Back in-person after three years, the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin offered plenty of encouragement. Record attendance levels, a wide roster of sales titles and packages, and ongoing deal-making expected to last several more weeks point to opportunities for the independent sector.
Still, it’s not easy out there. Sales agents reported buyers were still very selective, while pre-sales on all but the most alluring commercial packages with name cast and director remained a tough proposition. Acquisitions teams looking for special films to fill slots in 2024 were prepared to wait until a completed feature was ready to watch.
The pivot by streamers from acquisitions to in-house productions has made it harder to sell to all-rights buyers looking to cut ancillary deals for the pay-1 window, granting rights after a theatrical run and home entertainment release. Yet when the platforms retreat from buying even to a small degree, that in turn can bring opportunities for independent theatrical buyers willing to step up.
“The streamers are tightening their belts a little so talent became available to star in feature films and directors became available again,” said Dirk De Lille, managing director of leading Benelux distributor Paradiso Holland.
Acquisitions teams engaged with some of the biggest US packages on the market such as Black Bear International’s Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe serial killer thriller Longlegs and Jamie Bell and Margaret Qualley musical Fred & Ginger, as well as AGC Studios’ white supremacist thriller The Order starring Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult.
These were few and far between. The spike in cost-of-living has made it even harder to entice couch-based audiences engorged on a myriad of home viewing options to the cinemas. There is no doubt it can happen – just look at the commercial success of A24’s Oscar nominee Everything Everywhere All At Once or Triangle Of Sadness – although the target continues to shrink. As Mister Smith founder David Garrett put it: “You can never prescribe something like that. It comes out of someone’s genius imagination.”
“Everybody is very positive and everybody is very happy to be physical again but at the same time you see that buyers are much more selective than pre-pandemic,” noted Andreas Rothbauer, founder and co-managing director of Berlin-based Picture Tree International, which was selling John Malkovich vehicle Seneca – On The Creation Of Earthquakes, and Dominique Deruddere’s dramatic thriller The Chapel.
“People are very much taking more care of what they spend,” added Rothbauer. “The MGs [minimum guarantees] as a rule of thumb (it always depends on the title) on average, for the middle ground, people are way more conservative.”
Longer timelines
A fair amount of mask-wearing observed in screenings was a reminder that Covid isn’t quite done with us yet. One impact after three years of pandemic is that deal-making often takes longer now than it used to, when a sense of urgency accompanied trips and the goal was to close sales before people packed up and headed home.
Charades co-founder Yohann Comte attributed this in part to the fact that distributors have a hard time anticipating the market. “For example, Aftersun – nobody saw that coming,” the executive said.
The Exchange’s EVP of worldwide distribution Nat McCormick closed sales in Berlin. “But as always, not every meeting results in an immediate sale,” said the executive, whose sales titles included Octavia Spencer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lucy Liu comedy Nobody Nothing Nowhere.
“Relationship maintenance, continued conversation and information exchange is just as meaningful as coming away with an immediate sale from a market meeting,” said McCormick. “We anticipate another several weeks of engaged EFM sales activity post-physical market.”
A number of principals at large companies that deal in distribution scheduled shorter trips to Germany. Screenings of some of the hottest packages or festival selections available for sale, like Fifth Season’s Berlinale special galas Superpower and Kiss The Future, have moved to the US to get in front of decision-makers.
The nature of packaging often goes down to the wire, resulting in an intimidating script reading list for buyers on the eve of markets. “There were many, many projects, so many in fact that we had the impression buyers were a bit overwhelmed,” said Charades’ Comte, whose sales slate ranged from Norwegian holiday horror romp There’s Something In The Barn and immigration psychological thriller Upon Entry to Icelandic English-language dark comedy Northern Comfort.
“These are films with modern genre elements like horror, comedy or thrillers that can appeal to a younger audience,” Comte explained, adding that market screenings were packed; buyers needed films; and “prices haven’t come back up aside from big US packages”.
Indie Sales’ Clement Chautant agreed and reported strong sales in outstanding territories on completed animation sequel Richard The Stork 2 and Panorama selection Opponent, a must-have title for some buyers which struck a chord given its timely subject matter around Iranian refugees.
Chautant added: “Generally, sales are better than we could have hoped for given the past few years. There is a renewed enthusiasm, but on average, the offers we’re seeing are lower than before Covid.”
By all accounts, prices on the larger US packages were running high. While this was not the first time buyers have griped about cost, Todd Olsson, president of international sales at Highland Film Group, attributed that to higher interest rates designed to combat inflation. “When money is more expensive, so are films,” said the executive, who was selling Heather Graham western Place Of Bones and action comedy Old Guy starring Christoph Waltz, among others.
“We do all we can, securing the best tax credits/incentives, and sometimes finding independent equity, but it has gotten more expensive to deliver a high-quality feature,” he added. ”We try to tamper that the best we can, but also would rather have a complaint of high cost than low quality.”
Mister Smith’s Garrett enjoyed a strong response to US thriller Wichita Libra, whose main draw - Phoebe Dyvenor from Bridgerton - has seen her stock rise after Sundance hit Fair Play sold to Netflix for $20m.
“Buyers are hungry as ever, but the eye of the needle is smaller in terms of what people are looking for,” said Garrett. “The big question is, what makes a theatrical movie? To some extent, it’s a self-fulfilling question. If you believe in something, you put money behind it and put it out in theatres. It’s no different from before. It’s still got to be a compelling proposition narratively as well as in terms of the marketing and the packaging, but it’s a much smaller target than it used to be.”
Hollywood studios and the US streamers were on the prowl, although it didn’t result in the shopping spree of previous years. Paramount was circling projects and picked up international rights to Competition entry BlackBerry prior to the festival. Prime Video swooped on most international rights to AGC Studios’ The Order and acquired all international from Rocket Science to ABGO’s Zoe Saldana action adventure The Bluff.
If it felt unusual that the streamer had not picked up the world on both packages, industry insiders surmised the goal of the producers was to re-engage with US buyers with an eye on a big theatrical sale once the films are completed. It is worth noting that Amazon Studios has shown it is willing to stage theatrical releases in key international markets in support of the eventual debut on its platform.
In the case of Justin Kurzel’s upcoming The Order, AGC licensed select territories to longtime distribution partners across the world. Black Bear International head John Friedberg went all in with the theatrical distributors on Longlegs and Fred & Ginger in an encouraging sign that buyers were willing to step up on big ticket items.
Russian buyers active
European sellers agreed German buyers were out in force, while France’s arthouse market and Spain’s distribution scene – which Charades’ Comte called “the most dynamic in Europe” – were also strong at the EFM. Asian buyers appeared to be making a comeback after their Covid-related logistical challenges and several Chinese buyers were in Berlin. There were mixed reports on activity levels among Korean and Latin American buyers.
Russian buyers were said to be meeting high asking prices on US packages, aware of a gap in the market while Hollywood studios have suspended distribution in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The rouble remains relatively strong in spite of sanctions and Russian box office has had a strong start to the year.
“It’s insane how high the prices have gone,” said one Russian distributor. Other Russian acquisitions executives were active in Berlin, despite being denied accreditation by the EFM. Paradiso Holland’s De Lille said there had been a dramatic increase in prices for his territory.
From France, Playtime sparked sales on François Ozon’s The Crime Is Mine following positive buzz from its Unifrance Rendez-Vous premiere and a starry cast including Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini and Dany Boon. Kinology’s private screening of Luc Besson’s comeback drama Dogman, starring Caleb Landry-Jones, sold throughout Europe and Latin America, and Memento International reported a strong response to Martin Provost’s Bonnard, Pierre & Marthe, starring Vincent Macaigne and Cécile de France, and Bruno Dumont’s sci-fi drama The Empire.
Coproduction Office’s Nadine Rothschild licensed Jessica Hausner’s psychological drama Club Zero to major distributors in Europe and Asia and declared “the market is back“ as distributors bet on pre-buys for 2024. Coproduction Office handled 2022 festival and awards favourite Triangle Of Sadness.
On the whole, attendees seemed pleased with the efficiency of the EFM, although some sellers had difficulty securing screening venues outside CinemaxX, which was running at half capacity due to remodelling, after the closure of the CineStar at Sony Center.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Leffler, Geoffrey Macnab, Tim Dams, Ben Dalton and Mona Tabbara
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