What Clients are Saying “Sydney Levine, Peter Belsito and Film Finders have a unique relationship to the Marché du Film and provide a great service to the international film business and to the filmmakers.” Jérôme Paillard, Directeur Délégué, Cannes Marché du Film “Sydney Levine and Peter Belsito have been on the front lines of the American independent film scene before the Sundance Film Festival and any of the current indie companies even existed, and they continue to know what’s going on before anyone else does. The web they cast is wide, their contacts are unparalleled, their stature enormous, their services indispensible.” Todd McCarthy, Senior Film Critic of The Hollywood Reporter “Sydney and Peter are true industry insiders, always on the scene and in the know. International treasures of the film world.” Rajendra Roy, Head of Museum of Modern Art NYC / MOMA Film Program “Sydney Levine and Peter Belsito’s service FilmFinders helped me over the years again and again to navigate successfully through the ever-changing jungle of producers and their films” Wieland Speck, Senior Programer of Berlinale / Berlin International Film Festival, Panorama ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL BY NUMBERS 2012 Sydney Levine Published by SydneysBuzz at Smashwords Copyright 2013 Sydney Levine Discover other titles by SydneysBuzz at Smashwords.com. Smashwords Edition, License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TABLE OF CONTENTS BY NUMBERS REPORT SUNDANCE BY NUMBERS NUMBER OF PRODUCER REPS REPPING US RIGHTS US DISTRIBUTORS BUYING US OR NO. AMERICAN RIGHTS NUMBER OF SALES AGENTS PICKING UP INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS NUMBER OF FILMS CONSIDERED HOT INTERNATIONAL SALES AGENTS SEEKING U.S. (AND OTHER) SALES NO ISAS ABOUT SYDNEY LEVINE ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ BY NUMBERS REPORT Originally this report used a horserace as its metaphor. It was designed to see who was ahead of the others and who was lagging behind. Specifically the report lists U.S. talent agencies were increasingly acting as producer reps and thus inserting themselves into the sales of U.S. rights, something formerly in the exclusive domain of international sales agents who would map their entire international strategy for sales, using the U.S. sale as a marketing tool for other sales. Now the race between producer reps and international sales agents for representing films, primarily at Sundance and Toronto is tracked in the By Numbers Report. The report tracks which agents and which international sales agents are selling the most films, which titles are selling best, which distributors are buying the most, and any other noteworthy “races”, e.g., how many films are by women, Asians, African-diasporites, or are about such subjects as Jewish, GLBT, poltics, whatever. Over time, the reports spot trends in the business of buying and selling, especially during festivals like Toronto and Sundance. This year’s Cannes saw the number of women directors fall so drastically (from a steady 10 – 13% in festivals during the last few years), that an outcry was heard from professionals in the industry. With time, we may find the number of Asian, Asian-American, African diaspora, Middle-Eastern and female directed films impact the marketplace itself. For that reason, these reports will continue to be offered to film professionals. The criterion are not set in stone but depend upon the moment. Back to top SUNDANCE BY NUMBERS Sundance by Numbers, is not by metrics which define measures of quantitative assessment used to track performance or production. I don’t think that film, as a general category, fits into metric parameters. I do think, however, that Sundance Institute’s performance metric, a measure of its activities and performance, inwardly focusing on the performance of the organization, would show a high value of performance against customer requirements and value. Its performance metrics would prove it to be very healthy and consistent with the six criteria: time, cost, resources, scope, quality, and actions. Bravo Sundance! On all fronts it is carrying through its original purpose and vision. Other numbers: I have marked films by women with the ♀, African American with the symbol α. BlackFilm.com says, “There are about 21 films that feature and are directed by black talent”. Latino is marked by the symbol . ɤ Jewish by ✡. Asian by ¥, Middle Eastern l . Back to top NUMBER OF PRODUCER REPS REPPING U.S. RIGHTS What shows up most on this scorecard of my own private making, is the prevalence of the talent agencies and other “producers’ representatives”. In those “good old days” of Sundance before Sex, Lies and Videotape alerted Hollywood that there was some capital to be made in Park City, Sundance gave a home to the original visions of a few independent minded filmmakers, and there were no terms to describe “producer reps”. International sales agents (when these films had any such representation, which in itself was rare) did their work without deferring to dealmakers in Hollywood. And, as I said, these films usually did not have international representation. That is why the newly developed acquisitions executives went to Sundance looking for films which they would not find in the existing markets (Cannes, MIFED or AFM). Anyway, here we are today and here are the numbers: There are about 12 Producers Reps. The newest fold in the relatively new “mini industry” of representing producers to the U.S. distribution community is that now, instead of one producer rep per film, often two competitive agencies might rep the U.S. rights as you can see in top scorers CAA, WME or UTA’s lineups. Producer reps do their best work in Sundance and in Toronto. They usually represent the producer to help make a lucrative U.S. deal. After the heat is gone in Sundance and Toronto, the producer reps usually fade away from the deal making, leaving the unpicked up films in a limbo until some distributor finally makes a deal with the producer or the international sales agent directly. This is less true for the real independent producer reps who are hungrier than for the major agencies who must quickly earn their 10% (or not) and move on. Below are the producer reps and international sales agents “by numbers”. #1 Submarine along with Preferred Content is one of the truly independent producers reps. Their films are usually virgin and still not picked up by international sales agents because they have not yet been seen by them. They are the second generation of this phenom. In the old days, there was Jeff Dowd along with John Sloss and a couple of others. 1. Black Rock by Katie Aselton ♀ Submarine’s Josh Braun who reps worldwide rights sold No. American rights for reportedly more than $1 million to Mickey Liddell’s and David Dinerstein’s fledgling LD Distribution. Elle Driver acquired world rights. 2. The Atomic States of America by Don Argott, Sheena M. Joyce sold to ro*co for worldwide representation during Sundance. 3. Finding North by Lori Silverbush ♀, Kristi Jacobson ♀ 4. Chasing Ice by Jeff Orlowski. Sold to to National Geographic Channel for TV rights. 5. How to Survive a Plague by David France. IFC Film’s sister company Sundance Selects acquired No. America. 6. The Queen of Versailles by Lauren Greenfield ♀was sold to Magnolia Pictures for North America 7. Me @ The Zoo by Chris Moukarbel, Valerie Veatch ♀ Submarine (No. America); ISA: Memento Films 8. The Comedy by Rick Alverson 9. Nobody Walks by Ry Russo-Young. Magnolia Pictures for North America Myriad picked up world sales rights. 10.Seaching for Sugar Man by Malik Bendjelloul I Sony Pictures Classics acquired No. America. ISA: Protagonist for the rest of the world. ♀ 11.Price Check by Michael Walker 12.That's What She Said by Carrie Preston ♀ 13.The Imposter by Bart Layton. CAA (No. America) and Submarine (No. America) licensed film to Indomina for U.S. and Canada. Protagonist Pictures repping worldwide excluding Australia/N.Z. 14.Marina Abramović The Artist is Present by Matthew Akers. Arthouse has U.S. Sold to Madman for Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. #2 Producer rep is CAA which repped a total of 14 films including the Competition doc Escape Fire, and Premiers Red Hook Summer α , Bachelorette, Robot and Frank, Play the Favorite, Shadow Dancer. It looks like CAA is calling a lot of shots at Sundance. Look at the other producer reps and international sales agents from other competitive agencies sharing the stage with them and think, what does that mean in terms of capital? They say $30 million in deals were done…If this is true, was it made by the producer reps primarily? What percentage do they get from the deal? Does this mean filmmakers have to have CAA rep them to break out of the gate? 1. Escape Fire : The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare by Matthew Heineman, Susan Froemke ♀. CAA acts alone. “Many thanks to the 246 funders who helped us raise over $50,000 to finish Escape Fire [on IndieGoGo] and prepare it for our premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival! We had an unbelievable experience in Park City, showing the film to five sold-out crowds. Sundance Senior Programmer David Courier said ESCAPE FIRE is "destined to be hailed as the definitive film on American healthcare." At this point, we are speaking with distributors, but want to begin another grassroots effort to raise money for our website and outreach campaign. “ 2. Red Hook Summer by Spike Lee α. CAA acts alone. Spike Lee will release the film himself in the fall of 2012. 3. Bachelorette by Leslye Headland ♀. CAA; ISA: Elle Driver repping U.S./North America, Greece, Italy, Africa, Asia (except Thailand). TWC’s Radius acquired No. American rights for a reported $2 million. 4. Robot and Frank by Jake Schreier. CAA; ICM; SPWA and Samuel Goldwyn Films jointly acquired North America for more than $2 million. ISA: Exclusive Media acquired international rights at Sundance. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has rights in Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, Russia. Momentum Pictures has acquired U.K. and Ireland. 5. L ay the Favorit e by Stephen Frears CAA; The Weinstein Co. acquired No. America for reportedly a little over $2 million. ISA: Wild Bunch. 6. Shadow Dancer by James Marsh CAA; ATO acquired No. America. ISA: Wild Bunch. 7. The Imposte r by Bart Layton CAA (No. America); Submarine (No. America); ISA: Protagonist Pictures repping worldwide Excluding Australia/N.Z., sold to Picturehouse and Revolver jointly for U.K. 8. The Surrogate by Ben Lewin CAA acts alone. Fox Searchlight paid $6m for worldwide rights. 9. For Ellen by So Yong Kim ¥. CAA; ISA: Memento repping worldwide excluding Turkey. 10.Simon Killer by Antonio Campos . ɤ IFC acquired No. America. CAA; UTA Rena Ronson also repping worldwide rights. She was in international sales before becoming WMA’s agent for indies. In theory, if no ISA comes on board the worldwide territories will still be sold. 11.Smashed by James Ponsoldt CAA; UTA Rich Klubeck also repping worldwide rights. 12.Save the Date by Michael Mohan CAA; ISA: XYZ repping worldwide rights excluding Australia. 13.2 Days In New York by Julie Delpy ♀ CAA; Magnolia acquired U.S. ISA: REZO #3: Cinetic. Led by John Sloss, premier N.Y. independent attorney who has represented films internationally, acted as an aggregator of digital rights and acts as a producers rep for North America: 1. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry by Alison Klayman ♀ Sundance Selects acquired U.S. Cinetic acts alone for worldwide rights. Independent acquired world sales rights. 2. Detr opia by Heidi Ewing ♀, Rachel Grady ♀Cinetic acts alone 3. The House I Live In by Eugene JareckiCinetic acts alone 4. The First Time by Jonathan KasdanCinetic acts alone 5. Safety Not Guaranteed by Colin Trevorrow Cinetic (worldwide); ICM (No. America) sold to Film District. Independent acquired international rights from Cinetic. 6. L uv by Sheldon Candis αCinetic (No.America); ICM (No. America) sold to Indomina for No. America. BET has TV rights exclusive in U.S., Canada, the Caribbean and certain ancillary rights on other platforms; ISA: Hollywood Studios International 7. For a Good Time, Call… by Jamie Travis Cinetic (No.America) sold to Focus reportedly for $2 million; ISA: Studio City Pictures. 8. Goats by Christopher NeilCinetic; WME Worldwide rights excluding Latin America 9. Compliance by Craig Zobel Cinetic acts alone. Magnolia acquired U.S. Exciting screening in which the audience raised a ruckus of disenchantment. When the film finished screening, a woman in the audience shouted: "Sundance, you can do better!" saying that during a year with so many of the festival's films featuring strong female characters, "This is not the year to make violence against women entertaining." 10. Kid Thing by David Zellner Cinetic (No. America) acts alone. #4 WME has 7 1. Arbitrage by Nicholas Jarecki WME; ISA: GK Films. Roadside and Lionsgate teamed up on the $2.5m acquisition for U.S. VVS acquired for Canada. 2. Other Dream Team, The Marius MarkeviciusWMEGil Kruger (WME)Gil Kruger: 917-514-1819 (m); 310-246-3373 (o) 3. Filly Brown Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos , ɤ WME - Gil Kruger Worldwide Rights 4. Hello I Must Be Going Todd LouisoWME- Gil Kruger Worldwide Rights 5. Beasts of the Southern Wild by Behn Zeitlin WME (No. America) sold to Fox Searchlight; ISA: Eone 6. S hut Up and Play the Hits by Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace WME Worldwide Rights 7. V/H/S Adam Wingard, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg, Ti West WMEWorldwide Rights. Magnolia sister company Magnet picked up U.S. for more than $1 million. Momentum picked up U.K. Epic picked up world sales rights. #5 UTA has 7 1. Celeste and Jesse Forever by Lee Toland Krieger UTA repping worldwide rights. Sold to SPC for No. America, Latin America and Eastern Europe reportedly for $2 million. 2. Red Lights by Rodrigo Cortés ɤ UTA (U.S.) sold to Millenium reportedly for $4 million; ISA: Parlay/ GK Films repping U.S. and Australia, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, and Thailand 3. Predisposed by Phil Dorling, Ron Nyswaner. ICM; UTA. Worldwide rights available. 4. Sleepwalk With Me Mike Birbiglia, Seth BarrishUTARich Klubeck(310) 228-3842 Worldwide Rights 5. Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap by Ice T, Andy Baybuttα UTA sold worldwide rights to Indomina. 6. Simon Killer by Antonio Campo . ɤ CAA; UTA Rena Ronson also repping worldwide rights. She was in international sales before becoming WMA’s agent for indies. In theory, if no ISA comes on board the worldwide territories will still be sold. 7. Smashed by James Ponsoldt CAA; UTA Rich Klubeck also repping worldwide rights. Preferred Content (7 films) is another truly independent producer’s rep started by Kevin Iwashina when he left CAA in L.A. 1. The End of Love by Mark Webber [...]... Netherlands TV, French speaking Switzerland (TV) Celluloid Nightmares The Raid by Gareth Huw Evans Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired U.S distribution rights Screen Gems will remake in English Cinephil Love Free or Die by Macky Alston ISA: Cinephil 0 to date (June 2012) DR Medier Putin's Kiss by Lise Birk Pedersen ♀ Worldwide rights are available except for U.S, (Kino Lorber) Elle Driver Young... producers Millennium’s director of acquisitions Vincent Scordino negotiated the deal with Preferred Content’s Iwashina WestEnd Films is handling international sales here 7 John Dies At The End by Don Coscarelli The Film Sales Company of Andrew Herwitz (4 films) is another independent Producer’s Rep, based in N.Y repping worldwide rights to films 1 Indie Game: The Movie by Lissane Pajot ♀, James Swirsky... negotiation; CBS Films finalized a deal to acquire U.S rights to the drama The Words in the early morning hours That deal was closed with a $2 million minimum guarantee and a $1.5 million P&A commitment and a potential fall theatrical release Back to top U.S DISTRIBUTORS BUYING U.S OR N.O AMERICAN RIGHTS 1 Magnolia buys 4: Magnolia Pictures, one of the most active buyers at Sundance this year, acquired U.S... entertaining offers from several distribs, including Universal, Dark Castle and IFC It is also seeing brisk international action from distribs in the U.K., Spain, Australia and France Previously sold sold are Baltics, CIS, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Portugal, Turkey 6 Little Birds by Elgin James Millennium Entertainment has picked up North America Max Burger, Monique Burger, Kevin Iwashina and Stefan... to top ~~~~~ About Sydney Levine Sydney’s 35 years of experience in the international film business give her a unique ability to analyze industry and international film market developments and focus on what is relevant for buyers, sales agents, filmmakers, film festivals and distribution Discover other titles by Sydney Levine at Smashwords.com www.smashwords.com/profile/view/sydneysbuzz Connect with . What Clients are Saying “Sydney Levine, Peter Belsito and Film Finders have a unique relationship to the. international sales agents are selling the most films, which titles are selling best, which distributors are buying the most, and any other noteworthy “races”, e.g., how many films are by women, Asians,. many films are by women, Asians, African-diasporites, or are about such subjects as Jewish, GLBT, poltics, whatever. Over time, the reports spot trends in the business of buying and selling, especially