If Berlin's European Film Market (EFM) didn't exist, the film industry would invent it. But it might place the EFM far closer to television markets such as MIP-TV or MIPCOM than 10 years ago. The decline of Europe's traditional arthouse market has diminished theatrical sales expectations for much of the smaller product at the Market.
A key pull of the Berlin market is its sharp product focus, shaped by a clear buyers' demo. 'Berlin is very solid in product. It doesn't fluctuate,' said BFI Production topper Ben Gibson.
'A market for European quality product fits totally our type of films. International distributors have also realised what kind of titles they can expect to find in Berlin,' agrees Michael Werner at Scandinavia's leading sales company, Nordisk Film TV-Distribution.
Berlin seller strength lies in 'continental Europe first and foremost, then Asia then Britain,' says Graeme Mason, head of acquisitions at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (PFE). According to Werner, Berlin can sometimes account for up to 50% of Nordisk's annual business.
'Berlin is undoubtedly our most important market. We find the greatest concentration of buyers interested in acquiring our films,' said Fortissimo's Helen Loveridge.
While sellers such as Fortissimo achieve theatrical sales, Berlin's core business is sales to television. For Brussels AVE managing director Jochen D Girsch, 'Berlin kick-starts the year; we get the big sales - to, say, the BBC, ZDF, ARD. We mop up at the TV market on the smaller territories.'
'There's much less room in (theatrical) distribution terms. It's a much more competitive and specialised industry now with far fewer specialised companies handling product,' says PFE's Mason.
'The number of films picked up for theatrical distribution in other European territories is going down,' echoes Gibson. 'It's a problem all over Europe. You can only open four movies a week with any kind of success, and partly because of the demise of EFDO. If somebody discovered a low-budget movie, you could get five indie distributors around it at Berlin. That moment in a way has gone.'
So the destiny of a lot of low-budget European feature-film product is straight to television buyers. A genuine discovery is when a multi-territory buyer moves on a pic for theatrical and the world moves with them. Miramax, PolyGram, Fine Line Features or Sony Pictures Classics, all present at this Berlin, could wave the wand this year, and say the spell: 'theatrical'. John Hopewell
[Home ] [Content ] [The Sponsors ] [The Team ] [Comments ] [Help ]
