At Sundance, buyers bear up
Conservative distribs not rushing to purchase titles
| Visit the Sundance Online Resource Center. From ReporterTV: Actor Todd Field makes his directorial and producing debut at Sundance with the film, "In The Bedroom" and Director Barbet Schroeder talks about the dangers of making "Our Lady Of The Assassins" in Colombia. Also, Julianne Moore is awarded the Piper-Heidsieck Tribute to Independent Vision at this years' Sundance Festival. View streaming video from the Sundance Festival. |
Unlike past years, however, buyers aren't letting the thin mountain air get to their heads when it comes to actually buying pics.
It's not that this year's edition of Sundance doesn't have its fair share of worthy titles. Among those said to be close to a domestic deal are Todd Field's Good Machine-produced "In the Bedroom," Joel Hopkins' Film Four-produced "Jump Tomorrow," Stacy Peralta's skateboarding docu "Dogtown and Z-Boys," Patrick Stettner's "The Business of Strangers" and Timothy Bui's "Green Dragon."
Many titles are still to come, including "Enigma," "Madison," "Waking Life" and "Lost and Delirious." Fine Line Features' "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" has been generating popular heat.
The Pandora/Flower Films production "Donnie Darko" and Tom DiCillo's "Double Whammy," both buzz titles going in, divided audiences.
By Sunday afternoon, however, U.S. buyers had not staked their claim on any films. (A year ago at this time, Screen Gems had already scooped up "Girlfight," Fine Line Features grabbed "Saving Grace" and Artisan snagged "Chuck and Buck.")
This year, it's not enough for execs to believe in a film or a filmmaker to enter a bidding war -- instead, they are waiting for gravity to do its work.
"There has been no one title that has crystallized everyone's interest and there may not be, but that's not to do with the festival," said Mark Ordesky, president of Fine Line Features. "That's to do with the state of independent film. Upscale specialized films either work very well and are breakout hits, or they are not working at all. If you look at how many films that were picked up out of Sundance and have grossed over $10 million domestically, it's a very, very small list."
Indeed, while the festival has seen no shortage of Hollywood and Gotham residents, many are inclined to spend a few days in Park City rather than the week to 10 days of previous years.
Many left on Saturday night or Sunday morning to be in Los Angeles for the Golden Globe awards, which were rife with indie noms. While many -- including Miramax Films' Harvey Weinstein -- planned to return Monday, few intended to stay the week.
There is also a sense that the indie gold rush of the last decade, which helped Sundance achieve its status as the world's most important film festival for independent work, is beginning to wane.
"New" directors and actors have reps long before their planes touch down in Salt Lake City.
While some of the fest's films have succeeded brilliantly, the industry has seen many others go down in flames.
'Ten' out of 10
With established distributors increasingly conservative, many titles are likely to leave Sundance without distribution. This year's first acquisition came from SearchParty Films, which bought worldwide rights on Stacy Cochran's "Drop Back Ten," starring James LeGros and Amber Valetta. Pic was a competition entry in the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.
SearchParty also bought "The Dream Catcher," by Edward A. Radtke; Tony Barbieri's "The Magic of Marciano," starring Nastassja Kinski and Robert Forster; the 1999 Sundance entry "Life Tastes Good," from Philip Kan Gotanda; Jonathan Weiss' "The Atrocity Exhibition"; Bryan Simon's "Along for the Ride"; "Freak Weather" directed by Mary Kuryla; and Shaya Mercer's award-winning docu "Trade Off."
The deals are part of SearchParty's plan to handle upwards of 100 films a year. Pics will go through a rent-a-system structure for theatrical releases, the company's own video label or, eventually, Internet-delivered cable television.
"There are a lot of really good movies that don't make it (but) theatrical is not the future for a lot of independent movies," said SearchParty principal Larry Estes.
For those films that receive theatrical release, distribution topper Richard Abramowitz said Search Party will try to use specialty release patterns that go outside the standard New York/Los Angeles model, citing Shooting Gallery's arrangement with Loews Theaters as an inspiration.
"We want to develop a circuit off the beaten path," he said.
(Cathy Dunkley contributed to this report.)
