Pre-Cannes Screenings Sees Indie Business Back on Track

For most of those involved in the film pre-sales business, the virtual Pre-Cannes Screenings, running June 21-25, is the main event, with the in-person Cannes festival and market in July almost a sideshow. The mood of those approaching this month’s bazaar is mostly upbeat, but with a note of sober caution.

“I would say that [the independent film business] is back on track in a way that is almost boring, in how — but for a few quirks of things like travel — it would be hard to distinguish it from many of the years prior. It’s a very adaptable business by nature because producers, financiers, sales agents and distributors in this space are used to being entrepreneurial and flexible and quick to react. And that’s just the nature of the business,” Benjamin Kramer, co-head, CAA Media Finance, says.

In the territories where movie theaters have reopened, the box office numbers are “encouraging,” says HanWay Films’ managing director Gabrielle Stewart. The tastes of cinemagoers have, however, shifted during the pandemic. Buyers will likely go for something high-concept and distinctive, or genre or feel-good movies, Alison Thompson, co-president of Cornerstone, says. “People want to be cheered up. People want to be entertained. I think perhaps one of the tough genres at the moment is drama, even drama with significant names attached.” Even with top talent attached, such as dramas like Cornerstone’s “Aisha” (pictured above) — toplining “Black Panther’s” Letitia Wright and “The Crown’s” Josh O’Connor — are likely to be “execution dependent”; in other words, buyers will wait to see the finished film.

“The ideal film is one that we feel will have a broad appeal to different kinds of companies,” Thompson says, giving an example from a prior market: “The Fantastic Flitcrofts,” starring Mark Rylance is now more or less sold out, with a Hollywood studio circling the U.S. rights.

One issue for distributors is the backlog of films waiting to be released, which may deter buyers from picking up completed films. “I’ve looked at some lovely finished film that I just wouldn’t want to take on,” Stewart says.

Thompson notes that among distributors, “some have managed to weather the storm better than others.” Among those to have coped best are “those who have libraries that they’ve been able to exploit during the pandemic. Some of them have done very well actually, because of the increased demand for content.”

Some distributors, in the U.S. and U.K. in particular, have pivoted to a new release model with the streaming window running alongside or after a short theatrical window, and that is working well. But, she adds: “there’s no question that others are having a tough time of it.”

Stewart asserts, “The future of independent film is all about curation.” The key is to distinguish theatrical films from the mass of content on the platforms. “I do think the public appreciates the difference,” she says. The exhibitors also need to deliver a “fantastic experience” for the cinemagoer, she adds. HanWay is selling psychological horror film “A Banquet,” starring Sienna Guillory (“Resident Evil”), in the Cannes Market, as well as Doug Liman’s “Everest,” which stars Ewan McGregor, Sam Heughan and Mark Strong.

From Embankment’s perspective, the independent film business appears to be in good health. “We can tell this by the fact that the films are getting financed very quickly, and that crews are basically booked up everywhere,” one of the firm’s partners Hugo Grumbar says.

Embankment’s Cannes slate includes “Emily,” starring BAFTA nominee Emma Mackey (“Sex Education”), which recently wrapped production in Yorkshire, and tells the origin story of “Wuthering Heights” author Emily Brontë.

Tim Haslam, Embankment’s other partner, adds that there remain issues with insurance for production, and that precautions to fend off COVID risks have added around 10% to budgets. This is problematic in an “economic world of transition, which isn’t allowing increased budgets in independent feature films,” he says.

The production backlog and the rise in the number of series ordered by the streamers is also creating difficulties in securing access to talent, both in front of and behind the camera. “I know that everyone’s grappling with that as we try and confirm our slate for Cannes,” Stewart says.

However, the growth in the number of streaming outlets is lifting the business. “It’s brilliant,” Haslam says. “More platforms, more outlets, more programming needed.”

FilmNation CEO Glen Basner also welcomes the influence of the streamers on the market.

“Because they’re buying so many different types of movies, they’re allowing for a greater volume of movies to exist, and exist profitably for content creators,” Basner says. “They’re also impacting what will make sense going forward for people making that decision whether to go to the movie theaters, or if it’s something they’d prefer to watch at home. And that creative distinction of what is theatrical going forward is something that we pay a lot of attention to.”

The power of the streamers is having an inflationary effect on independent films, Stewart says, citing the example of a period films that HanWay is representing.

“The producers feel they want to make it for a substantial budget because they want to compete with some of the production values we’ve seen in popular series paid for by Netflix,” Stewart says. “The audience is sophisticated, and they want high production values, and they want an experience.”

Most sales agents intend to go back to an in-person operation when it is safe, with most seeing AFM in November being the earliest opportunity to do that. “There’s nothing quite like discussing a film and its story in the room with the person,” Grumbar says.

Kramer adds: “I think people will want to get back to in-person because it is a social business and a relationship business, and nothing replaces the in-person experience. I for one am eager to go back to seeing people because a lot of the folks are more than [business] relationships, they have become friends.”

Diversification has softened the blow of the pandemic for many independent players, with, for example, film producers moving into series, and distributors going into production.

“It’s pretty tough to just stick in your single lane. It’s much more sensible to have several strands of business,” says Thompson. Many sales companies, like Cornerstone, have already moved into film production, and are now segueing into series creation too.

Basner says that while diversification is a boon for companies that shouldn’t be taken to mean there’s a problem with the film business. “Actually our film business is a growing business. Even during the pandemic, where there was a break in making movies, we’re involved in just as many movies as we always have.”

He adds: “And we think the future of the next three to five years for feature films is really bright in terms of the volume of our business, but also our ability to really help support and back bold filmmakers, like Sean Baker [“Red Rocket”] or Lena Dunham [“Sharp Stick”] this past year, where we made films with them during the pandemic. And that to me is really incredibly exciting.”