Tim League | |
|---|---|
 League in 2012 | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Rice University |
| Occupation(s) | Theatre owner,film producer |
| Employers | |
Tim League is an American entrepreneur and film producer based inAustin, Texas. He is the founder of theAlamo Drafthouse Cinema chain and the founder ofDrafthouse Films, a film distribution company, where he producedThe ABCs of Death and other films[1] He is co-founder ofFantastic Fest, a film festival,Mondo, an entertainment merchandise company, andNeon, a film production and distribution company.
League graduated fromRice University in 1992 with degrees in mechanical engineering and art history. While at Rice, he was detained by campus police for interrupting a campus event while dressed as a banana.
After a two-year stint atShell Oil Company inBakersfield, California, he left the engineering profession and opened up his first movie theater. An unmitigated financial disaster, the Tejon theater closed in 1995, and he loaded a truck with 200 seats, a projector, screen, and speakers, and relocated toAustin, Texas, where he launchedAlamo Drafthouse Cinema,[2] where he remained as CEO until 2020 when he was replaced by Shelli Taylor. He took up the new position as executive chairman of the board.[3]
Asked about his motivation to open a movie theater in 2012, League said, "What we set out to do in the very beginning was to make a movie theater by fans for fans. And we got into the business because we love movies and we got a little frustrated with our options as to what the movie theater experience was all about".[4]
League founded the Rolling Roadshow, which takes classic films around the country to project them at the sites they were set in.[citation needed]
In 2004, League co-founded entertainment merchandiserMondo to produce and distributelimited-editionposter art, t-shirts, toys, andvinyl record soundtracks.[5]
In 2005, League,Harry Knowles, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, andTim McCanlies co-foundedFantastic Fest, the largest genrefilm festival in the United States. Held annually at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar inAustin, Texas, the festival focuses on such genres ashorror,science fiction,fantasy,action,Asian, andcult. In 2007,Variety publisher Charles Koones included Fantastic Fest as one of "ten festivals we love".[6] In 2008,MovieMaker magazine named Fantastic Fest "one of the 25 film festivals worth the entry fee".[7]
The 2017 festival attracted attention when it was disclosed that League had rehired Devin Faraci as a writer even though Faraci had resigned fromBirth.Movies.Death in 2016 after being accused ofsexual assault. Faraci's rehiring prompted the resignation of Todd Brown, Fantastic Fest's director of international programming.[8] Fantastic Fest subsequently severed ties with Harry Knowles aftersexual harassment and assault allegations were levied against him.[9] Alamo Drafthouse nevertheless proceeded with plans to show a previously unreleasedpornographic film byEd Wood.[10]
In 2010, League founded the film distribution and production company known asDrafthouse Films.[citation needed]
In 2017, League co-founded distribution and production companyNeon (stylized as "NEON") with entertainment executive Tom Quinn.[11] Neon's films, includingParasite andI, Tonya, have won several Academy Awards.[12]
In 2017, concurrent with the revelations regarding Devin Faraci and Harry Knowles's harassment of women, former Alamo Drafthouse employees alleged that they had complained to League and his wife Karrie about Knowles in previous years. They were told simply to "avoid" Knowles.[13] These purported incidents go as far back as 2000.[14][15]
In late September 2017, League issued a statement apologizing on his and Karrie's behalf "To the women we have let down...".[16]