October Films was an independent film production company and distributor founded in 1991 by Bingham Ray and Jeff Lipsky as a means of distributing the 1990 film
Life Is Sweet. A series of mergers and acquisitions began when
Universal Studios (then a division of Seagram & Sons) bought a majority stake in October Films in 1997. Universal then sold its shares to Barry Diller in 1999, who merged it with
Gramercy Pictures and
Interscope Communications, forming
USA Films. Vivendi then acquired USA Films, who in 2002 acquired
Good Machine and merged it with USA Films and
Universal Focus, forming
Focus Features.
