By Andreas Wiseman, Tom Grater March 1, 2021 4:06am
As the virtual European Film Market officially gets underway Monday, there are multiple hot-button topics reverberating behind the scenes.
It starts with the growing frustration felt by a number of international buyers who are unhappy about being unwound by sales firms and packaging agents from high-profile movies in favor of streamers.
Most industry we spoke with ahead of EFM are frustrated one year into the wearying pandemic, so a level of anxiety and angst is to be expected from theatrical distributors who have been at the sharp end of Covid.
But there are also specific complaints. A number of these dealmakers tell us they are frustrated about being “dangled” enticing projects (such as Emancipation), only for them to be sold to streamers after they’ve spent time and effort putting in bids and generating heat for the packages.
Even more frustrating to them, we are told, is when they help a movie get financed through pre-sales and then it’s pulled from under their feet at the eleventh hour, as happened on The Trial of the Chicago Seven, and in their minds, most egregiously, on Sundance hit Coda, which was pledged to dozens of indie buyers years ago but was suddenly sold to Apple for world rights in a huge Sundance deal that blindsided many.
“Coda was the last straw,” one veteran buyer told us. “We are the ones left with fewer movies in our pipeline. The business is hanging by a thread so we need to take back some control. We’re at a cross-roads and we won’t do the tap dance just to wake up the streamers any more.”
Multiple Coda buyers dug in their heels and refused to relinquish the project to Apple. We’re told compromises should be reached in most territories, however, with indies holding onto first-window rights in some cases.
Buyers are most worried about a scenario in which sellers and packagers insist across the board on so-called “buy-back clauses” in contracts allowing a film to be flipped to a streamer for a kill fee only in the region of 10%. The specter of such a clause was something we first reported on back at Cannes 2019, but the issue has steadily grown in prominence with the rise of the streamers. Some foreign buyers we’ve spoken with want to protect themselves from such a move by introducing clauses for much higher kill fees, guarantees of domestic theatrical distribution and the ability to negotiate directly with producers as needed.
There is mobilization between distributors in a way we haven’t seen for some time, though some are frustrated they don’t have more institutional support from trade bodies such as the Independent Film & Television Alliance. We’ve even seen a letter drafted by a collection of buyers which sets out how and why they won’t sign contracts with a pre-established kill fee. The letter, which is said to have support from dozens of key companies, was meant to be sent last week but has been held up by legal vetting.
The atmosphere is charged and some negotiations over the weekend were spicier than usual, we are told.
While buyers are concerned about something that has happened a handful of painful times becoming the norm, sellers and packagers we speak to insist that there have been specific contextual reasons for each case and that post-pandemic negotiations should return to a closer version of what came before.
One leading international seller poured cold water on the suggestion of blanket buy-back clauses, a sentiment also echoed to me by packaging agents: “Buy-back clauses are not fundamental parts of our contracts and I don’t see that becoming a thing. To do such a thing across the board could be construed as collusion. It’s always a case-by-case basis.”
As at most painful junctures, talking will likely be the cure.
A prominent U.S. sales agent and financier told us: “I don’t see this as a moment of crisis. It’s a moment of opportunity to see what isn’t working and how we can address that. Sabre rattling won’t help. Let’s sit down and work it out productively. People need to take a step back. We’ve always worked things through successfully together. I hope we can move into a productive conversation whereby we can solve these complex things. Hopefully, we can get the stakeholders to the table so we can arrive at a fair way to transact.”
Another high-profile seller sees change and hope on the horizon: “We’ve launched six movies this year and only one has gone to a streamer. Everything else has gone to the indies. We enjoy that ratio and enjoy what the independent distributors bring to the table — it’s often better. But it’s true there are different models to be investigated. Perhaps we’ll arrive at a position where buyers take equity positions in movies. I personally believe there will be a raging theatrical market in the second half of this year. We’re already seeing some great numbers in China and Australia/NZ.”
While the distribution business thrives on loyalty, long-standing relationships and collaboration, like all industries, there are also competing interests and leverage-plays at almost every turn.
Ultimately, money talks. If a streamer wants to blow away the opposition with an offer well over the odds, then that is going to be the direction the market will shift. Filmmakers will rarely turn that down. Especially during a pandemic when the streamers offer the only viable way to screen.
This isn’t a black-and-white issue by any means. The market is more fluid and dynamic than ever thanks to the multitude of buyers and shifting viewing habits. Indies continue to acquire many of the market’s most exciting movies, and in the past some of those properties would have been gobbled up by traditional studios before they even got to market. It should also be noted that a movie like Chicago 7 had to go out via a streamer if it was to hit before awards season got underway. The producers had little choice if they wanted their movie to be seen in 2020 and ride the wave of various social justice movements.
“Sometimes indies are happy when a streamer will take over their movie,” added one packaging agent. “It does go both ways. Indies are happy to get a kill fee if the movie isn’t great.”
Another wrinkle to consider is how much more difficult it is for indie movies to get Covid insurance during the pandemic. Studio-backed projects have the muscle to cover insurance, which provides another layer of certainty for filmmakers.
Controversial Characters
Another talking point coming into the EFM has been the market’s receptivity, or lack of receptivity, to controversial directors and stars in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
We broke news 10 days ago that filmmaker Brett Ratner was lining up a return to directing on a Milli Vanilli biopic to be sold by Millennium. However, just days after its launch, and following some high-profile denunciations on social media, Millennium was off the movie and it was no longer an EFM proposition.
Behind the scenes, we are aware that the mere association of the project with the market caused concern among EFM organizers. The Berlinale is probably more sensitive to PR missteps following the exposure last year of founding director Alfred Bauer as a Nazi enabler.
And yet, controversial figures remain at this year’s EFM. Despite iconic French actor Gerard Depardieu being charged with rape and sexual assault last week – a charge he vigorously denies – the actor remains attached to star in two French pre-sales titles in the market.
“I wouldn’t have even read the script,” one female buyer told us about the Milli Vanilli project. “How tone deaf can you be? You need to behave if you want a career today. Gerard Depardieu will also suffer from that backlash,” they warned.
Movies
As for the projects themselves, buyers we’ve spoken with are relatively sanguine about the films available, even if some have questioned depth. “It’s the best we can expect from a Covid EFM,” one buyer told me.
There’s a healthy mix of new packages and re-imagined scripts and there are plenty of A-Listers on show. Deals will be done and records could be set. Among the highlights are Daisy Ridley thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter, Ryan Gosling pic The Actor, Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, Christian Bale-starrer The Pale Blue Eye, Tina Fey-Jon Hamm comedy Maggie Moore(s), and Brit book adaptation The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. In the big-canvas category there is Eli Roth’s video game adaptation Borderlands with Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jack Black -– we hear the film is being budgeted north of $150 million — and Paul W S Anderson fantasy-adventure pic In the Lost Lands. For genre fans, Neill Blomkamp’s Demonic will be a hot ticket.
Most markets throw up their share of quirky prospects but this EFM stands out.
Perhaps surprisingly, one of the biggest-budget prospects at the EFM (initially priced in the $100M range) is the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man from The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey. We understand that pop star Williams will be portrayed by a CGI monkey in the film. “It’s bananas,” one buyer wise-cracked.
Among other idiosyncratic movies on sale is Kiwi comedy Nude Tuesday, which is shot entirely in “gibberish” with two deliverable sets of subtitles. Say what?
Cannes Coda
This is the EFM’s first taste of a virtual event. Little did the industry imagine a year ago that Berlin 2020 would be their final physical get-together in more than a year.
Buyers and sellers we speak with are getting used to the rhythms of the virtual market but still yearn for an in-person get-together. The hope was that Cannes in July could provide that succor. However, given the slow vaccine rollout in France, ongoing travel restrictions and the high rate of infection in most western countries, that prospect is increasingly uncertain. Industry expectations are growing that the Cannes festival may need to postpone until later in the year but that a Cannes market may remain as an online event over the summer. Cannes was unavailable to confirm or deny these rumors.
There’s a healthy mix of new packages and re-imagined scripts and there are plenty of A-Listers on show. Deals will be done and records could be set. Among the highlights are Daisy Ridley thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter, Ryan Gosling pic The Actor, Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, Christian Bale-starrer The Pale Blue Eye, Tina Fey-Jon Hamm comedy Maggie Moore(s), and Brit book adaptation The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. In the big-canvas category there is Eli Roth’s video game adaptation Borderlands with Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jack Black -– we hear the film is being budgeted north of $150 million — and Paul W S Anderson fantasy-adventure pic In the Lost Lands. For genre fans, Neill Blomkamp’s Demonic will be a hot ticket.
Most markets throw up their share of quirky prospects but this EFM stands out.
Perhaps surprisingly, one of the biggest-budget prospects at the EFM (initially priced in the $100M range) is the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man from The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey. We understand that pop star Williams will be portrayed by a CGI monkey in the film. “It’s bananas,” one buyer wise-cracked.
Among other idiosyncratic movies on sale is Kiwi comedy Nude Tuesday, which is shot entirely in “gibberish” with two deliverable sets of subtitles. Say what?
Cannes Coda
This is the EFM’s first taste of a virtual event. Little did the industry imagine a year ago that Berlin 2020 would be their final physical get-together in more than a year.
Buyers and sellers we speak with are getting used to the rhythms of the virtual market but still yearn for an in-person get-together. The hope was that Cannes in July could provide that succor. However, given the slow vaccine rollout in France, ongoing travel restrictions and the high rate of infection in most western countries, that prospect is increasingly uncertain. Industry expectations are growing that the Cannes festival may need to postpone until later in the year but that a Cannes market may remain as an online event over the summer. Cannes was unavailable to confirm or deny these rumors.
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