A Simple Fix For The American Indie Film Ecosystem: Sundance Film Sales

The alliance between talent agencies & international sales companies must be established well in advance of the festival.

Sundance is a unique market for completed films, as it is one of the sole acquisition opportunities for films available on an all rights global basis. A large number of the Sundance titles each year are fully financed by private equity and without any presales – which in this era makes them even more valuable to the Global Streamers. The festival also falls at the top of the year when most companies are flush with fresh cash if their fiscal years align with the calendar year. It’s a great time to buy and a great time to sell. The attention the festival bestows on a few breakouts carries an audience awareness with them well into release.

 What makes the Festival challenging when it comes to sales though is the European Film Market at the Berlin Film Festival immediate follows, and distinct actions have to be initiated well in advance if the opportunity generated by a successful Sundance screening is going to be exploited well for sales. Unfortunately, the general course of behaviors these days handicaps a film -- and thus the filmmakers -- right when they need it the most.  There’s a simple fix to be done to improve things for both the artists and industry, and all it takes is a change of business practice from our leading talent agencies.

These days it is quite rare for a director of a Sundance film not to be represented by one of the talent agencies, but it wasn’t always that way. In representing the director (or in some cases the lead actors) the agencies generally also now represent the film for worldwide sales. For the most part this is a bit of an overreach as to what the agencies do or do best. You can’t fault them from wanting to maximize their income, but this can still be done, albeit requires a new level of flexibility.

Pulled in multiple directions & stretched to thin…

If your Sundance title is acquired by a platform for global streaming there is only one contract to do and only one entity to deliver to; any agency – or really, anyone – can manage this. In such instances it is really quite fine to work with your director’s talent agent and their agency comrades on the sale and licensing of your film.  But how are you really going to know in advance that this is going to be the route your film takes? You don’t and that’s where our current system starts to break down.

Most American Indie films are best suited for American audiences only. American Indie films have tended to be character and relationship based, small in scope, and skew to drama and comedies. There may be pockets of interest for these films, particularly when they indicate they come from an auteur’s hand, but frequently such films struggle to find an audience outside of their home territory.  These films are most likely to find their initial home with a traditional US distributor.  International sales will be on a select territorial basis --  if one shall be so lucky.

If your Sundance film has an auteur flavor, a genre hook, or for some other reason, potential international territorial interest, you want to strike while the interest is hot. There are a slew of other titles coming down the pike and you don’t want them to lap you. SXSW, San Francisco, and Tribeca have brand new offerings of AmerIndie talent coming at you. And Cannes will have all the global auteurs to crush yours come the warming months. You must sell, which means you must market, and that means you must shift into gear and give it the gas.

At least one of the leading talent agencies has a legitimate international sales team within their ranks. Most of them have folks who have excellent relationships with the leading buyers in the leading territories. They probably can effectively sell the top titles to the top buyers in the top territories. As I’ve heard more than one sales agent say “Anyone can sell the movie that everyone wants.”. But what happens if your precious Indie baby need a little more care and handling? Are the talent agencies going to do that ?

Marketing campaigns for American and International territories often differ, and for good reason. The things that American audiences find appealing in Indie titles often make those very same films licensable abroad. But an experienced sales agent will make the tweaks needed to a poster, trailer, and overall image campaign needed to position it well for the wider market.

Most importantly, you need someone representing your film that has good relationships with the buyers of such films in the 200+ categories across the planet. And these aren’t going to big money deals. They require time and handling. To make this work, the sales entity needs to be incentivized to manage those relationships, either because of the future business they anticipate doing with them, or because of the potential for a long-term relationship with the filmmaker.

Sales and licensing of movies takes time. Ideally, they are set up in advance, through the careful delivery of materials, sequenced for a planned result. They don’t happen overnight. If the sales agent only has two weeks between Sundance and EFM to position the film, chances are going to diminished for a successful sale. Buyers must be engaged so they are tracking titles in advance of their Sundance screenings. Filmmakers need their sales agents to take the initiative to do this. Sales agents must book screening times and have materials ready. Having an International sales agents sending reviews to buyers internationally during Sundance and holding screening in Berlin two weeks later is crucial. It’s about creating buzz but also communicating to buyers it’s worth paying attention to this film.

If your talent agent is putting all their eggs into the global streaming license dream basket and it doesn’t go down, none of what is needed to have a successful film is going to happen, even if you’ve had the joy of an awesome Sundance festival.

So instead of letting your talent agent to represent your film for global sales, from the moment your film is accepted to Sundance, we need the agencies to ban together with one of the many excellent international sales companies, to bring your title to the international buyers. The international sales companies will have a lot of work to do; all the work will help position the agencies’ clients well for future business. In the event that a worldwide deal is concluded, great – but then the international sales company should be paid a “kill fee” for the work they’ve done. There will now be money to cover this and it won’t be much or even wasted in the scheme of things. If a US only deal is done by the talent agency, great too, because now you and the film are well positioned for international sales as a result of the work that the sales agent has done. Win, win, win.

Let’s fix this thing, shall we? And doesn’t it make you wonder a bit… if folks are representing you and your film, shouldn’t they be VERY pro-active about trying to do the best thing for you and the movie? Shouldn’t they be showing you the opportunities that are out there? If they are not, aren’t they undermining trust and confidence? And it’s not just your representation that might be able to do more than they are, what about the festivals themselves? If they are really about promoting and supporting new talent, shouldn’t they be encouraging folks to do more of the right thing instead of “blindly” allowing bad practices to continue. They know what’s going on and by their silence they are enabling it. Sigh… Just pointing things out because I know everyone wants to do the right thing, and we don’t have a choice until we know it exists. We have the choice. Now, what are we going to do?

What would a perfect film festival look like?

What would be best for the sales of your film?