From the Sunday, March 28th Edition of the New York Times:Benji the Dog Has His Day, Free From Hollywood Leash

By SARAH C. CAMPBELL
Published: March 29, 2004

JACKSON, Miss., March 28 - Though the world premiere on Thursday of “Benji Off the Leash” had some of the trappings of an opening in Los Angeles or New York – stretch limousines, tuxedo-clad actors and a red carpet – the opening here was decidedly suburban.

Actors, executive producers and Joe Camp, the mastermind behind all four movies about Benji, a mutt with a heart of gold, got out of the limos and strode about three paces into a 10-screen multiplex. Benji (the fourth to play the role) trotted ahead of Mr. Camp, tethered to a red leash.

“It’s not about creating big splash, like in Hollywood,” Mr. Camp later explained. “It’s about making it fun for the community. We do everything backward, out of the box, from Hollywood.”

For 30 years Mr. Camp has been making movies at arms’ length from Hollywood. He has danced with the studios – Disney distributed the third Benji movie, “Benji the Hunted” – and he nearly signed on with three studios to help produce and distribute his latest Benji feature.

He has a small farm in Southern California and contacts that led him to enlist Margaret Loesch, a longtime children’s television executive with whom he had collaborated on a Benji television series, as co-producer on “Benji Off the Leash”.

But, Mr. Camp, a 64-year old former advertising executive, dislikes the Hollywood studios. He says studio executives want total control over content, which he is unwilling to relinquish, and have little patience when it comes to letting a movie build its audience.

Mr. Camp, who wrote, directed and produced “Benji Off the Leash,” refuses to go along with what he terms the studio executives’ lowering of the base in family movies.

He said: “I had a conversation with one of them, and he said: ‘This is what you have to put into kids’ entertainment”: violence, sexual innuendo and potty jokes. It’s the economic bottom line.’ I got angry. What we’re about is not only doing the right thing and being responsible, but showing them.”

The first three Benji films collected a total of $80 million at the box office. Even so, Ms. Loesch said, a $5.7 million film like “Benji Off the Leash” falls beneath the radar of Hollywood studios.

“A small picture with a big name needs lots of attention, care and feeding,” said Ms. Loesch. “It could get lost at a major studio.”

So, Mr. Camp and Ms. Loesch hit the road in 2003 to raise the money. Along the way Mr. Camp spoke with Jim Ritchie, a friend and fraternity brother from his days at the University of Mississippi.

Mr. Ritchie said the he told M r. Camp: “Look, you’ve got Mississippi ties, the dog is from Mississippi, why don’t you raise the money is Mississippi? Our money spends like everyone else’s.”

He said that Mr. Camp replied, “Set it up.” In about two weeks the money was raised, Mr. Ritchie said.

He brought in his friend Sandra Burns, a Jackson business executive.

“The business people always say the worst investment is a film. ‘There will be nothing in it for you except ego.’ “said Mrs. Burns, who invested $287,000 in “Benji Off the Leash.” But she said that she considered Ms. Loesch the significant factor: “I knew she had the business background to help Joe with his creation.”

“Benji Off the Leash” opened to general audiences in Jackson on Friday and its to go next to Charleston, S.C., then Dallas and then Salt Lake City. The premieres in those cities, like the one here, will be beneficial for animal shelters and children’s hospitals . The promotional strategy – billboards, radio, television, newspapers and lots of appearances by Benji – will be similar as well. The film is scheduled to reach Los Angeles and New York in late summer. The reception in those cities in unlikely to be as warm as the one that Benji received in his native state, where Gov. Haley Barbour greeted him in his office at the State Capitol and proclaimed his this year’s state pet.

Benji is actually a 3 1/2 –year-old female mixed-breed terrier. She was picked up on the streets of Pass Christian, Miss., and taken to a shelter, whose director responded to Mr. Camp’s contest seeking a new Benji.