PHILADELPHIA - TLA Releasing US, a wholly owned subsidiary of TLA Entertainment Group Inc., is restructuring its organization and operations with the intent of becoming a more streamlined and effective releasing company. The reorganization is limited to TLA Releasing US and does not affect the parent company's other divisions, which include TLA Releasing UK, TLAVideo.com and TLA Video retail stores.
TLA Releasing plans to sell or license its library of more than 200 gay, horror and international titles for DVD, television and video-on-demand viewing. In addition, the company either will employ a sales organization or enter into a strategic partnership to release the films TLA Releasing recently produced or acquired, including Chef's Special (Spain, 2008), Shank (UK, 2009) and Redwoods (US, 2009).
According to a company spokesman, the changes were precipitated by the economic situation and the changing marketplace for gay-related feature films.
"It is an exciting time to re-imagine TLA Releasing in the marketplace, not only as distributors but also as a micro-studio," TLA Releasing head of production and development Derek Curl said. "We believe that our fourth quarter releasing slate is a strong lineup that will reaffirm the company's worldwide brand name as a leader in gay cinema."
TLA president Raymond Murray added, "People's entertainment viewing habits are rapidly changing, and the previous structure of a large organization doing production, post-production, authoring, advertising, warehousing and sales in-house is a model which does not work in today's market."
The restructuring allowed TLA Releasing US to keep most of its 17-person staff. Only two employees were laid off.
Changes to the TLA Releasing structure are effectively immediately, Curl said. Further inquiries may be directed to him via email.
Founded in 1981, TLA Entertainment owns and operates the award-winning DVD retail websites TLAVideo.com and TLARaw.com as well as the VOD website TLAOnDemand.com.
