Sundance Diary: The First 24 Hours
by Richard Sheehan on January 24, 2012 in Festival Strategy
Thursday’s opening night film “Hello I Must Be Going” is a complete delight. Produced by Mary Jane Skalski, and directed with much attention to the material world of a dysfunctional wealthy Connecticut family. Lead Melanie Lynskey gives a terrific performance, as does Blythe Danner in one of the bigger roles I have seen this underutilized actress in in quite some time. The audience seemed to agree, laughing in all of the right places and applauding enthusiastically at the end.
Alas, we were much too tired to make it to the party afterward, having been up since 4am NY time. After a good night’s sleep, we will have no excuses!
Friday got down to business at the NY Lounge, as it kicked off the first panel discussion at 11am on distribution trends. Steven Beers of Greenberg Traurig moderated the lively discussion amid panelists Ira Deutchman of Emerging Pictures, Matt Dentler of Cinetec Film Buff, John Reiss (filmmaker & author), Erika Opeka of New Video Digital and Logan Mulvey, founder of Go Digital.
Much of the discussion was around how the filmmaker can best find a distributor, and having a viable product to sell. “Margin Call” , a Sundance hit last year was used as an example of a film with a low budget that used an interesting roll out on VOD on the same date as it’s theatrical release. Because of the aggressive marketing campaign, the film made a great profit on both platform, earning in excess of it’s $4MM theatrical run on VOD.
If a filmmaker has it, you should spend money on the best publicist you can find, and set up your “digital footprint” – your film should be easily found in a Google search or on FaceBook. Make sure you make the most of your social network. If your film is being released on Netflix, make sure every one in your social network is adding it to their queue.
The process begins in production. Do not wait until you have finished your film to start thinking about distribution.
Much was also made of the value of a good review, especially by the New York Times. The Times has recently stated that it will review any film that has at least a 7 day run in NY. If you think your film is the real deal, and will be well reviewed, it might be worth figuring out how to have a one week theatrical run, in addition to any digital distribution. That good review is an excellent marketing tool for the distributor.
Lastly, the panelists discussed revenues and box office returns. Both Mr. Deutchman and Mr. Dentler pointed out that the ” steroid era” of independent film has passed. There was a specific point in time that a few filmmakers were able to make a lot of money on a few films. Today, for an indie to make a $1MM is still a lot of money! We should not lose sight of this. Even after the buying frenzy of last year’s Sundance, only “Margin Call” was the real breakout money maker. Others have done well and made a profit compared to their costs, but there is no blockbuster.
Tonight, I am very much looking forward to the premier of Ira Sachs’s film, “Keep The Lights On”. More on that to come!