“Profit” Production
These newscasts from the Tampa Bay area detail the production of the feature film, “The Profit.”
Courage Productions was formed by Bob Minton and Peter Alexander for the express purpose of producing a feature length film exposing Scientology.
Bob Minton was executive producer and funded the $2.5 million dollar production. Peter Alexander wrote and directed the film which was produced by Alexander’s partner, Patricia Greenway.
Production commenced in 2000 in and around Tampa Bay and much effort was taken to shield the film from Scientology’s glare. It wasn’t until the first day of location shooting that Scientology got a good idea of what was going on. Immediately, they sent people out to picket at the filming location.
These first newscasts happened after Scientology discovered the film was in production.
BROADCAST DATE: September 27, 2000
A year later, the film premiered at the Clearwater Cinema Cafe, a second run movie house where people could sit at tables and dine during the film. I attended opening night and reported on the sold-out performances. It had a very successful three week run at the theater and drew attention from the local TV stations.
BROADCAST DATE: August 24, 2001
By this time, the relationship between Bob and Peter had fallen apart, and Peter and Patricia had been removed from the board of the Lisa McPherson Trust. In the last of the newscasts, Patricia had decided to tell the reporter that the filmmakers no longer wanted to be associated with the LMT. That was how FOX 13 ended their news report.
I felt this was an unnecessary slap in the face to Bob who graciously had funded the film for millions of dollars and given the filmmakers complete artistic control of their project. The news report aired in the FOX 13 evening newscast and the following morning’s AM edition.
The first newscast attributed the quote to an unnamed production source and had me outraged. I called Bob and let him him know. Bob called Peter and Patricia and was told by Patricia that she had never said anything remotely like that, and it couldn’t be her they meant. The following morning’s broadcast (the one shown here) said the quote came from the film’s producer.
I documented this and other outrages on the newsgroup, alt.religion.scientology. Having bitten my tongue about the poor quality of the film, this petty slap from Patricia on what should have been the positive event of the film’s opening, made me reevaluate why I wasn’t being honest about the ineptitude of the film’s production so I sat down and wrote a lengthy review of the movie.
Explore posts in the same categories: The Profit
THE WOG BLOG from XENU TV 
April 8, 2007 at 4:56 am
Thanks for putting up this video footage. I had never seen it before and found it really interesting.
Thanks for all the work you do.
Patty P
April 8, 2007 at 6:35 am
QUOTE 1:
It had a very successful three week run at the theater and drew attention from the local TV stations.
QUOTE 2:
….I wasn’t being honest about the ineptitude of the film’s production so I sat down and wrote a lengthy review of the movie ….
So, which quote carries more weight ?
April 8, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I’m still hoping to eventually see the film. In spite of some negative reviews, anything that shows $cientology for the cult it is still piques my interest. Hopefully it will become available for online purchase at some point.
April 8, 2007 at 1:39 pm
[…] THE WOG BLOG from XENU TV Musings from a noted SP « “Profit” Production […]
April 11, 2007 at 10:57 pm
There is obviously a backstory here that none of us outsiders are privy to as the Patricia Greenway comment doesn’t seem like an unreasonable reaction if her and the director had been removed from the LMT board after what seems to be a breakdown in friendship between them and Bob Minton. Spiteful comments are to be expected.
A lot of people seem unable to provide clear dividing lines between business and friendship and __if__ the LMT was run along ego lines with Bob Minton as “the ego” in question then a fallout like this is going to be inevitable. If not, and he really did find a reason ( rather than hunting for them after getting worn out by OSA tactics ) or reason(s) to do his great volte face then I’m sure he is the gentleman for not blustering to justify himself and his actions in public just to sate the internet hyenas.
OK so it isn’t a good film, but a lot of cult indie films aren’t good movies. In your own stable you have The Bridge which by any yardstick has serious problems but doesn’t claim to be a feature quality movie.
Reviews like yours help with caveat emptor, but people will decide for themselves and where there is a lack of information ( what were the lies that Bob Minton refers to in the court transcript – that the critics are supposedly knowingly propagating, what is the real back story to the LMT fallout ) then rumour and innuendo will always fill the vaccuum.
I have to concede that I have read a lot of barely rational posts on clambake and ARS by two characters that seem obsessed with attacking the “Bunker School Of Thought” in the most aggressive fashion and have drawn my conclusions based on that. Generally where there is a hysterical gaggle of people attacking an individual person constantly it rarely is based on anything factual and comes from emotional issues.
I’d like to know what happenned, just out of curiousity. But really, have 6-7 years, the fact that the critics are still obsessed with the Bob Minton era and battle lines are still drawn over it is quite pathetic to witness.
Still, Scientology stalks the corridors of power and the politicians are becoming more ignorant about what it has done every single time it has been handed a bit of legimate power so there is an opening for a lobby group to form, if not a direct need.
July 14, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I find it quite interesting that this cult can control the release of a movie. The catholic church has more power than the church of scientology and they can’t control such things. I mean does Scientology have total control over Hollywood or something. Are the anti-sci fi’s of Hollywood afraid of these people or something? Are they like the mob?
July 14, 2007 at 5:47 pm
In many ways, Scientology doesn’t control the release of this movie. If the film had been good, it would have received a distributor years ago and we’d all have it on DVD to enjoy. The sad fact is that it is not good and, like many indie films, has not been released.
Had the relationships not fallen apart so completely and if there were profit to be made from “the Profit” then things would be different. But bridges have been burned and there’s no more desire to fight old battles.
March 2, 2008 at 10:15 pm
[…] asked me a question in the last entry about the premiere of “The Profit” in Clearwater. QUOTE 1: It had a very successful three week […]
February 2, 2010 at 8:25 pm
I actually thought it was quite good. Too bad Bob got fleeced in the deal and all.
I’m tired of people being such assholes.
Anyway, thanks for the article and the know, Mark.
Take it easy,
Anon
(RIP BOB)