Shop Talk
Annie Roney The next great documentary you see is very likely being distributed by this Sausalito company. BY KIRSTEN JONES NEFF
Annie Roney, founder and CEO of Sausalito’s ro*co films, has defied the odds. She did this by establishing a financially successful independent film distribution company while representing only documentaries, an often undervalued genre in the film world. And she did it again as she managed to stay put and raise her family here in Marin County, rather than packing up for Hollywood or New York as she grew the company. And despite all these unconventional choices, Roney is one of the most respected independent film distributors in the business, a go-to resource for documentarians worldwide who place a priority on story over glossy curb appeal. The 16-year-old ro*co now represents over 200 documentaries, popular films such as Born Into Brothels, Hoop Dreams, The Future of Food, Inequality for All, The Weather Underground, Jesus Camp, Race to Nowhere, Miss Representation, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Life Animated, An Inconvenient Sequel and dozens of other award-winning works. In other words, the company represents a large portion of the small handful of documentaries we’ve heard of, films with extensive international and domestic distribution. “We understand that the reason we get to represent these films is because of the way we think about filmmakers — they are at the heart of what we do every day,” Roney says. The world of filmmaking is cutthroat and, for some distributors, filmmakers and their stories are secondary; the primary focus is on markets. But Roney, who has garnered not only respect but significant accolades, including a Career Achievement Award from the Women’s International Film Festival and an Inspiration Award at the renowned Sheffield Documentary Festival in England, says she was drawn to this career because of an abiding respect for human stories. She has spent twoand-a-half decades navigating the ever-changing landscape of documentary film distribution, never taking her gaze off the prize: maximum exposure for the films, in venues ranging from megaplexes 40
to the back rooms of local libraries. Being the playmaker, representing our best journalists and storytellers and ensuring that critical stories make it to the public eye — this, she says, is what fuels her. “My mom was a journalist in Salt Lake City. She did radio documentaries and had a weekly call-in talk show about social issues,” Roney says. “I loved going to the newsroom with her; I loved the energy of the newsroom.” When the red “On Air” sign was lit and she couldn’t be with her mother, she stood next to the dot
matrix printer and watched Associated Press stories come through. “I thought that was the most amazing thing, to see these stories coming in, and to be knowledgeable about what was happening around the world.” Interested in human behavior, she studied psychology in college, but wasn’t clear about where to go with her career. She had a few internships and post-college jobs she describes as “soul-sucking.” When she took a break to recalibrate, she knew she wanted to work in the media. “I don’t know if it still exists in San Francisco but I joined an organization called Media Alliance to access their job bank,” she recalls. “I paid a membership fee and went into a room full of binders — this was pre-internet — and found my dream job in one of those binders.” She applied and went to work for CS Associates in Mill Valley, a company managing international distribution for the respected documentaries of the time — Ken Burns films, PBS’s Frontline and Nova films, independent films like Dark Circle and The Day After Trinity. “I had nine years riding on the coattails of this company,” she says. Starting at the entry level with zero experience, she came out having established working relationships with commissioning editors around the world. Then came the next big leap of faith. In 2000, as a mother of young children, Roney struggled to balance the demands of home and workplace and recognized that it would be ideal to be her own boss. “I realized that I could take all the tools and start my own company. I had the know-how and I had the contacts.” The only thing missing was a film to represent. After screening a documentary called Regret to Inform, a powerful film about the Vietnam War from the perspective of a U.S. war widow, she contacted well-known Bay Area executive producer Janet Cole. “I credit her with
MARIN MAGAZINE 2017 MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL GUIDE
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