Collections

Robert Shaye founded New Line Cinema in 1967. The company began by distributing foreign, kitsch and art house films to college campuses and eventually grew to distribute and produce films in the Hollywood industry. The archive consists of five series: Personal, Business Documents, Projects, Articles and Clippings, and Audiovisual Materials. The documents range in date from 1958-2008.

The collection is divided into five series: Personal, Business Documents, Projects, Articles and Clippings, and Audiovisual Materials. All the series contain many of Shaye’s hand-written notes from notebooks to scraps of paper in which many of his ideas are written. Along with the notes, Shaye included many Post-it notes explaining some of the content. The majority of documents for the Projects series and all the material from the Audiovisual series are from The Last Mimzy, directed by Shaye and released in 2007.

The Personal series includes correspondence between friends and business partners as well as congratulatory cards and notes. The majority of the series consists of Shaye’s speeches made during awards ceremonies, general speeches for company events, movie premiere speeches and speeches for family and friends’ events. Many documents refer to Shaye as L.E. Moko. This reference refers to Pépé le Moko, a 1937 French gangster film directed by Julien Duvivier.

The Business Documents series ranges from 1967-2008 with documents focusing on New Line and consisting of correspondence, shareholder meeting notes, and film catalogs showcasing the variety of movies available for distribution that year. A binder with information on New Line common stock and correspondence can be found in an oversize box.

The Project series highlights some of New Line Cinema’s distributed and produced films. Highlights include storyboards for Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master, produced in 1988. The majority of documents are production documents for two films directed by Shaye, Book of Love and The Last Mimzy.

The Articles and clippings section consists of personal articles about Robert Shaye as a business entrepreneur and creative director, New Line Cinema articles, and miscellaneous film reviews along with trade magazines with issues dedicated to New Line or Robert Shaye.

The Audiovisual Materials series consists of The Last Mimzy DVD’s and a CD of video clips, trailers and publicity events. The DVD’s include production footage such as alternate beginnings, B-roll footage and different edited versions of the film.