Michael Goldman

September 28, 1939 — June 8, 2020

Michael F. Goldman, the international film sales pioneer, dies at 80

Michael F. Goldman who built and owned leading international film sales company Manson International died June 9th at age 80 in Los Angeles.   He was a lifetime Los Angeles resident and fixture on the independent film sales circuit globally. 

Goldman built Manson into a large player in independent film selling rights to new projects and movies to overseas distributors on a territory by territory basis.   He started his career as the Hollywood major studio system began to evolve and collapse creating an opening for independents to achieve significant revenue from independent local territorial distributors overseas.  Since 1979 Goldman was a Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences where he served on the Executive Committee of the Executive Branch, the Executive Committee of the Foreign Language Film Awards, and the Executive Committee for the Student Academy Awards.    He was a member of the UCLA Chancellor’s Associates.

Goldman was a Founding Member of the trade association created to host the first American Film Market, the American Film Marketing Association,  serving as its first CFO at inception and was later President in one era and then Chairman from 1990-92.   In 2004 AFMA changed its name to IFTA (Independent Film & Television Alliance).

Jean Prewitt, current President and CEO of IFTA, said of Goldman: “Key AFMA programs such as AFMA Arbitration and AFMA Collections had their origins during Michael’s tenure and his fingerprints are all over the governance structure that took AFMA from a loose collaboration to a more formal structure.  The strong Association that exists today grew out of Michael Goldman’s commitment to the independent industry.” 

Michael F. Goldman was born in Manila, Philippines in 1939. He lived in Manila until 1942 and again from 1945 through 1950. His family moved to Tokyo, Japan where he lived until 1953. Goldman attended Beverly Hills High School, graduating in 1957. After a brief stint in the US Army as a military policeman, he attended UCLA where he graduated from the business school in 1962 with a specialty in marketing and accounting. Goldman was a CPA certified in the state of California.

Manson was started by Goldman’s father, Edmund, who was born in Shanghai and who worked for Columbia Pictures in Asia until 1953 when he moved his family to Beverly Hills and started Manson Distributing Corporation.   Michael Goldman joined his father at Manson in 1962 after graduating from UCLA and was Manson’s sole owner when in the 1970’s he started to build and grow the company.

At the time he joined Manson in 1962 the company was one of only two international feature film sales organizations based in Los Angeles. He became President and sole owner of Manson in 1975 and during his presidency, the company became one of the leading international distributors in the industry handling the foreign sales of over 350 titles through the years. From 1962 through 1975, he personally oversaw the marketing of 60 independent features in the U.S. domestic market.  After 1975 Manson ceased to distribute films in the United States and Goldman had the company focus solely on international licensing.   In the early 1980s Manson Distributing Corporation became Manson International and ultimately became an industry leader and a training ground for many top executives in international distribution.

In the 1980’s VHS cassettes and video, rights began to change the business Goldman was building and Manson soared as a leading supplier of independent motion picture products to overseas markets during that era.    Milestone titles for Goldman during that time included David Cronenberg’s cult success “SCANNERS.”   Goldman worked closely with Charlton Heston on the global sales and distribution of Heston produced  “MOTHER LODE.”  Goldman acquired from HBO the first film produced by Robert Cooper and HBO Pictures, “THE TERRY FOX STORY” which Manson re-titled “HEART OF A CHAMPION” for the international world.   Goldman led the team that discovered director Renny Harlin  who was living in his native Finland and Manson was central to the production of Harlin’s first feature “BORN AMERICAN.”. Manson handled Robert Altman’s film “STREAMERS” which achieved acclaim at the Venice Film Festival where the Best Actor Award was given to the entire cast. Big commercial and revenue successes were two Linda Blair films “CHAINED HEAT” and “SAVAGE STREETS” as well as the precursor to “CHAINED HEAT”, an indie entitled “THE CONCRETE JUNGLE.”     Working with Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Manson handled international sales for the Center’s Academy Award-winning documentary, “GENOCIDE.”    Goldman owned and operated Manson until selling the company to Winstar, Inc. in late 1986.   Today the Manson library resides within and is distributed by MGM.

In 1979, Goldman and a small group of international distributors founded the American Film Marketing Association, the motion picture industry’s largest organization made up of independent producers and distributors. Goldman was its first Chief Financial Officer in 1980 and subsequently was elected Vice President and finally President from 1983 through 1985. Goldman was the last of the volunteer presidents of the Association as during his tenure he hired the first full time paid president. In 1991 through 1993, for the second time he was elected the head of the organization, with the title Chairman. Goldman also served on the Executive Committee under the elected position Vice Chairman-Secretary from September 1999 to September 2001.

Among his interests and hobbies, Goldman held a commercial instrument-rated pilot’s license owning and flying small airplanes for many years.

Goldman is survived by his wife Giulia Gagliani Goldman; son Mathew Goldman and wife Junna Matsuda; and son Nicholas Goldman and wife Cortney and their sons, Michael Goldman grandsons Lucas and Elliott.  Goldman is survived by step-children Letizia Maietta and Gustavo Van Peteghem and by Letizia’s husband Alberto Maietta and their children, Francesca Maietta and Paolo Maietta.  Also surviving Michael Goldman is his younger sister, Lorelei Shark, her husband and Goldman’s brother-in-law, Dr. William Shark, and Goldman’s nephew Logan B. Ray and niece Aubrey Ray.

Gustavo Van Peteghem is a member of the international film community that Michael loved so much and is a film distribution executive in Rome with the Lucisano Media Group and its Italian International film distribution arm.  

PRESS CONTACT

Peter Elson | pelson@globalcinemagroup.com | (310) 710 - 4232