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Finding Aid to the Serious Business Company Records, 1965-1983, bulk 1972-1983
BANC MSS 84/93 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Serious Business Company records
Date (inclusive): 1965-1983,
Date (bulk): bulk 1972-1983
Collection Number: BANC MSS 84/93 c
Creators :
Bartlett, Freude, 1942-2009
Extent:
Number of containers: 8 cartons, 1 box and 1 oversize folder
Linear feet: Approximately 10.6
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: Serious Business Company records consist of correspondence (letters, contracts and miscellany); publicity materials (brochures,
programs, flyers, screening calendars, press clippings, photographs and negatives); and accounting and invoice statements
from and to filmmakers. Also included are correspondence and documentation regarding film programs organized by Serious Business
Company, correspondence with film programmers and organizations, and general business records.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], Serious Business Company Records, BANC MSS 84/93 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Bruce Conner papers, 1940s-2010 (bulk 1960s-2008), BANC MSS 2000/50 c
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Serious Business Company
Serious Business Company--Archives
Bartlett, Freude
Brakhage, Stan
Broughton, James, 1913-1999
Burkhardt, Rudy
Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997
Conner, Bruce
Cooper, Karen
Cruikshank, Sally
Graves, Nancy Stevenson, 1940-1995
Hammer, Barbara
Hutton, Peter, 1944-
Jordan, Larry, 1934-
Kuchar, George, 1942-
Lyon, Danny
Nelson, Gunvor
O'Neill, Pat, 1939-
Potter, Sally, 1949-
Praunheim, Rosa von, 1942-
Schneemann, Carolee, 1939-
Severson, Anne
Strand, Chick
Animated films
Documentary films
Experimental films
Feminism--United States
Feminist films
Homosexuality in motion pictures
Independent films
Lesbianism in motion pictures
The Serious Business Company records were gifted to The Bancroft Library by Freude Bartlett on December 6, 1984.
No additions are expected.
Arranged to the container level.
Processed by Dean Smith in 2011.
Freude Bartlett founded Serious Business Company in 1972 to distribute independent and experimental films. Born out of her
initial forays in distributing her then husband, Scott Bartlett's experimental films in the late 1960s, Serious Business,
"...began...at a time when I was heavily involved in the women's movement both in terms of ideological commitment and community
work. It was a high energy period personally, which was reinforced by the support and energy of the movement. I had left my
husband, I had a young child, and I had just started this business."1
Freude, who went only by her first name and known for her infamous shock of frizzy red hair, also became a major force in
nurturing and distributing feminist films of the 1970s. "At the time, no major commercial distributor specialized in avant-garde
films or women's film...[and over the decade]...[t]he collection grew considerably - from an initial catalog of 40 films to
over 250 titles...[the] range of subject matter broadened to include anthropology and social documentary, films for children,
alternative healthcare films and a very large animation collection."2 Freude took great pride in owning and operating an all-women
run business. She was also a filmmaker in her own right.
Her roster featured an extensive array of important filmmakers, e.g.: James Broughton, Bruce Conner, Shirley Clarke, Gunvor
Nelson, David Pies, Chick Strand, Pat O'Neill, Sally Cruikshank and Anne Severson among many others.
Being one of only a tiny handful of distributors specializing in independent and experimental films, Freude developed extensive
networks and important relationships with many film organizations across the nation, most notably with Karen Cooper, director
of Film Forum in New York.
By the early 1980s as funding sources for the arts dried up and lab costs steadily increased, distribution costs began to
rise dramatically. Serious Business, in order to stay solvent, was often forced to pay shippers and labs first before filmmakers.
This unfortunate situation was greeted with a mix of understanding and outrage from the many filmmakers that Freude distributed.
Having tried her best to stave off such a financially untenable situation, Freude was forced to dissolve the business in 1983
under a cloud of bankruptcy. The end of Serious Business was seen a devastating blow by filmmakers, fellow distributors and
film organizations. The golden age of independent and experimental film distribution was, essentially, finished.
In 1986, Freude earned a Masters degree in Information Sciences at UC Berkeley and went on to found the communications firm
Metropolis Media, whose clients included PC World, Intel, and non-profits whose goals she supported. She died of liver failure
at her home in Oakland, California in January 2009.
1 From an interview conducted by John Hess and Chuck Kleinhans on July 6, 1982.
2 Ibid.
Scope and Content of Collection
Serious Business Company records consist of correspondence (letters, contracts and miscellany); publicity materials (brochures,
programs, flyers, screening calendars, press clippings, photographs and negatives); and accounting and invoice statements
from and to filmmakers. Also included are correspondence and documentation regarding film programs organized by Serious Business
Company, correspondence with film programmers and organizations, and general business records.