When established distributors balked at releasing an adult reimagining of Lewis Carroll, producers Jason Williams and William Osco invented their own distribution fiction. They created a company called General National in hopes that the name would evoke the already‑known National General and grant the picture an air of respectability and better treatment. That marketing trickery extended to the foreign sales: Osco later sold the film’s rights to multiple foreign distributors within the same territories and told each buyer they had exclusive rights — a classic exploitation‑era rights scam that generated immediate legal friction. On top of that, the production drew official ire for shooting without permits: in October 1976 the Taconic Park Commission threatened to sue after discovering the filmmakers had used historical park sites without authorization. Between the sham corporate branding, duped foreign buyers, and unauthorized location shooting, the film’s release strategy reads as a compendium of small‑time studio‑system hustles updated for the New Hollywood era of independent exploitation.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
A sham distributor and double‑sold foreign rights: how the producers gamed distribution and riled park officials
General National (Williams & Osco distribution scheme), Alice in Wonderland (1976) / 1970s
When established distributors balked at releasing an adult reimagining of Lewis Carroll, producers Jason Williams and William Osco invented their own distribution fiction. They created a company called General National in hopes that the name would evoke the already‑known National General and grant the picture an air of respectability and better treatment. That marketing trickery extended to the foreign sales: Osco later sold the film’s rights to multiple foreign distributors within the same territories and told each buyer they had exclusive rights — a classic exploitation‑era rights scam that generated immediate legal friction. On top of that, the production drew official ire for shooting without permits: in October 1976 the Taconic Park Commission threatened to sue after discovering the filmmakers had used historical park sites without authorization. Between the sham corporate branding, duped foreign buyers, and unauthorized location shooting, the film’s release strategy reads as a compendium of small‑time studio‑system hustles updated for the New Hollywood era of independent exploitation.
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