American Film Market Dailies

This morning the AFM Conference Series kicked off with The Global Perspective featuring a Conversation between Industry leaders Jean Prewitt, IFTA and Charles Rivkin, MPAA followed by The Producer & Financier Perspective and The Buyer Perspective

• Last night’s party featuring The Muppets for the film “Street Gang”, being sold by The Exchange

·         Cedric the Entertainer at the Spotlight Event: Engage: 21^st Century Creatives and Storytelling - Hosted by Pepperdine’s Institute for Entertainment, Sports, Media, and Culture (IESMC)

The Global Perspective Conference lineup included panels:

• View from the Top
  • Jean M. Prewitt, President & CEO, Independent Film & Television Alliance
  • Charles H. Rivkin, Chairman & CEO, Motion Picture Association of America
  • Moderator: Erich Schwartzel, The Wall Street Journal

• The Producer & Financier Perspective

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• Arianne Fraser, CEO, Highland Film Group
• John Friedberg, President, International Sales, STX Entertainment
• Milan Popelka, COO, FilmNation Entertainment
• Moderator: Patrick Frater, Variety

• From the Frontlines, the Buyer Perspective

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• Sasha Buhler, Head of Acquisitions, Constantin Film
• Victor Hadida, President, Metropolitan Filmexport
• Syrinthia Studer, EVP, Worldwide Acquisitions, Paramount
• Moderator: Jeremy Kay, Screen International

Quotes

The Global Perspective - View from The Top

STATE OF THE UNION

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.”

Charles Rivkin (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.”

PIRACY

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.”

CHINA

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.”

CLOSING

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.”

The Global Perspective – The Producer & Financier Perspective

Milan Popelka, COO, FilmNation Entertainment

“We are a long term-looking company; we are thinking about how to be a platform for storytellers, as the lines between different forms of content bleed…and we become an engine that powers those stories”

“The danger and biggest risk is seeing something happening and not paying attention to it. The lifeblood of any company is always the creative.  It doesn’t matter what you want to do if you don’t have the creatives coming to you you’re probably not going to succeed.”  

[On the value of talent] “Story and filmmaker are most important, and having someone that is creatively right for the role. The quality of the product will drive success….The more compelling your IP the more options you have.”

Arianne Fraser, CEO, Highland Film Group

“A lot of the sales agents are becoming more hybrid...with all these various elements sometimes Netflix is the perfect partner for it [the project].”

“I love to find new talent. We cast Margot Robbie and brought her to Berlin and no one knew who she was.”

John Friedberg, President, International Sales, STX Entertainment

[on the future of the industry] “There are going to be so many ways to consume content – immediate – on every device – How do you curate your time and what stands out?”

[on the emerging Chinese marketplace] “So there is a lot of attention focused on innovative ways to approach the territory in a way that is reliable. If you build somewhere where it is a huge part of your business plan – it can pose a risk.”  

[on the power of talent] “We are looking for strong stories that can reach an audience.  We do make films with hugely valuable actors. Distributors are wanting to have a marketable element to their film.”  

“Three to five years from now I think we’ll be in a similar place. You have to know the players and think about the platforms and don’t pigeon hole yourself into one area. Be more open to diverse platforms and think about yourselves as entertainment producers.”

From the Frontlines, The Buyer Perspective

Syrinthia Studer, EVP, Worldwide Acquisitions, Paramount

“There’s many films that we might look at in the marketplace. Book Club - the conversations that were happening in social was so exciting. That movie was drawing people to theatre because it had a communal feeling with it.”

“Although my focus and role is acquiring films that are complementary to our theatrical slate. We also engage in acquiring content for a multi-platform approach.”

Sasha Buhler, Head of Acquisitions, Constantin Film

“There’s a lot more specialty material out there and that is what we’re looking for. The content that gets audiences off their couches and into the theatre together. We’re being more discerning about what can play theatrical now.”

“We work a lot with OTT platforms - each project we look at and decide the best way to release it and sometimes a theatrical release doesn’t work for us…We have the windowing that will change and be reduced eventually, but we have a lot more opportunity in terms of content and release.”

Victor Hadida, President, Metropolitan Filmexport

“We have seen a turning point this year with all of the platforms — France represents maybe 3% of the global marketplace. What is important - 50% is local production.”