Endgame Entertainment leader, Jim Stern, took the stage of the Indie financing panel during the
LA Film Festival to remind filmmakers to pay attention to the business.
First he delivered the bad news:
"An astonishing 9,293 films were submitted to Sundance last year. Of
those nearly 10,000, only 218 were screened. Of the lucky handful
to get bought, so far only three have been released
theatrically. It’s pretty obvious: Indies are in a world of hurt. When the
financial crisis hit, any awards that independent films were
winning suddenly were not enough to appease corporate paymasters,
who in turn severely damaged labels like New Line, Warner
Independent, Paramount Vantage, PictureHouse and so on.
"With fewer U.S. distributors, financiers were badly burned when the
financial crisis turned global, and foreign markets no longer could
be relied on to mitigate the risk of not having U.S. distribution.
Those markets used to be the backstop of smaller films. But they
started choosing to run their own affordable domestic movies
instead of independent American films. And since those markets need
big studio titles to drive ratings and ad revenues, what suffers
is… the indie."
Worse, Stern explained that while $100 million films were up, comparing January to May 2008 to 2009, "the number of indies that grossed over $1 million dollars went from 16 to six. Less than half."
Then he gave some sage advice - lifted from Patrick Goldstein:
“The real problem with the indie business isn’t quality, but discipline. We have a generation of
filmmakers who feel entitled to make personal films and a generation of executives who’ve been
willing to essentially use specialty films as a loss-leader to launch their division or win awards. If
people in the indie world want to start making money again, they have to start treating their
investment like a truly precious natural resource, not like Monopoly money. Discipline is not
antithetical to art.”
Stern's Endgame advise is simple: Make smarter movies, with tight discipline and a focus on the specific target audience. Stay on budget. Don't compete for cast or effects. When Stern derides filmmakers who take financing and deliver different films or shoot over budget, his advice to work more professionally is well said. Independent film is more than a business. Those with the precious opportunity to make films should respect the opportunity to make successful films that open doors for new projects rather than treat the opportunities for self indulgence or vanity projects.
But knowing the audience is a much trickier task. Filmmakers couldn't have predicted that
Juno was a cross-over hit for adults, and it is highly likely the film would not have looked the same had demographers or statisticians predicted what should have appeared in a teen pregnancy film. Slumdog Millionaire is a highly unlikely success. And even A Chorus Line would never have been made if "follow the audience" was the mantra of Michael Bennet - as becomes clear from Stern's own moving documentary, Every Single Step.
Stern misses the point when he talks about the audience. Kurt Vonnegut's rule for writing is that the writer must write for a particular reader. Not an audience or a market, but a reader. He wrote for his sister. Filmmakers should do the same. Kevin Smith writes to make Jason Mewes laugh. More often than not, it works.
The same lesson should inform the casting. A-list talent will help sell an indie film, but it isn't necessary. On the other hand, writing characters so well that A-list talent will work for scale to play the parts sets a script apart from the rest.
With the financial crisis still in full bloom, the movies being made are more carefully selected than ever. Entitlement has toned down (for now). But actors are still searching for meaningful roles, writers continue to tell powerful stories, and the audience remains ready to be swept away. Directors just need to listen to the person on the other side of the silver screen.
And so it goes.
