrown Memphis "urban entrepreneur" Checliss "Big C" Rice, owner of the GameTime Athletics footwear and throwback jersey company.

Compton is an investor in GameTime, so he's a "character" in the documentary as well as its funder. If that seems self-aggrandizing, Compton also is devoting much of his effort to a "social enterprise" side company to True South Studios called True Memphis Invisible, which exists "to help local low-income artists turn their talent into earnings," according to truememphisinvisible.com. After the initial investment is recouped, all profits from the product will go to the artist.

The first TMI project was "Lovesick," a video compilation of original "performance poems" by Denisha Fisher, a single, working mother of three whose autobiographical verses range from stories of abuse to celebrations of family. Treharne directed the videos in the DVD, available for purchase at the TMI Web site.

Treharne said True South Studios will hire local crew members to work on its productions. He also said he hopes the company can bring notable veteran moviemakers to town by financing or assisting with their independent films.

"The moments where I learned a lot about filmmaking, it's always been when I worked with someone who's tremendously better than me," he said. "How great would that be if you were a local kid and you could go and work on a film with the greatest filmmakers there are?"

By John Beifuss -- 529-2394

The Commercial Appeal