American Film Market Dailies

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Jean Prewitt (President & CEO, Independent Film & Television Alliance), Charles H. Rivkin (Chairman & CEO, Motion Picture Association of America) and Moderator Erich Schwartzel (Film Industry Reporter, The Wall Street Journal) sat down to discuss the global perspective at the AFM.

Jean Prewitt and Jean Prewitt  

JP: “The reason we asked for this session today is that our industry is increasingly under threat, in one way or another. People seem to think that anything we can or do produce can be handed off so why does it matter? In many cases, we are not the favorite child anymore in terms of government legislatures. We have found that it is important that we [IFTA] and the MPAA stand together wherever we can, as one industry, one community. We need each other, and it is important as a group that everyone sees this. We may disagree on how to solve certain issues but we work together to address people’s needs in the best way possible.”

CR: “IFTA and  the MPAA address so many common issues around the world, and when the MPAA and IFTA stand side by side there is truly nothing we can’t accomplish together, on behalf of creatives around the world.”

CR: “Something has to change. The MPAA self-regulated as an industry 50 years ago by rating our own movies, to avoid that regulation going through the government. Before we rated our own films sayings like “hold your hat” could not be used in film, women could not show displeasure during child birth as it would look like they did not want to start a family, and if there was a kiss one foot had to remain on the floor. We needed to self-regulate and we did.”

JP: “For piracy, there are a lot more solutions for larger companies than small ones. One of the issues with independents is the lack of capital to delegate to legislation and court, which is a reflection of how independent film financing happens. If an independent financier had to stop and go back to a previous film to fight piracy or try to recover money lost, they would lose their place in the marketplace and lose investors for the next project. What is the next solution? Can you stop piracy pre-release, push a button and get a response without having to go through a court process? Piracy can stop independent movies before they can start, slowing down the financing.”

CR: “[Box office] If you add up all the tickets sold to baseball, basketball, soccer games combined it only adds up to 50% of the movie tickets sold this year.”

CR: “What we don’t see is enough accountability.  We are seeing from many platforms that accountability is important, and there are a number of responsible platforms such as Amazon […]. More and more we need to highlight responsible behavior by platforms.”

CR: “The Chinese market grew 21%t last year. The Chinese market over the next 12 months will surpass the US market and it will be the largest one in the world […]. It’s a win win for both China and the US.”

JP: “If you’re not going to be able to presell heavily, you have to be very careful and realistic about your projects and how much money you’re willing to put in.”

“Increasingly people have to back away from making the same thing over and over again. You have to think where the audiences are, and then how to finance it. It’s not an issue of financing, it’s an issue of realizing the market place is incredibly competitive.  It’s picking the product and picking the model that works for that model right now.”

JP:  “The message for the upcoming year is to hold your breath. I think change is coming so rapidly that everyone in this room has to really buckle down and stay as flexible and courageous as they can. One thing we are seeing is that companies that are repositioning are doing so in a wide range of ways: changing content, diversifying, platforms (VR, genre, new partnerships). The watch word here is: the audience is there but everyone has to keep striving to not lose heart, not be discouraged to the fact that there was an old golden age that we wish would come back.  This is this golden age. Independents are good at making these adjustments but it is a scary time. People need to bolster their fighting spirit.”