T&C takes foreign on Teenage Paparazzo in first on-site deal at Sundance

Jourdan closed the deal with WME Global’s Mark Ankner on Friday following the world premiere and will commence sales at the EFM in Berlin next month. WME Global represents North American rights.

Playing in Spotlight, the crowd-pleasing Teenage Paparazzo follows Grenier, star of the HBO series Entourage, as he turns the tables on a 13-year old paparazzo and attempts to mentor the youngster and in the process try to understand society’s obsession with celebrity.

The film was produced by Adrian Grenier, Matthew Cooke, Bert Marcus, John Loar, Robin Garvick and Lynda Pribyl.

Overall it has been a predictably cautious opening weekend as buyers prepared for Sunday’s world premieres of Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine, Reed Cowan’s documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition, Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me, and Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop.

Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman’s documentary Catfish has emerged as a firm favourite. Several buyers are circling, among them The Weinstein Company, which expects to complete a refinancing within three weeks that will run until 2014 and provide acquisition funds, as well as granting Harvey and Bob Weinstein production and p&a funds to each make four films a year.

Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s war documentary Restrepo, Midnight selection Tucker & Dale Vs Evil and John Well’s downsizing drama The Company Men are also generating buzz, as is The Pat Tillman Story and the low budget US Dramatic Competition entry Winter’s Bone, which may prove to be a tough sell but has drawn widespread admiration for director Dabra Granik, who is arguably the discovery of the festival at this early stage.

There was ongoing interest in Josh Radnor’s ensemble relationship drama happythankyoumorepleasein the US Dramatic programme and Vincenzo Nitali’s Midnight selection Splice starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley.

Drake Doremus’ road movie Douchebag has won fans, although opinion as to its artistic merits and commercial viability appears to be sharply divided.