“The whole business has pressed the reset button”: UK sellers look forward to an unpredictable Cannes

As UK sales agents gear up for Cannes, the US writers’ strike is a hot topic for many. 

“Writers should be paid fairly. I support the writers,” says managing director and co-founder of Bankside Films, Stephen Kelliher, who is introducing James Griffiths’ One For The Money to the market.

While he states that long-term the situation is “bad for business”, he acknowledges some possible “short-term” upsides for UK sellers selling English-language UK and international films. “Looking back to the previous writers’ strike, we definitely saw an increase in the demand from US distributors across the board,” he says. “I’m interested to see whether or not that plays out again, 15 years later.”

For those UK outfits handling plenty of US titles, the US writers’ strike is a challenge to be overcome.  “The writers’ strike doesn’t stop us selling movies,” says David Garrett, CEO of Mister Smith Entertainment. “But it stops getting movies into production. It all depends on how long the strike goes on. If it’s just a couple of months, we might be okay. If it’s six months, then the changes of us putting together a slate for the American Film Market [AFM] are quite slim.”

Mister Smith is representing Weston Razooli’s Directors’ Fortnight title, the adventure comedy Riddle Of Fire and multiple market titles produced out of the US, such as Larin Sullivan’s The Young King, starring Michael Shannon, Kiersey Clemons and Barbie Ferreira.

While the writers’ strike may present some windows of opportunity for UK sellers as US buyers look to plug gaps, the sales agents are not expecting big acquisitions from the US streamers.

“It is difficult to predict what [the streamers] are looking for,” says Sarah Lebutsch, managing director of international sales at Independent Entertainment, who is introducing Giuseppe Capotondi’s romantic thriller Andorra to buyers. “It changes very quickly and the people change quickly – there’s a lot of churn. It’s impossible to shape or package a film specifically for the streaming market. By the time you have packaged the film up, the streaming partner you made it for might have moved on.”

UK sales agents are keeping calm at the prospect of doing Cannes by candlelight, if a French energy workers’ strike goes ahead, which could result in blackouts. “Well, I’ve been through that before,” smiles Garrett.

“We were doing a big presentation on our third Twilight film [in 2010],” he recalls. “We had everybody there, including Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. The power went down just as we were about to show the promo of the new film. It was met with an amused groan. We got the power back after 15 or 20 minutes. What I’d say to everybody is don’t go into the lifts – take the stairs.”

“I’ve experienced Cannes with train strikes, and we’ve all made it through. It’s all been okay in the end. Cannes is so important for all of us, I don’t think it will keep anyone from going,” adds Lebutsch.

“Casting remains an endless challenge”

The casting squeeze for independent fiilmmakers amid the now years-long content boom is still proving a headache for sellers.  

“It’s always been challenging, but it’s harder than ever to attach cast of the level that distributors are now demanding,” says Lebutsch of what she says has been the biggest issue for the company over the last 12 to 18 months. ”It feels that all of us are constantly trying to cast the same 10 or 15 people for any given role. And they are all booked up.”

“Casting remains an endless challenge for all of us,” says George Hamilton, Protagonist Pictures’ chief commercial officer, who is selling Marc Turtletaub’s UFO comedy Jules, starring Ben Kingsley. “However, the opportunity that independent film can give either from a creative perspective or commercial side remains intriguing.”

Kelliher’s experience would back up the notion that talent are coming back to indie projects. “Going into Cannes, we’ve seen more cast-driven projects [being announced] than we have for a number of years,” he observes. “There definitely seems to be positive movement in that direction. It feels that there’s a bit of a correction going on there.”

Lebutsch points out the US writers’ strike might help here too.  “For the next few months, into the autumn, the writers’ strike might free up [cast],” she suggests. “It might mean we could jump in there as an opportunity to get actors that find their other projects are on hold.”

Existential re-evaluation

Expectations are being mangaged over which territories will be readily buying.

“Everyone is suffering from inflation, we’re close to a worldwide recession. There are horrible fluctuations in currency. I don’t expect anywhere to be overly aggressive. Even in the US, the domestic market is in turmoil,” says Garrett. “Everyone’s going through an existential re-evaluation of where there business is. All the streamers and studios have been firing people, cutting back on production and development and putting projects into turn around. There’s a lot of caution at the moment.”

Eyes are on Asia, and in particular Chinese buyers, with the country making its first major post-pandemic market return. “China is a question mark,” says Anton’s executive vice president of international distribution and acquisitions Louis Balsan, who is repping Scott Waugh’s Breakout starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. “But it looks like all the Chinese buyers will be in Cannes and be active. We need to understand what the new business model might be there, in terms of censorship and such questions, but at least we see some activity.”

All UK sellers Screen spoke to felt positive about Latin America, and many are also seeing encouraging signs in Europe “We’ve seen a bit of a return from France,” says Kelliher, “which was very difficult post-pandemic because of the number of films that had been backed up and hadn’t been released. It feels like that is starting to move again. We’re seeing very positive box office results from across Europe as a continent.”

The thorny issue of selling to Russians remains . “One of the most aggressive [buying] territories is Russia,” one sales agent tells Screen. Many buyers are now understood to be registered outside of their home territory. The Cannes market official line is it will not accredit sellers or buyers linked to the Russian government. 

“From an ethical standpoint, people are saying you’re effectively allowing the Russians to generate tax dollars, which goes to the government, and funds the Ukrainian war, which is totally valid,” said the same seller, who asked to remain anonymous. “On the other hand, if you don’t license your films, they pirate them anywhere and put them out in cinemas. Avatar [The Way Of WaterII] wasn’t licensed, but was released in cinemas, and made a fortune. Which is the lesser of two evils?”

Uplifting stories

Genre titles, mainly horror, action and thriller, have long been the more secure options for sellers, but drama has not completely been left out in the cold – providing it comes from pre-existing IP.

“You have to be more careful about the budgets for drama, and it needs to tick different boxes – it’s based on a true story, or a well-received book, cast obviously helps, and the director,” says Lebutsch. “It needs to be of a certain level to pounce through the market. The small drama is indeed a lot trickier, and the festivals are so incredibly important for launching a drama now.”

“It’s clear that buyers are not taking a lot of risk. The recovery is not fully there, it’s still an ongoing process,” says Balsan. “What is clear is there’s a need, even in the drama space, for more uplifting stories. Audiences, after the past two years, want stories with some hope.”

Garrett is optimistic that titles which don’t fit neatly into a genre box, in a post-Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscars-sweep world, will begin to tempt buyers.

“It feels like the whole business has pressed the reset button at the moment. That’s both streamers and studios. We’ve gone through a period of horrible uncertainty,” he says. “We need to go back to focusing on what makes a theatrical film theatrical, and give audiences what they crave, which isn’t always the kind of movie that people are looking to pre-buy. 

”At the moment, everyone’s being a bit reactive and regressive. I’m hoping people start being much more proactive and progressive, to have confidence to bring things to market that may not be quite so obvious, but will turn out to be refreshing, original and commercial.”

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