Private company

Good Machine

Logo: Good Machine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Defunct American film production company

Good Machine Productions was an American independent film production, film distribution, and foreign sales company started in the early 1990 by its co-founders and producers, Ted Hope and James Schamus. David Linde joined as a partner in the late 1990s and also started the international sales company Good Machine International. They sold the company to Universal Pictures, where it was then merged with USA Films and Universal Focus to create Focus Features.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1990Founded1
  • Industryindependent film1

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Good Machine Productions was an American independent film production, film distribution, and foreign sales company started in the early 1990 by its co-founders and producers, Ted Hope and James Schamus. David Linde joined as a partner in the late 1990s and also started the international sales company Good Machine International. They sold the company to Universal Pictures, where it was then merged with USA Films and Universal Focus to create Focus Features. Hope, along with the heads of production development and business affairs (Anthony Bregman, Anne Carey, and Diana Victor) then went on to form the independent production company This Is That Productions. Schamus and Linde became co-presidents of Focus Features.2

The story

Founded by Ted Hope in 1990.1

Background

Good Machine was involved in production and/or distribution of a number of films, including Ang Lee's The Ice Storm and Ride with the Devil; Hal Hartley projects such as Flirt (1995), Edward Burns's The Brothers McMullen, Todd Solondz's Happiness, and Todd Field’s In the Bedroom.

History

In 1997, it was announced that Good Machine would become the foreign sales agent of films produced and distributed by October Films, in order to acquire worldwide rights of the films. In 1998, it struck a deal with Universal. Previously, the company had a one-time production deal with 20th Century Fox, which was signed in 1996. It was dismantled in 2002, when it merged with Focus Features. In 2001, Good Machine struck a deal with Radar Pictures to finance and distribute their films for international releases. The deal was continued as Good Machine was absorbed into Focus.

From Wikipedia’s article on Good Machine, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Leadership

Who has led Good Machine, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Products and brands

  • film

Listed on Wikidata.1

Subsidiaries and ownership

Owners

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 2002Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1990Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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