Category Archives: American Film Market

American Film Market

AFM HIGHLIGHTS DAY 5 – Animation: A Growing Territory for Independents

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Another great day at the American Film Market Online 2021! At the top of the list is Pilar Alessandra and her WRITERS WORKSHOP: The Voice of the Writer. Many examples with insight made this one “a must-see” selection.

Pilar Alessandra answering a question during a Q&A on Novemeber 5, 2021, at American Film Market Online 2021.

Another hot topic session came to the forefront this morning, Animation: A Growing Territory for Independents.

While the pandemic has limited live-action film production, animation projects have successfully forged ahead. Industry experts discussed the creative process, production, and sales opportunities for independent animated products now and what the future hold.

Moderated by Ben Dalton, International Reporter, Screen International, Panelists included: Daniel Bort, Head of International, Fantawild Animation; Edward Noeltner, President, Cinema Management Group; Tania Pinto Da Cunha, Partner/Vice President, Head of International Sales & Acquisitions, Pink Parrot Media; and Michael Ryan, Partner, GFM Animation.

 

How is the independent animation sector growing and how is it different?  

Michael Ryan – “It’s alive and well which I’m very pleased about.  It has been a growing industry – a lot of people have jumped on that bandwagon. It’s a particular part of our industry that’s a bit more complicated than one thinks.  If you’re [pre] selling rights, for a live action movie you’re relying on those elements that we you can sell.  But when you have an animated movie, what do you sell?  You might be able to sell [your buyer on] the voices if you have famous actors but most of the territories it’s going to be dubbed anyway so it doesn’t always matter. The financing of it versus a live action movie is a lot more complex. But it’s growing and growing.  The European industry makes a huge amount of animation and it’s a very large marketplace, so if you can tap into that and find co-producers, that’s a great way to make your movies.”

“Apart from the UK [because those movies tend to be Disney, the huge studio movies], the rest of Europe is used to making co-productions in animation and it’s surprising how much, especially in France, support they get from their government and from the EU is enormous, and the audience responds to it.  There is a separate audience that is growing and growing for animation.  It tends to be not be English speaking and in France and those certain territories…We’re now venturing into other places – Latin America and Eastern Europe just to see what’s happening there. It’s pretty vibrant.”

 

What types of stories are particularly in demand? 

 Tania Pinto Da Cunha – “Different than series, in feature films, it’s difficult to have content for very young children – preschoolers. In the cinema, it doesn’t work.  For us you have to have a target family audience and make family animation – it has to be aimed at 6 or 8-year-old plus.” 

Edward Noeltner – “A lot of distributors are always looking for the inclusive…animals, talking animals. They want a good story with a lot of humor, a little bit of edginess here and there that will play to an older audience.  Animation on human characters is the absolute hardest to achieve so if you set it in the animal world, independents see a lot of success with that… [It’s all about] taking families to a world, a place they wouldn’t normally be able to go for two hours and nothing can be better than that.”

Michael Ryan – “If you want Pre-school, you have to have an IP that is very important to those kids. If you want it to resonate up to the parents that’s even better. Generally, if you can find the animals like that’s what most kids want and it’s a very large age group – you probably reach up to 10 or 11 and that’s a big age group and means that the parents have to go.  It stops at a certain age point. Kids, especially boys, past 10 don’t go to animated movies – it’s very very rare. Generally, if you can find the animals like in “Zambezia” which Edward [Edward Noeltner].  Human animation is incredibly hard especially because humans aren’t typically funny in animated films unless you’re very clever.”

Edward Noeltner – “Another thing you have to be very careful about is on-screen violence…If you have scenes in an animated feature that kids think they can do at home, you’ll have a real problem with censorship. A lot of mothers determine what movies they take their kids to, so we try to target our trailers to mothers. Be very careful with the violence if you’re trying to reach a family audience.  The last thing mothers want to do is put their hands in front of their kids’ faces when they’re watching a movie…One thing I did on a couple of occasions took the screenplay to Dove [Dove Soap brand has an approval division that puts a stamp of approval] for them to review it for the Dove Seal of Approval. I had them read a couple of the scripts I was thinking of investing in and asked if they would be acceptable for their approval board and took a few cues and make a couple of adjustments just to make sure I wouldn’t run into that issue of violence or offensiveness for my animated films moving forward.”

 

What do you want in an animated script?  

Michael Ryan – “If you’re going to write in the animated field, you have to be a really good comedy writer.  All these audiences want to do when they watch an animated feature is laugh, they want to laugh out loud and it’s really difficult to find writers that can make people laugh out loud.  I am punching up the comedy dialogue in my animated films right until they’re finished because you can never get enough comedy in an animated film.”

If you are writing something like “I Lost My Body” or “Flee” those are all beautiful movies and all well written amazing screenplays, you just have to know that your audience is going to be limited but maybe you’ll earn Oscar nominees.”

 

What’s the importance of film market events to the independent animators?  

Daniel Bort – “You want to have the interactions also with the TV executives that are financing as well, so these are the places that you meet the TF1s and the BBCs and those people also shape up the market worldwide.”

Michael Ryan – “[Markets] It’s just as important for animation as it is for live action – it’s exactly the same thing. We’re all co-producers now, we need co-producers to produce with and the only way to do it really is to meet them in person.”

 

How are you working with the platforms and for animations are relationships with them a worthwhile endeavor? 

Tania Pinto Da Cunha – “It’s giving another opportunity in a way and they’ve come to stay. They’re doing quite a bit of damage on the one hand, since animation they are doing a lot so they are taking our talent and we cannot compete with those prices…but at the same time they are also putting money into production, they are financing a lot of films and if that continues it’s not necessarily bad thing for producers especially in Europe since it takes so long to get the funds from subsidies that you’re developing and trying to get the funding for so long…Platforms are buying from independents, it’s not easy and if there’s something that they want they’re paying big money. I think we’ll come to a balance.”

Michael Ryan – “We owe it to ourselves to try and work with them. I find it really very difficult to get one of the big streamers…some of them just don’t do animation – Hulu for instance, Amazon very very rarely. Netflix, they’re doing so much of their own, I think they have done it [bought] once for a big [animated] independent film.  It’s very few and far between, so that means that we should really concentrate on our business which is with independent distributors throughout the world and that’s who we sell to.  I don’t regard the streamers as a real buyer of our animated features, they’ve really never committed to it so I don’t really concentrate on it. We’ve just done a big deal with Sky on a number of territories.  Is that a streamer? Not really but kind of – it’s a hybrid so they’ll do some theatrical releases where they can. Dealing with Amazon, Netflix you can’t really rely on – our [animation] business is still with the theatrical distributors around the world.

“I do like the fact that they [Netflix] are doing regional buys for foreign language movies.  They don’t have any fear of that which is great and that’s a good service to the animation industry.  They’re very big in Germany, they’re becoming much bigger in France, Spain and I think that’s a very farsighted attitude.”

Edward Noeltner – “We should all make a concerted effort to see what Netflix is doing in terms of animation – in terms of the story structure, the production values, I think they’re doing an incredible job and that’s a bar we have to reach to because otherwise the audience is going to stay home and watch Netflix.”

Daniel Bort – “The only truly worldwide game of the streamers right now that could buy independent animation is Netflix. The other ones are not.”  

 

What is going to make things better for the industry for 2022?  

Michael Ryan – “I think if we can get people back to the cinema, that’s what we all need.”

 

American Film Market

AFM 2021 Day 5 News & Update

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Many excellent sessions have marked the 2021 American Film Market (AFM) – today’s the Pitch Conference led the way with topicals such as licensing, casting, producing standout documentaries, clearing the title chain, maximizing the festival circuit, and how to create compelling characters.

A pertinent and timely one from Day 3 was the Distribution II Session, How Streamers Approach Independent Content, moderated by Brent Lang, Executive Editor Film & Media, New York Bureau Chief, Variety Magazine.  Panelists included: Adam Koehler, Manager of Acquisitions, IFC Films; Brian Stevenson, CEO & Founder, Sheena Mae Stories; and, Jennifer Vaux, Head of Content Acquisition, The Roku Channel.

Here’s the recap on – How Streamers Approach Independent Content:

What kind of content is doing well, what are you discovering? 

Jennifer Vaux – “We have a really robust machine learning algorithm that will really serve you up the kind of content that you want to watch and want to see – so we actually see a lot of engagement with independent film, whether it’s action, romance, LGBTQ+ stories, co-viewing, family, horror…”

How do you figure out what content you want to purchase? 

Adam Koehler – “Very often, we’ll come across a title that will do spectacular on VOD but maybe not have a theatrical life, and it goes the other way around as well. A foreign language drama, for example, doesn’t really play quite as well on a VOD platform as it does in theaters where you can fully absorb the film – whereas something like an action film is potentially more of a VOD title for us. It really just comes down to the nature and the genre of the film. The sweet spot is finding something that will work both ways; with our streaming platforms, specifically, our films don’t really land there until 2 years after initial release. So when we’re thinking about what we want to see on our streaming platform, we are also thinking about what films will stand the test of time and remain buzzy…”

Are you finding that there are certain types of stories that people are more interested in backing right now? 

Brian Stevenson – “I know for some of the platforms that inclusive type films, like African American, LGBTQ+, they perform really well. Some horror films do really well, but I think the younger generation latches on to some of the AVOD platforms because it’s free. If you’re on cable, and you have to pay $400-500, someone just out of college doesn’t have that kind of money, so they’re going to go to the ROKUs and TUBIs.”

When it comes to marketing, do you feel like having a community like that does help in identifying your audience so that they can find the content? 

Brian Stevenson – “Some of the advertisers, it’s a way for them to target a specific demographic. And depending on who that is or what block of programming that looks like, it looks like they’re putting more of their dollars into something like that [diverse content]. Especially after George Floyd, you have a lot more appetite from advertisers who wanted to look at, not just African American content, but anything that was inclusive because there was a whole new search for identity and different cultures happening.”

Are movies with a social justice component or political undercurrent resonating better on streaming services? 

Jennifer Vaux – “It goes back to – if you’re in the mood to watch something, chances are, we’re going to have it. I think that’s the importance of having a broad catalog – having stories like social justice and meaningful stories out there that might not have a bigger theatrical release or get lost in other types of releases.”

Adam Koehler – … “For the right film with the right timing, we’re definitely seeing a perfect storm for the correct titles”

How has the move into virtual film festivals changed your job? 

Adam Koehler – “Film festivals have become far more accessible over the pandemic because everything has been virtual, more people have been able to attend festivals. Let’s take Sundance for example – there’s a barrier to participating in Sundance typically [as a live event], it’s expensive, it’s not exactly an easy place to get to, and it’s tough for beginner filmmakers and smaller press members to get that access. Moving forward, I think we’re going to see more hybrid models to allow more people to participate in different ways.”

“This past year, Sundance reviews were spilling in right away for films directly out to premiere because people were able to watch them the same time we did, so in a lot of ways, it’s really leveling the playing field.”

Jennifer Vaux – “One thing that’s been awesome about just the structure of having a virtual festival is that the other folks on my team who have never been able to go to a festival…they’ve seen so many more movies. We’ve screened so much more, so I’m able to acquire more and have more engaging conversations with filmmakers.”

What is lost by the virtual component? 

Jennifer Vaux – “The connectivity with the audiences and hearing it in real-time. It’s just that immediacy that you lack in a virtual environment.”

What are indie filmmakers’ expectations? 

Brian Stevenson – “At the end of the day, filmmakers want to make a little bit of money – so I am very honest with them [and tell them] ‘Depending on the genre…depending on the category, I’m not really quite sure about the revenue numbers. You’ll probably do fairly well, but you’re not going to make a million dollars…’”

Is there more content than ever? From the acquisition perspective? 

Jennifer Vaux – “It’s definitely ebbing and flowing in terms of what you’re looking at and what the pandemic has allowed us to do. Early on, we were able to do some innovative deals with some distributors and so we licensed our first exclusive series called ‘Cypher,’ which was from an independent company…We were able to do some really interesting Pay 1 deals because I guess the other folks who have a much larger budget than we do maybe had passed.”

“Now you’re seeing that sort of leveling out…there was a lot in development, but all the produced stuff has found a home, so now we’re just trying to play the shell game of what content we can serve up.”

What about Documentaries on Streaming? 

Brian Stevenson – “If you can find some kind of a packaging opportunity or any kind of a promotional opportunity for your documentary to be a whole block of programming that has a kind of headliner like [‘Black Boys’] had, then there can be some opportunity there….Otherwise…documentaries are very hard to move unless you have a special marketing opportunity.”

How is the value component of cast for each of you? 

Jennifer Vaux – “Recognizable cast truly is important, especially to cut through a lot of the title availability. So, if there’s a recognizable person, then people will click on that thumbnail…We had a few movies where Chadwick Boseman starred in early in his career, and when he did Black Panther, all of a sudden these movies were really popular…”

Adam Koehler – “I think it’s also important to mention that it depends on the specific nature of the film with the cast attached. If the target demographic for the film is a younger audience, then maybe someone like Helen Mirren may not hold as much value to that specific demographic as it would for another. Whereas if you’re trying to cater to an audience in their young twenties, someone with a really huge Instagram following would probably hold more value.”

What are the challenges today? Where are the opportunities? 

Adam Koehler – “Essentially, when it comes to acquisitions, streamers have largely driven up the price for a lot of content out there, making it a little harder for traditional distributors like us to compete at the same level as a tech company. So, in order to get around that, I would say that we are pre-buying a little bit more, financing a little bit more, getting a bit more in on the ground floor with a lot of films that come our way, that way we can already have the commitment of distributing the film before these other players can come in and swoop it away…Not everything can be “Palm Springs”, not everything can be “Coda”,  so when filmmakers go into a festival with the expectation that [these films] represent the level that films sell at,’ it makes it a little more difficult for us to manage the expectations of sales agents and filmmakers to move forward with an acquisition.

Check out attending Day 5 here! You’ll be glad you did!

American Film Market

AFM Online 2021 Day 3 Highlights – International Film Market: Consumption of Black Culture, Rejection of Black Stories

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

The NAACP convenes a panel of storytellers to explore the myths and rigors of international distribution for black-themed content and leading roles.

Covering a plethora of relevant topics spanning from the beginning of the film industry to the present day, the convened panel of Mo Abudu, CEO, EbonyLife Group, Dr. Darnell Hunt, Dean of the Division of Social Sciences, and Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, UCLA, Johnny Jones, Executive Director of Worldwide Marketing Content, Warner Bros. Pictures, Gabriel Lerman, Board Member, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Tirrell D. Whittley, CEO, Liquid Sou,l and moderator Kyle Bowser, SVP Hollywood Bureau, NAACP, delivered insight into the prevalent issues of international distribution of black-themed content and leading roles.

Here are a few pertinent questions and responses:

How might you answer the question of what is a black film? 

Mo Abudu – “For me it’s been a real struggle, getting our foot in the door with African stories that are also black stories. Even if I’m knocking on the door of an African American, it’s kind of tough going because they’ve got African American stories they want to tell.”

“So yes, we’re getting our foot in the door, and we’re being listened to, and we’re having to work twice as hard. I keep saying that there are three levels of discrimination for an African woman – number 1, you are a woman, number 2, you are a black woman, number 3, I am an African black woman trying to sell an African story to either a white person or an African American person.”

We do in fact have these gatekeepers who will conclude that we do not have enough demand to justify the investment… 

Darnell Hunt – “Well I’m here to tell you that it’s all a myth – it’s not true….First of all, the thing you have to remember is that the global audience looks a lot more like American diversity than Europe, I mean Europe is only about 18% of the world’s population and maybe 22% of the world GDP – all the rest of it is this rainbow around the world who want to hear diverse stories. And one of the things we’ve seen in the US context is that, as diversity has become more common on-screen, diverse audiences flock to it, they want to see that. They’re not going back now.”

Kyle Bowser – “When you have these distributors who have this reticence to greenlight projects that need to travel internationally, I don’t think it’s simply because they’re not good stories or because there’s some shortcoming in the casting or whatever it is, I think implicitly, they are supporting a norm that was established long ago.”

Darnell Hunt – “White supremacy is real, and it works in many different ways – some of it is intentional, some of its implicit bias…some of it’s lack of imagination to appreciate and recognize a quality story when you see it because your experience does not support it. That’s why it’s important to have diverse voices in the executive suites for greenlighting these stories and we just don’t. All of our data shows that 92% of studio heads and CEOs are white, and about 87% are male – that freezes out a range of voices.”

Projects never get made sometimes because there’s not enough international interest – so from the perspective of the studio, how does that work out? 

Johnny Jones – “It’s show business, and the larger companies such as Warner Bros., Disney, etc., they want a big return on their investment – because it is a business. So they’re going after the largest common denominator in terms of what they’re producing, what they know the consumers will consume, how they can sell merchandise, etc – it’s a business.”

“Different content works differently in different markets.”

“I think it’s important to be in the room where it happened, but you need a voice – you need a strong voice and you need leverage. And the people who have leverage, believe it or not, are some of these actors.”

Darnell Hunt – “One of the things that we should not discount is the ways in which the audience is self-assured, not just in the US but globally. And one of the drivers of that, we’ve argued in our Hollywood bursar reports, is streaming. Last year during the pandemic, most new titles were released via streaming platforms, and our top 200 films, which we normally look at on the global box office, actually shifted to the most diverse in history because a lot of smaller films were released on streaming platforms. These never would have made our sample if we’re only looking at theatrical releases. And what that did was show the ways in which diverse audiences really gravitated towards diverse content once they knew it was there.”

Thoughts on the streaming space? 

Mo Abudu – “I often say that [Nigeria] is only 6 hours from London, you’re not going to the moon or something, but a lot of the times, just getting large corporations to set up a department that’s even going to have an African unit can take years and years.”

“Netflix has trailblazed that, they’re on the continent because you know what? They don’t want to leave anything on the table. There is a massive audience there, there is a billion people living on the continent, the internet is spreading around the world, they are getting subscribers, so they are deciding to invest in local stories for local and local stories for global.”

“We have to, as black content producers, find our “Squid Game”, and find those big projects that make studios realize that we are worth investing in.”

Other general thoughts? 

Tirrell D. Whittley – “So when creators come in and producers come in and they’re talking to a room full of white executives that don’t know their perspective, there’s no champion on the other side of the table, no one to translate at times what certain things mean, it is a very uphill battle.”

“With young people, I really try and encourage them to learn about the system, own the system, participate in the system – from an executive perspective. Understanding the financing, understanding the greenlight – the more women on that side of the table the more stories you’ll see – because they understand that women’s stories matter.”

“When it comes to content, specifically film and television, there is a gatekeeper system that says, ‘we want to dictate what goes forward.’”

American Film Market, distribution

TBA STUDIOS ACQUIRES WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS FOR MALAYSIAN THRILLER “LIGHTS OUT”

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TBA Studios adds another gem to its impressive catalog of diverse genre films from all over the globe with the recent distribution acquisition of the Malaysian thriller Lights Out (original title Siapa Tutup Lampu).

Lights Out is helmed by young and up-and-coming director Aliff Ihsan Rahman with a screenplay by Azhar Jalil and produced by Horizon Film Entertainment & Articulate Fusion Productions.

 

It follows the story of five friends (Akmal, Arif, Aryana, Azie, and Amir) who go on holiday to Genting Highlands.  On the way home, they get involved in an accident that kills Amir.  The other four are called to the morgue to identify Amir’s body.

 

While waiting for the doctor to arrive, they discover they are locked in the morgue, which is frequently disturbed by mysterious sights and sounds.  It is most unsettling especially when the lights suddenly go out.

 

The four friends suspect that the entity bothering them is Amir’s restless spirit. While confined in the morgue, they each retell how they betrayed their friend, and their wrongdoings on Amir were revealed one by one. Will they all make it out of the morgue alive?

 

Recently completed, Lights Out has already generated buzz in its home country.  This highly anticipated thriller stars Azizul Ammar, Uyaina Arshad, Naim Daniel, Azhar Jalil, Ismi Melinda, Afieq Shazwan, Geoff Andre Feyaerts, Melissa Campbell, and Mark O’Dea.

  “We are planning a theatrical release of the film in Malaysia and Indonesia,” says Mohd Shahir Sulaiman, Managing Director of Horizon Film Entertainment.   “With Cindy Sison of TBA Studios as our international sales agent, we are optimistic about reaching new audiences globally.”

Lights Out is one of the films TBA Studios is premiering at the American Film Market alongside other acquisitions such as the music documentary FANNY: The Right To Rock, urban crime thriller Boundary, and award-winning documentary A Is For Agustin.

TBA Studios is one of the leading film production and distribution companies in the Philippines known for its groundbreaking films such as historical epics General Luna, Goyo: The Boy General, and hit romcom I’m Drunk, I Love You.

To know more about TBA Studios or see updates on Lights Out, visit www.tba.ph

(Press release provided by Cindy Sison)

American Film Market, television

AFM News: E! Founder Larry Namer named President of FilmCapital.io

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


FilmCapital.io Lands E! Founder Larry Namer as President

Los Angeles, November 2, 2021 – Global entertainment industry veteran and E! founder Larry Namer will join the SEC registered crowdfunding platform FilmCapital.io as president. The announcement was made today by company founder and CEO Ali Mahir Aksu.

“We’re extremely lucky to have Larry Namer join FilmCapital’s executive team,” comments Aksu. “Not only does he possess unprecedented experience in both the entertainment and crowdfunding space, Larry’s leadership, connections and ability to inspire others make him the perfect fit as president as we expand and grow the company.”

 

As president of FilmCapital.io, Namer will be charged with business development, forging relationships with top global producers and production executives, overseeing social impact-oriented projects, and leading the company, described as a digital launch pad for content producers, in the next phase of its evolution.

 

Larry Namer (Photo courtesy of Nicole Muj, Kultura PR)

“I’m very excited to be joining FilmCapital.io during these dynamic and rapidly changing times in the global media and entertainment industries. New technologies have opened up the content creation world to just about anyone with talent, drive, and financing,” says Namer. “FilmCapital.io will be the trusted vehicle that connects highly-vetted, qualified producers with both accredited and non-accredited investors looking to diversify their portfolios. Additionally, the company will work with talented emerging filmmakers to handle the financing side of the equation and also will help guide them through the process of turning out good content on a sustainable basis.”

 

Recently, FilmCapital.io secured its pre-seed round of capital raise and will be launching a new SEC registered crowdfunding platform featuring a user experience powered by state of the art technology.

 

The company’s recent success stories include the raise for the feature currently in post-production titled Alaska, starringGillian White, Johnathon Schaech, Will Peltz, Grace Van Dien and Chloe Levine.

 

Larry Namer is an entertainment industry icon with close to 50 years professional experience in cable television, live events and new media. Namer is a founding partner of Metan Global Entertainment Group (MGEG), a venture created to develop and distribute entertainment content and media specifically for Chinese speaking audiences in China and abroad. In 2018, the company launched the MGEG Film Fund I and serves as managing partner.

 

Namer is the co-founder of E! Entertainment Television, a company now valued at over four billion USD, and the creator of several successful companies in the United States and overseas. Among those companies are Comspan Communications that pioneered Western forms of entertainment in the former Soviet Union and Steeplechase Media that served as the primary consultant to Microsoft’s MiTV for developing interactive TV applications.  

 

Early on, he was named the youngest general manager of a major cable system at Valley Cable TV (VCTV) in Los Angeles. His vision and direction garnered VCTV several Emmy and Cable ACE award nominations, as well as recognition by Forbes magazine as the national model for local cable television programming.

 

In 1989, he was awarded the prestigious President’s Award from the National Cable Television Association. He was honored with the “Outstanding Contribution to Asian Television Award” at the 19th Asian Television Awards in Singapore and received the International Media Legacy Award at the 2017 Elite Awards Foundation Gala. He was the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 2018 Hollywood Tribute Awards and the 2019 Hollywood China Night, presented by the American-Chinese CEO Society, both in celebration of the Academy Awards®.  In July 2019, he was awarded The Tribeca Disruptor Award at the Novus Summit, held at the United Nations, and in September 2020, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the French Riviera Film Festival.

Larry Namer headshot .jpg

 

About FilmCapital.io – A new generation crowdfunding platform for content producers:filmcapital.io is an SEC registered funding platform that hosts highly-vetted investment offerings in the content production space (short form, feature, TV series) for both accredited and non-accredited investors. The company has a special initiative for emerging filmmakers to guide them throughout the production cycle, allowing creative visionaries to unleash their maximum potential. FilmCapital.io’s massive transformative purpose as a company is to empower all artists at heart.

(Press release provided by Nicole Muj)

American Film Market, Taiwan Creative Content Agency

American Film Market 2021 Online Spotlight: Taiwan Creative Content Agency

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

The Taiwan Creative Content Agency will participate in the American Film Market, one of the key events for film acquisition, development, and networking in North America, with an online Taiwan Pavilion with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development (BAMID). The Taiwan Pavilion will feature 57 films from 32 film exhibitors, showcasing the best of Taiwanese cinema to the world.

“There is a rise in popularity in Asian TV series globally, showing that stories based on local culture have a unique edge in the international market,” states TAICCA CEO, Izero LEE. “For the highly competitive North American market, TAICCA not only showcases the best of Taiwanese cinema at the AFM, but also assists the Los Angeles chapter of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office for the 3rd Taiwan Biennial Film Festival, hoping to recommend more Taiwanese works to the American audience.”

The lineup for this year’s AFM at the Taiwan Pavilion includes American Girl (美國女孩) which was shortlisted by the 2021 Tokyo International Film Festival for Asian Future section. The list also includes films selected at Busan International Film Festival for A Window on Asian Cinema section: MONEYBOYS (金錢男孩), Increasing Echo (修行), and Days Before the Millennium (徘徊年代). As well as Taste of Wild Tomato (野番茄), Crossing’s End (彼岸), RAIN in 2020 (二〇二〇年的一場雨) and Good Day (詠晴), for the Wide Angle section.  The only Taiwanese film to be selected to BIFF’s Asian Project Market and the winner of NUTRILITE Award, Lives of Crime (犯罪人生), will also meet its potential funders at AFM.

Throughout the event, TAICCA will also introduce resources available for filming in Taiwan and various co-funding programs, such as Taiwan’s International Co-funding Program (TICP). which aims to increase the international market presence for Taiwanese original creative content, such as feature films, documentaries, TV series, and animation.

To further showcase Taiwan’s content industry to the world, TAICCA has organized the second edition of the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), an annual international market and exhibition from November 10th to 14th that celebrates Taiwanese content driven by technology and creativity. For more information, please visit https://tccf.taicca.tw/en/.

About Taiwan Creative Content Agency

Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), established in June 2019 and supervised by the Ministry of Culture, is a professional intermediary organization that promotes the development of Taiwan’s content industries. TAICCA supports various cultural content industries in Taiwan, including film and television, pop music, publishing, ACG, and fashion, artworks and cultural technologies.

With advanced information and communication technology infrastructure and emerging technologies in Taiwan, TAICCA manages National Development Fund to develop intellectual property (IP), incubate culture technologies, and facilitate startups.

Through international distribution channels, TAICCA strives to promote Taiwan’s cultural brand in the world. TAICCA enhances Taiwan’s cultural content industries and creates new value for Taiwan’s national brand. Profitable and eco-friendly, the creative industries are now valued as a key economic indicator worldwide.

American Film Market

AFM 2021 Online – Day 1 News and Updates

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Busy first day at the American Film Market (AFM). Starting off with the 9:00 A.M. conferences, The Independent Film Ecosphere – Present & Future, along with the It’s More Fun Filming in the Philippines.

Being able to switch between live events made the early sessions informative and entertaining – it’s a good time for independent filmmakers and it’s equally good to try out filmmaking in the Philippines.

Form here the issue of financing films came to the forefront. Realistic and practical approaches were presented combined with how to get films distributed.

After the sessions, networking and extended Q & A’s with the various panelists were the order of the day at the AFM Networking Pavillion.

Interesting titles included: Film Finance Success: The Producer’s Perspective; Black Filmmakers At The Crossroads To Success; How to Win at Modern Distribution; and, Indie Opportunities During the Streaming Wars.

Tomorrow the AFM continues with offerings such as EUROPE! How to Co-Produce an Indie Film Between the US and Europe, and Changing the Narrative: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Film. Registration is now open. Check out attending the 2021 American Film Market Online here!

American Film Market

AFM 2021 ONLINE LAUNCHES NOVEMBER 1

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

AFM 2021 ONLINE LAUNCHES NOVEMBER 1 WITH ‘THE INDEPENDENT FILM ECOSPHERE’ SESSION FEATURING PARTICIPANT’S LIESL COPLAND, UPGRADE PRODUCTIONS’ JONATHAN KIER, THE EXCHANGE’S BRIAN O’SHEA & TELEPOOL’S JULIA WEBER  

Full Programming Lineup Unveiled Highlighting Such Topics as VOD, Production Insurance, Documentaries, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Film

New Speakers Added from BRON, Campfire Studios, DogWoof, GLAAD, IFC Films, Lionsgate, Millennium Media, NAACP, NEON, Quiver, Warner Bros., and More

Market’s Soft Opening Kicked Off Today with the On Demand Theatre, Industry Offices, LocationEXPO,  and MyAFM Now Open 

Los Angeles, CA – October 27, 2021 – The American Film Market (AFM®) today announced new speakers and sessions along with its full programming lineup set for AFM 2021 Online, which will run for five days, November 1 to November 5.

AFM 2021 Online will commence with the opening session – The Independent Film Ecosphere – Present and Future, featuring Liesl Copland, EVP, Content and Platform Strategy, Participant, Jonathan Kier,

Co-President, Upgrade Productions, Brian O’Shea, CEO, The Exchange, Julia Weber, Head of International Sales & Acquisitions, Global Screen – A TELEPOOL Brand, and moderated by Stephen Galloway, Dean of Chapman University Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. The first Finance Conference of the market, Bridging the Production Insurance Gap, will follow with speakers Steve Hays, Founder and Managing Member, 120dB Films, Peter A. Marshall, Managing Principal, Media Insurance, Epic Insurance Brokers, Nick Spicer, Partner, XYZ Films, and moderator Jill Goldsmith, Co-Business Editor, Deadline.

While the AFM doesn’t officially start until Monday, November 1, four buildings on the AFM Campus – the On Demand Theatre, Industry Offices, LocationEXPO, and MyAFM – are now open for pre-market screenings, project previews and scheduling meetings.

AFM will feature over 150 speakers and again taking advantage of its online market to showcase voices from around the world that can’t always be present in Santa Monica. Additional sessions and speakers joining AFM’s two online stages and previously announced conferences, panels, workshops, podcasts and presentations, include:

  • AFM’s Pitch Conference featuring Producer & Agent, Cassian Elwes (Mudbound, Dallas Buyers Club), Elevated Film Sales, Jeffrey Greenstein, President, Millennium Media, Monica Levinson, Independent Producer, (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Captain Fantastic, Brian Banks, Wander Darkly), and Lee Jessup, Screenwriting Career Consultant & Coach
  • Black Filmmakers at the Crossroads to Success (presented in partnership with AAFCA) featuring Cassandra Butcher, CMO and Co-Creative Director, BRON Studios, Anikah McLaren, EVP, Narrative Film, Participant, Samantha Racanelli, SVP, Film Development & Production, Endeavor Content, and Gil L. Robertson IV, Co-Founder, African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA)
  • Changing the Narrative: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Film (presented in partnership with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media Studies) with Iram Parveen Bilal, Filmmaker, Madeline Di Nonno, President & CEO, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, Christopher Kahunahana, Producer, Writer, Director, and Alysia Reiner, Actor, Creator, Producer
  • Demystifying the SPLATAM Market (presented in partnership with NALIP) featuring Liliana Espinoza, Projects Director, NALIP, Sonia Gambaro, Vice President of Television, 3Pas Studios, Georgina Gonzalez, Director of Development in the SPLATAM team, Gaumont Television, and Frida Torresblanco, Braven Films 
  • Global Streaming & the Future of Entertainment in Asia with Rick Ambros, International Media and Entertainment Consultant & Producer, Rohit Jain, Managing Director South Asia & Networks – Emerging Markets Asia, Lionsgate, Sameer Nair, CEO, Applause Entertainment India, William Pfeiffer, Executive Chairman, Globalgate Entertainment
  • How Streamers Approach Independent Content with Adam Koehler, Manager of Acquisitions, IFC Films, Brent Lang, Executive Editor Film & Media, New York Bureau Chief, Variety, Berry Meyerowitz, President, Quiver, Brian Stevenson, CEO and Founder, The Chromata Consulting Group, and Jennifer Vaux, Head of Content Acquisition, Roku
  • How to Profit with Micro-Budget Features featuring Tim Molloy, Editor-in-Chief, MovieMaker Magazine, Matt Grady, Founder, Factory 25, Matt Miller, President, Vanishing Angle, and Deon Taylor, Founder, Hidden Empire Film Group
  • In the Market for Authentic Transgender Films (presented in partnership with GLAAD) with Alex Schmider, Associate Director of Transgender Representation, GLAAD and Tre’vell Anderson, Journalist
  • International Film Market: Consumption of Black Culture, Rejection of Black Stories (presented in partnership with the NAACP) featuring Mo Abudu, CEO, EbonyLife Group, Kyle Bowser, SVP Hollywood Bureau, NAACP, Dr. Darnell Hunt, Dean of the Division of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, UCLA, Johnny Jones, Executive Director of Worldwide Marketing Content, Warner Bros. Pictures, Gabriel Lerman, Board Member, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and Tirrell Whittley, CEO, Liquid Soul
  • Limited Budget Features with Huge Profit Potential featuring Brian Beckmann, CFO, Arclight Films, Luane Gauer, Head of Acquisitions, Protagonist Pictures, Michael Heimler, Head of Production and Finance, Black Bear Pictures, Jeremy Kay, Americas Editor, Screen Daily, and Kent Sanderson, Acquisitions and Ancillary Distribution, Bleecker Street
     
  • New Perspectives on Horror featuring Darren Lynn Bousman, Director, (Spiral, Death of Me, Saw II/III/IV), Patrick Ewald, CEO, Epic Pictures, Jordan Fields, Vice President of Acquisitions, Shout! Factory, Jasmine Johnson, SVP, Development, Crypt TV, and Annick Mahnert, Manager, Acquisitions, Raven Banner Entertainment
  • Producing Movies for Networks and Platforms featuring Charles Cooper, President/Producer, Front Street Pictures, Gene George, President, Tesera Entertainment, Larry Grimaldi, SVP, Development and Production, MarVista Entertainment, Brad Krevoy, CEO, Motion Picture Corporation of America, and Chevonne O’Shaughnessy, President, American Cinema International
  • Producing Standout Documentary Features featuring Kevin Iwashina, Head of Documentary, Endeavor Content, Anna Godas, CEO, DogWoof, Ross Dinerstein, Founder and CEO, Campfire Studios, Dan O’Meara, EVP of Nonfiction, NEON and Co-Head, Super LTD, and Helen Huang, Acquisitions Consultant
  • The Casting Effect: How Talent Choices Impact Every Phase of Production featuring Milan Chakraborty, Head of Film, Marginal MediaWorks, Jennifer Kawaja, President, English Scripted, Sienna Films – a Sphere Media Company, Nat McCormick, EVP, Worldwide Distribution, The Exchange, Renee Tab, Founder and President, Sentient Entertainment, and Richard Botto, Founder and CEO, Stage 32
  • The Export Success of Black Cast Films from Africa featuring Pascal Schmitz, Head of Development, AAA Entertainment, Tracey-Lee Rainers, Story Consultant, Stiletto Entertainment, Sunni Faba, Script Writer, Nnegest Likké, Writer/Director, Mayenzeke Baza, Head of Distribution, AAA Entertainment*The full lineup and schedule of sessions to date can be found at https://sessions.americanfilmmarket.com/.

    AFM is the annual fund-raiser for the Independent Film & Television Alliance. On August 26th, IFTA announced the AFM’s move to online for 2021 due to travel regulations, increased concerns about coronavirus variants around the world, and government restrictions on the ground.  The pivot to online would allow for all stakeholders around the world to participate in the market. 

    About the American Film Market® (AFM®)
    The AFM is the most efficient film acquisition, development and networking event in the world. More than US$1 billion in production and distribution deals are closed every year — on both completed films and those in every stage of development and production. Over five days in November, 7,000+ professionals from 70+ countries access the entire global catalog of available films and projects, attend world-class conferences, and connect with decision-makers. The AFM is produced by the Independent Film & Television Alliance®.

    About the Independent Film & Television Alliance® (IFTA®)
    IFTA is the global trade association for independent film and television production, finance, distribution, and sales companies. The organization represents the independent sector before governments and international bodies and provides significant entertainment industry services to independent companies from 22 countries. 

***Media Contact:
Jennifer Garnick | VP, Communications
       jgarnick@ifta-online.org | 1+310.446.1006

American Film Market

AFM Announces Initial Exhibitors, Speakers, Programming & Sponsors

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Speakers To Include Executives From Arclight Films, Blackbear Pictures, Bleeker Street, Endeavor Content, Roku and XYZ Films

The American Film Market has announced initial details for AFM 2021 Online which will commence on November 1 and run for five days through November 5.  AFM 2021 Online will take place on the proprietary interactive campus AFM built in 2020 – presenting an engaging and effective environment for discovery, education, deal making, networking and reconnecting.

More than 300 production and sales companies, as well as international trade organizations from 25+ countries have already registered as exhibitors for the market, including Altitude Film Sales, Anton, Arclight Films, Blue Fox Entertainment, China Film Promotion International, Cinema Management Group, Cornerstone, Dogwoof, The Exchange, Fabrication Films, Fantawild Animation Inc., GAGA Corporation, Gaumont, GFM, HanWay, Global Screen – a TELEPOOL brand, Highland Film Group, Lakeshore Entertainment, Lionsgate, Millennium Media, Myriad Pictures, Pathé International, Picture Tree International, Protagonist Pictures, Radiant Films International, Sierra/Affinity, Taiwan Cinema Presented by TAICCA, TF1 Studio, Toei Company, Ltd., UniFrance, WestEnd Films, and XYZ Films.  The United States currently has the largest exhibitor presence participating followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Thailand, France, and Japan.

AFM will also bring its distinguished Conferences and educational programming back online with two stages running simultaneously and featuring more than 50 live sessions exploring film topics from script to screen. The sessions will also be made available the same day on-demand for attendees to stream at their convenience.

Over 150 industry professionals and decision makers will participate in AFM 2021 Online’s programming lineup.  Confirmed speakers to date include such names as:

Brian Beckmann, Arclight Films; Daniel Bort, Fantawild Animation; Ryan Broussard, Media Services Payroll; JJ Caruth, The Avenue Entertainment; Milan Chakraborty, Marginal MediaWorks, Inc.; Cassian Elwes, Elevated Film Sales; Clay Epstein, Film Mode Entertainment; Patrick Ewald, Epic Pictures; Matt Grady, Factory 25; Michael Heimler, Black Bear Pictures; Kevin Iwashina, Endeavor Content; Brad Krevoy, Motion Picture Corporation of America; Edward Noeltner, Cinema Management Group; Tania Pinto Da Cunha, Pink Parrot Media; Gil Robertson, AAFCA; Kent Sanderson, Bleecker Street; James Emanuel Shapiro, XYZ Films; and Jennifer Vaux, Roku.

 

Session highlights new for 2021, include:

  • A Story Analyst’s Approach to Screenwriting 
  • Animation: A Growing Territory for Independents 
  • Black Filmmakers at the Crossroads to Success (presented in partnership with AAFCA) 
  • Bridging the Production Insurance Gap 
  • The Casting Effect: How Talent Choices Impact Every Phase of Production 
  • International Film Market: Consumption of Black Culture, Rejection of Black Stories (presented in partnership with NAACP) 
  • New Perspective on Horror 

The lineup and schedule of sessions to date can be found at https://sessions.americanfilmmarket.com/.

In addition, AFM has announced its lineup of eight Premiere Sponsors.  The sponsors, each of which will present a dedicated location on the AFM 2021 Online campus, include Apojo Publications, Entertainment Partners, Filmhub, Honolulu Film Office, JAPAN/JETRO, Media Services Payroll, Polish Film Institute, and Whip Media.

AFM is the annual fund-raiser for the Independent Film & Television Alliance. On August 26th, IFTA announced the AFM’s move to online for 2021 due to travel regulations, increased concerns about coronavirus variants around the world, and government restrictions on the ground.  The pivot to online would allow for all stakeholders around the world to participate in the market.

About the American Film Market® (AFM®)
The AFM is the most efficient film acquisition, development and networking event in the world. More than US$1 billion in production and distribution deals are closed every year — on both completed films and those in every stage of development and production. Over five days in November, 7,000+ professionals from 70+ countries access the entire global catalogue of available films and projects, attend world class conferences, and connect with decision makers. The AFM is produced by the Independent Film & Television Alliance®.

About the Independent Film & Television Alliance® (IFTA®) 

IFTA is the global trade association for independent film and television production, finance, distribution, and sales companies. The organization represents the independent sector before governments and international bodies and provides significant entertainment industry services to independent companies from 22 countries.

 

 

 

American Film Market

AFM Finance Panel: XYZ, Cinetic, The Exchange, Village Roadshow Talk

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Exciting material with this morning’s AFM Finance Conference and yesterday’s interview with Borat writer Dan Mazer. Check out these highlights from the sessions, including Producing without a Completion Bond and Low Budget Films with Huge Profit Potential featuring  Brad Krevoy, Motion Picture Corporation of America, Brian O’Shea, The Exchange, and John Sloss, Cinetic Media as well as Jillian Apfelbaum of Village Roadshow, Pictures, Nick Spicer of XYZ Films and Zachary Tarica The Forest Road Co.

AFM Finance Conference 11/11/20 @ 9:30AM

Highlights from today’s 1st AFM Finance Conference Panel: Producing Without a Completion Bond

 Panelists:
Brad Krevoy, CEO, Motion Picture Corporation of America
Brian O’Shea, CEO, The Exchange
John Sloss, Founder, Cinetic Media

Moderator:
Jill Goldsmith, Co-Business Editor, Deadline

The current state of Insurance and Production?

Brian O’Shea: “It’s really been a standstill ever since COVID happened…We were in the midst of one production we had to stop …we moved the production from Eastern Europe to the UK, and found that there was more of a likelihood of finding a bond given that there were more insurance-backed opportunities there. It was all private investment, so they had to find a new investor and it was required that he had to have a bond so they were forced to move out of the UK…I was in the midst of trying to figure that issue out during the COVID process, and so I was out there trying to find investors that do non-COVID investment, or backed investment by bond…and it’s really difficult to find.”

Brad Krevoy: “What we decided to do is go full steam ahead on the basis that very few people would be able to take the risk to make more productions, and our thinking was ‘Okay, we’re going to make these movies and everybody will want them.’ What we didn’t fully figure out was that ad revenue was going to be a little bit lower and that the studios were going to limit what they were going to release, but we still continued and still moved forward.”

“In that process, during that exploration, we discovered some very interesting things…We made seven movies and one TV series which we shot in three locations.  One was Canada and they have it together. The US policy, when it comes to protecting all of us….it’s messy, it’s very messy and confusing. But in Canada, they make you do a two-week quarantine, and I mean it’s a severe quarantine…they track you! We were able to get Covid-insurance, $50K for half a million worth of insurance…we bought a little bit of the insurance to reduce and hedge our risk a little bit. It does exist, they offer that product, but it’s very expensive”

“There were quite a few films made and still being made [during the pandemic] under previous policies still in effect that did not have a COVID exclusion. A company, particularly a broadcaster, will have a year-long insurance policy, so long as that policy is still in effect, it covers COVID.”

John Sloss: “It’s the films in the middle that are really challenged. The ones above $2M but below the studio, I think have largely ground to a halt. When we talk about PRIA, we’re talking about sovereign subsidies…In England, they’ve got $500M from the government to subsidize production” “What it does is give an additional ability to attract production to your physical location, so if you’re willing to basically be the insurance company as a government, you can have a leg up certainly on the US but on a lot of other locations.”

“If you look at all the states in this country that subsidize with their tax fees and all of the soft money that we’ve come to rely on, a state covering COVID insurance risk is not so different from a state giving tax rebates, it’s an actuarial calculation. I would call upon the commissioners out there to give some serious consideration [to this] if they want to take advantage of this situation to draw a lot of production to where they are.”

Brad Krevoy: “By the time the governments, at least in the US, get around to figuring this out, it will be too late because we’ll have a vaccine, hopefully.” “The level of development with scripts and writers is at an all-time high right now…I think that’s a common theme.”

What will the Post COVID reality look like?

Brad Krevoy: “It will be the roaring twenty-ones! Content is going to come back strong, and it is going to be happy times, it is going to be fantastic for all of us….There’s going to be tremendous demand…The biggest hope of all for independents, that’s transformational, is going to be advertising-supported VOD. That is going to give life to us for many years, AVOD will be the ship we all ride on for a while”

How companies are Forging Forward and International Support

Brian O’Shea: “The German government is backing insurance relief up to a certain amount, and that is enough given the budget of a [certain] film, which is $10M, that they’re basically putting up…no more than 15-20% of the film budget for COVID insurance, and that is enough for film financers to move forward with the bond.”

John Sloss: “There’s no absolute normal prescription…there is no rehearsal for this period. We’re kind of figuring this out as we go along.”

Brian O’Shea: “We have done a number of films non-bonded with strategic investors in the film. They need to move money…there’s a lot of money out there that is not being worked…there are some investment groups out there that are willing to take a risk and that have been successful, so there are specific investor groups that are taking opportunities on non-bonded films…but…they have to feel comfortable with the package in general.”

John Sloss: “You don’t always need a completion bond, but if you’re working through conventional finance channels where you’re not at the high-risk edges of these arbitrageurs and if you’re working with commercial banks or you’re taking contracts from territorial buyers who have committed to pay on delivery of a completed film — if you’re taking those to a bank to borrow against it and fund your production, you really do need a bond.”

Brad Krevoy: “Sometimes in COVID, the riskiest thing is not making to the post-production process. So what you might be able to do is get a bond for a post at a normal price and you’re just hoping that every day of production goes the way you want it to so that you can still convert some of your contracts into cash.”

What positive outcome of the pandemic could there be for the independent product when COVID clears?  

Brad Krevoy:  “There’s a huge demand. You have all the new streaming services coming online. You have the AVOD coming online. All the mechanisms are aligned.”

John Sloss: “There’s only so much you can do at this moment but the consumption hours for content have exploded because everybody’s quarantined in their house, watching. It happens to coincide with the launch of all SVOD services that are going to be chasing Netflix. The real bottleneck here is in production, and when the pandemic passess…the bottleneck is going to open up….sowhat a smart person does is create the best possible source material they can right now…when the production opens up again, people are going to be working 24 hours a day.”

What Content is Wanted?

John Sloss: “I think documentaries are going to fare well.  They have not been as impacted. We’re all moving towards episodics…they’re doing that for scripted, doing that for docs, and I think that is a very fertile area to focus on at this moment.”

Brian O’Shea: “It’s about content, and people needing content…I’m meeting with a lot of broadcasters too, major broadcasters in Europe, and they are looking for content as well.”

Brad Krevoy: “Movies will reflect the culture, and that culture will have more uplifting, fun properties as opposed to dramatic projects. I think you’ll see a little bit of a shift with people wanting stories that make you laugh, that make you cry, or make you think.  I don’t know how horror will fare as it’s not in my wheelhouse.”

John Sloss: “The most reliable genre is the New…something that has not been seen before.  When we had Napoleon Dynamite, we saw about 500 scripts after that that were take-offs on Napoleon Dynamite or tried to capture that vibe.  It’s not necessarily within the realm of everyone to create something new and yes emotion is important and passion is important but if you have a chance at creating something no one has seen before that has the greatest chance.”

AFM Finance Conference 11/11/20 @ 11AM

Highlights from today’s 2nd AFM Finance Conference Panel: Low Budget Films with Huge Profit Potential

Panelists
Jillian Apfelbaum, EVP, Content, Village Roadshow Pictures
Nick Spicer, Partner, XYZ Films
Zachary Tarica, CEO & Director, The Forest Road Co.

Moderator
John Rhodes, Co-Founder, Screencraft

How do you Decide on Budget?

Zachary Tarica: “It’s what you can afford, it’s what you can put together. The thing we press on as a film finance company is making the budget make sense for the project.”

Nick Spicer: “Most scripts have a minimum budget that it’s going to take to actually make what’s on the page. And there are certain production elements that are immutable in a project, but that doesn’t mean that the movie is worth that amount of money, or worth that amount of money in one iteration versus another. So, what we do is that we always value the project with realistic assumptions for cast, realistic assumptions for what we think we would be able to get in terms of production value, and we figure out what we think the movie is worth to the market.”

What do you look at to decide value?

Nick Spicer: “It’s one part science and one part instinct. I wish that I could tell you exactly how to value a movie and you could go do it and it was easy math. But a lot goes into it, because it’s a creative industry and because you’re trying to gauge audience taste, which is a very hard thing to do. The best thing to do is look at comps…the breakout successes of the past five years — those are usually not realistic comps for a low budget movie.”

Zachary Tarica: “The first thing I do when I look at even the top line of a budget is try to figure out what type of coverage that film can have.  We see hundreds, even thousands of projects, [where] we’re having a real, honest conversation with the production company looking at it and saying, ‘There’s a really good chance here that you lose $6-7M….“It’s important to go into it with that open mind looking at your budget with an accurate…or realistic outcome.”

How has Success Evolved?

Jillian Apfelbaum: “What determines a film’s success in this new environment is directly related to the reason why the film is being made…it is not often that a high risk, the low budget movie can have huge financial returns. That doesn’t mean it’s not a success, especially if you’re trying to prove a filmmaker, build relationships, build your own production company, try it for awards…While financial success is definitely one of the areas in which a movie can be successful, there are other areas in which there are achievements that have value in the long-term growth of a producer or company.”

Zachary Tarica: “There’s so much more to it that can ultimately get you to where the profitability needs to be…The lower the budget, the more important the distribution plan is, the correlation’s 100.” “We’ve had some really interesting case studies, where films sub $500k…have done incredibly well.”

Nick Spicer: “Huge profit potential does not mean $100M at the box office. If you have a movie for $25k-$50k and you sell it for $150k…that’s a really good return…don’t expect that it’s going to become the next Paranormal Activity.”

Can a film Have Success without Name Talent?

Zachary Tarica: “It’s having a pinpoint audience…you have to have an audience that’s interested in what you think you’re creating and really hone in on that audience so that this is something that is sellable.  We had low budget filmmakers that drove cross-country selling packages to churches and made a profit.”

Jillian Apfelbaum: “I think Nick’s company [XYZ] is also doing something really interesting when it comes to the audience in that they’re doing a lot of local language productions.  I’m also fascinated by the faith-based audience and think that there’s a total market there.” “I think there’s a market for local language, for the Spanish language, especially in the US and South America. There is an opportunity to find value in your film outside of the US.”

Nick Spicer: “Local language is booming…Netflix is capped out on subscribers in the US so their growth is entirely international, so there’s a pretty great appetite for local language content.”

Jillian Apfelbaum: “Calling casting directors and asking them who is in the next wave of movie stars or TV stars that you can access before they hit it, that’s really helpful too…Making a movie takes time, so if you cast someone ahead of their break…we made a movie called ‘Hot Summer Nights’ with Timothee Chalamet in it before Timothee Chalamet got big. Our movie didn’t come out until after Timothee had done several major movies, and it ended up really bolstering the success of the film.”

The Impact of COVID

Zachary Tarica: “[In one instance] a false positive COVID test can cost the production company about $200k, so think about that when you have a…$1M to $5M budget film…the issues of quarantine, a bubble, travel, the contingency, the insurance, the things that go into it [planning for COVID] are things that we’re not always thinking about as filmmakers that really come into play here.”

Maximizing Profit Potential?

Jillian Apfelbaum: “Genre is critical in the development stage…if it’s horror or thriller, it is going to have a stronger chance at breakout success and a larger audience than if it’s a drama. Otherwise, finding ways to maximize production value without increasing cost is always really effective, and that has to do often with visual effects, and when you’re going practical versus going visual…but I think the biggest determining factor has to be genre.”

AFM Podcast Session 11/10/20 @ 11AM

Highlights from yesterday’s Filmmakers Podcast ft. Dan Mazer: How to Make Movies, From Indies to Studio Features & Working On Set

Hosts
Giles Alderson, Creator & Host, The Filmmakers Podcast
Ian Sharp, Founder, Sharp House

Guest
Dan Mazer, Writer & Director, LBI Entertainment

On Home Alone reboot:

“We were making a movie in March…and they read on Deadline that we were about to be shut down!”

“We made the announcement, we shut down, without knowing when, if, how we would come down having a five million dollar set still standing in Montreal for all that time…and more pertinently, having a young, 11-year-old boy as our lead with the clock ticking on whether he was going to hit puberty”

On Borat 2:

“With Borat, obviously there you’re in the real world; film sets are sort of hermetically sealed, we’re tested five times a day [he def meant week]…but with Borat, that’s a very different scenario”

“I remember on the first day of shooting, we were waiting for the COVID test for the makeup person to come through, we couldn’t start until that came through and sat in a car park waiting for a negative result for nine hours…and then we lost the light and had basically a half hour’s worth of filming”

Dan on getting financing during covid:

“People started to look more towards…comedy, I think the need for people to just have the stress and strain taken away and to be able to just laugh at stuff has come to the fore”

Dan on success:

“One thing that I’ve learned…the things that have been the most successful that I’ve done have tried to break the mold in some way, and anything that feels familiar or like you’ve seen it before or like a facsimile of something…however good it is, it’s much less likely to breakthrough”

“Daring to be different is really the answer to making an impact”

“As with most things with filmmakers, it’s about ego. As a director, it’s very easy to get high on your own supply and just think you’re a god because everyone’s so nice to you, and you don’t have to listen to anyone…but my attitude to filmmaking generally is surrounding yourself with brilliant people and let them be brilliant and that will steer the ship”

Dan: “[On when Home Alone is coming out] It’ll be next Christmas!”

(Source: Press release provided by Jennifer Garnick, AFM Press)