Indie film, cont’d
At AFF this weekend, I had conversations with several writer-directors who had read my earlier appraisal of the frustrating state of independent film distribution, and my experience with The Nines. One director of a college comedy (whose name and film escape me, unfortunately) was planning to do a get-in-the-van tour with Todd Sklar of Box Elder. Probably a smart choice for his film and audience.
Others had different plans and questions. And while I didn’t have any new answers, I wanted to share some of what’s going on.
First up: Splinter, which looks to be a straightforward and stylish creature horror movie. Director Toby Wilkins made the film for Magnolia Pictures, which is distributing it theatrically and via HD on demand. (In fact, the on-demand version is available right now.)
Here’s the trailer:
While it won’t be getting a big theatrical push — and there’s no point expanding it after Halloween — I bet this will do reasonably well for everyone involved. Horror fans are fairly easy to reach through genre sites and publications, and the mix of theatrical and video-on-demand creates a national release in advance of the DVD. Wilkins and writer Ian Shorr (a USC grad) will get more exposure than many horror filmmakers, who often find themselves hitting a few festivals before the movie eventually comes out on DVD, nearly forgotten from its earlier hype.
But will they get any more money? Hard to say. Since Magnolia has a relationship with HDNet, where they can theoretically show the movie as much as they want, is there the same motivation to squeeze every cent out of video, both in the U.S. and overseas? Time will tell. I was very hands-off with The Nines when it came to international video, which is part of the reason the DVD just came out last month in Australia. 1
Another filmmaker I spoke with was Jacob Medjuck, whose film Summerhood has gotten a steady string of festival awards. It’s a summer camp comedy with John Cusack and Christopher McDonald, but it’s the little kid who (appropriately) seems to be the potential break-out star. You can see the trailer here.2
Jacob is trying to figure out what to do next in terms of distribution. Whereas Splinter was an easy sell based on genre, Summerhood is what we call “execution-dependent.” That is, in order to be worth something, Summerhood has to be better-than-good; Splinter just has to be competent. (For the record, I haven’t seen either movie.)
In a perfect world, Summerhood would sell to a distributor like Fox Searchlight, who could make it the next Juno. Or at least the next Waitress. But if that hasn’t happened yet, I would take all offers seriously, even if they’re really for TV and video rights. If a Magnolia-like company wants to do a day-and-date video/theatrical experiment, consider it. If iTunes gets an indie program going, try that.
Jacob wisely asked how he should be proportioning his time between working for his movie and working for his career. In truth, he should probably be splitting it 50/50 — but doing it with such intensity that it’s 100/100. He can probably get into 40 more film festivals this year, and if he has the inclination, he should. Festivals are probably his best bet for getting people to see his work on the big screen, and his persistence will lead to some good contacts along the way.
Both Toby and Jacob are evidently blog-readers, so I’m hoping they’ll jump in to answer any questions or comments that come up.
- Ballast director Lance Hammer dropped out of a [similar-sounding deal with IFC](http://www.indiewire.com/biz/2008/07/ballast_steadie.html) when the dollars involved were just too low, ultimately choosing to self-distribute. But Magnolia apparently invested in Splinter from the start, so their investment is likely quite a bit higher. ↩
- Note to all indie filmmakers: embrace embedding for your trailers. ↩
Filed under: Film Industry, Follow Up, Indie, Sundance, The Movie
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October 21st, 2008 at 7:12 am
haha, I knew Todd Sklar personally from college (hi Todd! if you’re reading this). I think that the idea of doing an indie film tour road trip is absolutely brilliant, like bands going on tour to spread their image and reputation. Or like a theatre troupe company going on tour to perform a new, original play in various cities, helping more people become aware of the play and of the playwright’s works.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:07 am
Great post thanks for the info from the AFF for those of us who couldn’t be there. Thank you as well for providing a snapshot from the answers side of “The Sky Is Falling” debacle. Sounds like a lot of new distribution options are becoming a young mans game. I”d love to hear more about your experiences there and films you saw.
Joe
October 21st, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Summerhood is a great friggin movie btw. If anyone here gets a chance, SEE IT.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Someone should write a horror / “Juno” hybrid.
Corner all the markets.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I met Jacob on a roundtable at Austin and he seems very capable of giving 100/100 to his career and Summerhood. Sorry to say I missed seeing it on Saturday night (I fell in with a football crowd – long story) so I can’t answer Jacob’s question of whether I think Summerhood would find an audience in Australia, where I’m from. But Jacob, if you’re reading this, there are plenty of film festivals in Australia you could try submitting Summerhood to if you’re up for John’s suggestion of continuing to work the festival circuit.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:38 am
Dominic! Hi, our roundtable group was unreal talented. So many 2nd rounders and professionals. Good meeting you there. I’m looking up festivals in Australia as we speak…
Hunter, there you are. I can’t thank you enough for giving us the best quote Summerhood has ever received. Expect to see yourself on our poster! Thank you Collider.com
And John August, your tremendous screenwriting aside (I can’t wait to experience SHAZAM!), the transparency you offered us on your NINES distribution journey is the best counsel I have received so far – THANK YOU for your ego free honesty with that. I reference your experience daily. If I don’t loose my house on this deal, I’ll get you a milkshake. (…of rubies). (…hoping colored glass will also suffice).
Part 1 of the Summerhood strategy:
• Basically, after every event I take the film to – I update any upcoming festivals I’ve applied to of our little successes so they’ll realize we won’t disappoint them, and perhaps be more likely to accept us. It’s a lot of tracking and follow up, but I love showing this film and every chance is a step closer to wider distribution I feel.
THE SHIFT:
• I talked to a Major distributor about her Sundance experience last year, asking if she liked anything. She expressed great affection for one film; but didn’t buy it, saying, “I liked it plenty, but who am I? I want to see if it has an audience first.” And that was the most responsible take I’d heard in years. Her trend suggesting less “Premiere” purchases, with the prestige going to sales at your “Final” festival screening. Wow. New model emerging.
Seriously though, how often do you get a multi-million $$$ job based on a pretty dress you bought? Generally employers say, “Nice suit, sure. Now let me see your resume.” How have you performed elsewhere? It makes professional sense to me. So my strategy, my hope, has become – to tour festivals building track record, a fan-base. A resume of “proven audience”. And then turn to distributors saying, “You may or may not like our sweet & sour content, but there is an appetite for this; put us on the menu and you will sell plenty of this dish.”
1) Summerhood is not a Studio film “styled” to look indie; A growing trend that offends my own limited access. 2) I am from a small town in Canada that smells like fish. 3) re: budget/time/experience – We only had 3 of 20 crayons to make the rainbow that is this filthy film.
What I will be shopping to distributors shortly:
• We’ve been to 6 festivals and won 4. (3 Audience Awards and 1 Juried Best Feature; San Diego) • At the Santa Barbara Festival, we started with 2 screenings and had 3rd, 4th and 5th screening added; Switching from 300 sold out seats into a 600 seat theater. This happened again elsewhere. • And from AUSTIN we were approached to screen privately at PIXAR. We’re picking dates now. (…This is the first time I’ve mentioned this. Hooray. Small premiere info on the John August site).
Let me just say: something is wrong with the Austin aff.bside.com site. They have us tracked as their #1 film – which is IMPOSSIBLE. Nothing should beat “Slumdog Millionaire” this year; has my vote for Oscar, Best Picture. And “ROLE MODELS” is the Best Comedy I’ve seen in 6 years. (Tropic Thunder is still a master class though). The math is off, but perhaps we had some enthusiastic teenagers who voted more liberally. Thanks to them then. Without apology, in this climate, I’ll take the glitches. I’ll take it.
Summerhood is NOT for everyone.
My father perhaps in particular. But the people who do like it, are thankfully supportive.
I owe John August a huge Pay-It-Forward, and I will answer as many Production/Distribution questions as my little experience can offer.
Success and follow through for you all,
Jacob.
October 31st, 2008 at 6:16 am
As the Producer of THE TEN, one of the films you listed as your competition that year at Sundance, about 100% of your story paralleled ours, including having a publicist reject us. To speak to two of your points: – Is it a failure if at least the distributor makes money off of it? Answer: you bet. Who’s gonna keep financing these things if the investors come up short every time. That’s not a business. That’s corporate charity. – Should you keep making indie films if they keep losing money? Answer: no, unless you’re financing it yourself. With the exception of perhaps political issue films, the justification that it provides options for filmgoers or, less altruistic, that it’s good for the director’s career, is a bit of a bait and switch for all investors and contributors to the project. The promise — either implicit or explicit — is that investors and profit participants have a reasonable chance of seeing a return and, as a corollary, to benefit from having their work exposed to a significant audience (whether you’re an actor, a production designer or, heaven forbid, a producer.
To restate — if we can’t find a way to make indie films legitimate investments, then we will all soon find that we’ll be unable to get them financed, no matter the cast or the director. Then everyone loses out. Unfortunately, so much of that is out of our control, even if exercising our learned lessons from the release of THE TEN, THE NINES, or most other Sundance films.
I’d be tempted to be more optimistic — to believe that this is just a low point in the cycle, or there was too much competition last year, or the economy is the problem. However, the experience you describe also is remarkably similar to what occurred with SCOTLAND, PA, a film I produced and which sold at Sundance in 2001.
Theatrical releases were not always a loss-leader. You used to be able to see a profit there. A film could run for months. Since 2000, it became assumed it would be a break-even. Nowadays, the loss from the theatrical release will never be able to be recouped by home video, and certainly not cable & TV sales, and staying on the screens for more than 2 weeks before the next indie film pushes it out is nearly impossible.
The other downward trend is in foreign sales. Even indies used to be able to count on 50% – 65% of its revenues to come from foreign. Again, the glut has cleaved into this across all genres.
The unfortunate result is that the model only seems to work with films produced at $500,000 or less, which tightly limits the kinds of films and the people that would make them. I guess there is a formula for making films where the upfront pay is legit, the budgets are reasonable, the P&A budget doesn’t dwarf the box office, and it’s good for people’s careers… it’s called a studio film.
Clearly, I have a lot to say on the matter yet no solutions. I have made money back on four very good indie films I’ve produced but, ironically, these were the films rejected by Sundance (draw whatever conclusions you may).
Thanks for writing about THE NINES. I feel like I’m in a support group with you.
November 1st, 2008 at 9:32 am
Clearly you must have some solutions. In the very next sentence you say you’ve made money back on four very good indie films. Would love to hear about your journey on those. That would be really cool. Thanks!