Just Another Weekend at Sundance
After an amazing Friday at the Sundance Independent Producers Conference, I was hoping they could keep it as interesting on Saturday because I had noticed that the day began with Film Distribution. Distribution is the thing that I was MOST interested in and found most mystifying. With the two films that we're making in Zambia (the feature AND documentary), I really wanted to know how the distribution thing worked.
I had already noticed that Marcus Hu and Mark Urman were on the panel. I knew these guys would be great because I'd heard them at Sundance before. I'd been tracking Marcus Hu for years because I loved the sort of films he released at STRAND. (The Zambia films are a more difficult fit for him but I was anxious to hear what he had to say anyway.) The new folks on the panel (new to me) were Sony Classics Michael Barker, Fox Searchlight's Matthew Greenfield, Picturehouse's Bob Berney and Stratosphere's Paul Cohen. Agents on the panel Cassian Elwes and Kevin Iwashina. Barbara Boyle was the only female.
Every person on the panel was freaking brilliant. Seriously, these are some of the brightest bulbs on the planet. Distributing a film is a complicated puzzle, a Gordian knot that cannot be easily severed. The people who dwell on the question of how to distribute a film (remember, we discovered earlier that EVERY film is different so there is no single answer) are bright, bright, bright people.
In a classical advertising model, AWARENESS is the cornerstone of marketing. If the client is unaware of your product, they cannot buy it. So, a theatrical release of your film is often the platform that creates the awareness of your film. This often leads to a more lucrative DVD and cable deal. In the "old days" (the last three to five years), selling to foreign markets was the traditional path to generating initial funding and a completion bond. According to the panel, the foreign markets are not as easy because they got too much mediocre product and they've become more sophisticated buyers.
In the Finance Panel, there was a lot of discussion about how to MODEL a film. Basically, it's looking at the elements of the film (genre, talent, etc.) and determining what the VALUE is of that film. When the value is determined, the key is to budget the film BELOW the value of the MODEL. This difference creates the profit for your investors. The distributors are the folks who help you to generate that value with theatrical, foreign, DVD and ancillary sales. So, just like in the publishing world, finding a distributor who has marketed similar product in the past is a good starting point.
One of their key recommendations: Attend the American Film Market in LA or NY to find out what sells. (Or Cannes or Toronto.)
Later in the day, there was a dialog on LOW or NO-BUDGET FILMMAKING. Two of my favorites on the panel were Gary Winick and Ram Bergman. These are the gurus of low budget filmmaking. Bergman made BRICK for $400,000 and Winick's Indigent makes all films for $200,000 or less. The crew gets $100 per day and profit participation.
According to Gary, "Movies about people that deal with emotions can always be made for $200,000 or less." According to Ram, "You need to honestly assess the value of your movie in the market and make it for less!"
As usual, some of the most profound words of advice came from Mark Urman (THINKfilm). "In the end, it is irrelevant what it cost. My only concern is whether I respond to the material and what do I think it can make in the market. Most independent films lack the polish, visual diversity and visual sheen to be successful in the marketplace. The shots must be alive and we must respond to the characters."
