The Circuit

Helen Hunt's directorial debut "Then She Found Me" was one of two pickups at Toronto last year (Overture got and succeeded with "The Visitor"). 

Anne Thompson reports Hunt's film broke even, while the LA Times reports on the blame.

From Anne T's Weekly piece:

...last year's ballyhooed Toronto pickup from Helen Hunt, "Then She Found Me," lost money. The company paid a $1.7 million minimum guarantee for U.S. only and about $1 million on P&A. The movie grossed $3.7 million and sold modestly on video.

Then today's LA Times piece quotes Hunt as to why:

Helen Hunt, who is not suing, blames ThinkFilm's money problems for the low visibility of her directorial debut with "Then She Found Me." On the Friday before her mother-daughter movie was to expand on Mother's Day weekend, not one newspaper ad appeared.

"This was a movie that was near and dear to my heart for the better part of 10 years," Hunt said.

ThinkFilm's Mark Urman acknowledged that the company's money crunch prevented the movie's expansion to more than 300 theaters, as planned, and crimped its ability to buy ads, probably limiting the film's performance.