So No Borders has come and gone in the blink of an eye. It was an interesting event this year coming on the heels of what was, by all accounts a lackluster sales environment in Toronto and continued skepticism about where to best allocate resources. The interesting discussion that kept arising was about a core change in the economic calculation we are making as filmmakers about the future life of our work. Here, below, are a few bullet-point thoughts:
1) If you are hoping for distribution then there are really three tiers:
a) You are bought by: Sony Pictures Classics, Fox Searchlight, or one of 2-3 other companies and cover your budget.
b) You go to the scavengers. Companies like IFC wait until the hype dies down and then swoop in with 'last, best' offers. You can look to see maybe $50-$100K from that sale and then cross your fingers and pray.
c) You realize that giving up your film for 10-20 years for a fraction of the budget is not tenable and you hunt a DIY route.
Now let me be clear. I am not criticizing these companies, it's more a reflection of the marketplace and they are doing the thing that makes sense for them. There is nothing wrong with that, it just doesn't make sense for a lot of filmmakers. To that end, you must be planning not only for production but for distribution as well, in your budget.
2) The companies that have equity are afraid. They know the issues in point 1 above and are genuinely scared about deploying capital if the chance of making it back is threading a needle.
3) Nothing is worth anything. A sales agent will tell you that a film will be more valuable if you could get some name talent into this role or that role. The smart producer then asks the follow-up: what does that get me? The sales agent, today, will smile and acknowledge that you still won't get pre-sales or reliable estimates but that it might "help".
So? What does this mean? Well it's not totally depressing, I would submit that this is, in fact, people just honestly expressing what was true about the indie film business for a long time now, just nobody would admit it. If it hadn't been true then there would be lots of rich, successful independent distribution companies today with war-chests to work off of.
What? There aren't?
Oh right... it's because most were barely getting by before and no they're falling by the wayside.
So, to quote the Zombieland poster, nut up or shut up people. It's game time. You're going to have to develop, finance, produce, post AND distribute your work yourself.
Prepare for that and maybe, just maybe, you'll get lucky and someone will buy it but that is absolutely the exception.
With that in mind I was explaining to the people we met with our marketing plan in far greater detail than ever before. When meeting distributors, I was walking them through the who/how/why of the audience for our films and trying to help them see a way to make a return. I know we have good projects and Jake is a very talented filmmaker, has a remarkable track record of success with micro-budget features and is extremely articulate about his vision. That being said, our films are not indiewood light dramadies. They are tough, kick you in the gut, passionate films that grab you and shake you.
I know there's a market for them and if no one else will, then we will bring them to that market ourselves.
The upside? Every dollar that comes in is ours and our investors so we share in the risk and the reward.
# posted by Noah Harlan @ 9/25/2009 02:40:00 PM
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