From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is The Business.

After screenwriter Gabriel Sherman's The Apprentice debuted to a rapturous reception in Cannes,

Donald Trump tried to block the film from landing a distribution deal.

It almost worked.

I remembered, like, the night of the premiere, getting this general sense that because Trump had filed the cease and desist letter,

they were suddenly like this feeling, well, you know, we just got to see how this plays out, or it's going to take a few days to see if anyone wants to make an offer, and those offers never materialized.

Then Breyercliffe Entertainment founder Tom Ortenberg stepped up.

It wasn't the first time that he dared to release

films that others were afraid to touch. In the first of our two-part conversation about The Apprentice,

Gabriel Sherman talks about the risks of making a movie about Roy Cohn's mentorship of the young

Donald Trump. And Tom Ortenberg talks about taking on the film and the sprint to get it into theaters only a month after making a deal to distribute it.

But first we banter. Stick around. It's the business from KCRW.

I am joined by my partner in banter. Matt Bellany. Hello, Matt.

Hi there. So I'm just going to quickly touch on something that relates to the interview we have today,

which is about The Apprentice and its difficulties in finding a distributor.

There is a drama going on at NBC.

MSNBC bought an Errol Morris documentary called Separated,

based on the Jacob Soberoff book about the Trump administration's family separation policy.

MSNBC bought it.

Rachel Maddo apparently even said she would do a one hour special leading up to the film,

but MSNBC or powers higher up are not going to air this thing.

It appears before the election.

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