Bill Thompson Dies: Longtime Booker Of Indie Films For Top Distributors Was 73

deadline.com:

Bill Thompson, whose career spanned Miramax Films, Gramercy Pictures, Lot 47 and other key indie distributors, died Monday of cancer in Manhattan.

He was 73. The well-liked executive spent nearly 50 years in the film industry in distribution and exhibition. A theatrical booker for years, Thompson held executive sales positions with leading firms from Miramax Films, Gramercy Pictures, Lot 47 Films and Bob Berney-led Newmarket Films, Picturehouse, Apparition and Film District.

Before that, he held senior film-buying positions with several New York-based exhibitors, including Cinema 5, Walter Reade, Cineplex Odeon and City Cinemas.

Thompson recently received the Motion Picture Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award.   “RIP: Bill Thompson, my friend and colleague from Picturehouse and several companies where we made history together,” Berney tweeted (see it below). “Bill was our inspiration to be the best we could be, loved by everyone.” Born on August 30, 1949, in Gowanda, NY, and raised in Cattaraugus, Thompson most recently served as Cohen Media Group’s Senior VP Theatrical Sales and also was a distribution consultant with Indomina Releasing, overseeing the national release of Leos Carax’s acclaimed Holy Motors.