The headline to this Hollywood Reporter story is pure provocation: “Has ThinkFilm Lost Its Mind?” The three pages that follow offer little in the way of analysis of the sanity of the studio’s recent moves; instead, Alex Ben Block contrasts angry accusations from filmmakers who claim to have been wronged by the distributor, with defensive statements from Think/Capitol Films head David Bergstein.

The big takeaway (beyond Betstain’s annoying insistence that “he has image problems because nobody in Hollywood really knows him”) is his repeated claim that he’s not really concerned with the short term  profits and losses associated with theatrical releases (which probably won’t sound like news to certain filmmakers he’s worked with over the past year). Instead, he’s got his eyes on building a digital rights library that can be leveraged when the current modes of distribution and consumption become extinct. “Our business plan is not so much about the movie business,” he told Block. “It’s really to build a global digital distribution business. It’s based on the expectation that in the not too distant future most content will be delivered digitally and on-demand.”

And apparently, he’s perfectly content enraging filmmakers and creditors today in order to come out ahead of the flop on a longer timeline. More details––including details on Bergstein’s future acquisitions plans, the status of David O. Russell’s beleaguered Think production, and testimony from apparently the only Think-associated filmmaker willing to come out and defend the company’s leader––after the jump.

Block quotes a number of unhappy sources, including War/Dance producer Albie Hecht, who calls Bergstein “the biggest disgrace in the film business” and describes his recent handling of the company as “immoral”; and producer Julian Adams, whose film The Last Confederate: The True Story of Robert Adams was apparently given a micro-release a year ago by Think with a complete lack of fanfare. Adams says he’s still “unable to get a financial statement from Bergstein.”

The one filmmaker quoted in the story who doesn’t seem to have a problem with Bergstein is Taylor Hackford who, along with with Helen Mirren, is making Love Ranch for the studio: “[Bergstein] stayed with us…We never shut down for a day. Everybody got paid.”

Although there are apparently reports to the contrary, according to Bergstein, David O. Russell’s Nailed is back on track with just “two days of pickup shots” left to shoot. Ready or not, it’s still scheduled for release in early 2009.

Because “the key” to Bergstein’s master plan “will be to own the most content,” he plans to continue making acquisitions, regardless of criticism that he can’t actually afford to pay his bills in the near future.