Sales continue to be made, but deals are being negotiated down. It's a buyers market. What sold at AFM and was signed for $75,000 is being driven down by fire sales of similar films of competitors to $60,000 and buyers are not hesitating to try to renegotiate similar prices. One Brazilian who had signed a $200,000 deal wanted to renegotiate to half the price or not pay at all. In one day, one seller lost $350,000 of committed money, leaving her far short of the $1,000,000 goal in a day's sales. That, in turn, leaves the filmmaker without recoupment of the film's budget. It was a tough day midpoint, and sellers don't want to tell for fear of causing further negative outcomes. Stay positive is the keyword to this quiet Berlin market. We'll see less traffic in Cannes unless things turn around. There remains a need for good films, the young are eagerly seeking to make them. Digital is in the air on all sides, but the brick and mortar sales agents have not, for the most part, factored it into the already prepared mix for 2009, though Celluloid Dreams has created The Auteurs, a curated digital packaging of festival films. One seasoned individual is planning a new sort or sales company, which is not for me to discuss further. New countries are emerging - Turkey with its gentle and Tiger Award winning The Wrong Rosary and Egypt where Marwan Hamed, the director of The Yacoubian Buidling is making his next film are two of the most interesting countries at the moment.
- 2/10/2009
- Sydney's Buzz
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