Editing October Films (section)

{{Short description|Former independent film production company}}
{{About-distinguish2|the defunct American independent film production company|the currently-trading London and New York-based television production company October Films Limited and its subsidiary, October Films Inc.}}
{{Infobox company
| name = October Films, Inc.
| logo = October Films logo.svg
| caption = 
| trading_name = 
| fate = Sold to [[USA Network]]s and merged with [[Gramercy Pictures]], [[Interscope Communications]] and [[PolyGram Filmed Entertainment]]
| successor = USA Films<br>[[Focus Features]]
| foundation = {{start date and age|1991}}
| founder = [[Bingham Ray]]<br>[[Jeff Lipsky (filmmaker)|Jeff Lipsky]]
| defunct = {{end date and age|1999}}
| location = 
| location_city = [[Beverly Hills, California]]
| location_country = United States
| locations = 
| industry = [[Independent film]]
| key_people = 
| products = 
| num_employees = 
| owner = 
| parent = [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] (1997–1999)
| subsid = [[Rogue Pictures]]
}}

'''October Films, Inc.''' was a major U.S. [[independent film]] production company<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefilmjournal.com/issue6/americancinema.html |title=Are the U.S.A.'s Independent Films a Distinct National Cinema? |publisher=TheFilmJournal.com |access-date=2013-08-12}}</ref> and [[film distributor|distributor]] founded in 1991 by [[Bingham Ray]] and [[Jeff Lipsky (filmmaker)|Jeff Lipsky]] as a means of distributing the 1990 film ''[[Life Is Sweet (film)|Life Is Sweet]]''.

A series of [[mergers and acquisitions]] began when [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] (then a division of the [[Seagram Company]]) bought a majority stake in October Films in 1997.<ref>{{cite web|last=Eller|first=Claudia |date=1997-05-01|title=Universal Says It Will Acquire October Films|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-05-01-fi-54134-story.html|access-date=2021-03-26|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> In 1999, Universal sold its shares to [[Barry Diller]], who renamed the company [[USA Films]] and merged it with [[Interscope Communications]] and [[Gramercy Pictures]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-09 |title=Interscope Communications |url=https://www.avid.wiki/Interscope_Communications |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=Audiovisual Identity Database |language=en}}</ref> [[Vivendi]] then acquired USA Films, which acquired [[Good Machine]] in 2002 and merged it with USA Films, forming [[Focus Features]].