'Edge' is out; Berlin looks, like Sundance, to be a festival of 'choice'. As top sellers roll into Berlin to do the walk, the talk, the hawk, there is business in the air. Increasingly, quality seems to be where the action is.
Moons ago, way back in 1996, sales agents rolling into Berlin could tap a thesaurus of monikers. A film could have 'edge'; was 'left-of-centre'; 'out there'; 'it's a niche pic'. Sundance cast its shadow over Europe and Park City winners such as Todd Solondzīs Welcome to the Dollhouse and CiBy Sales' Different from Girls and Walking and Talking came thundering into town.
Those days, if not gone, are hazing over. At Berlin 1998, the buzz bizz appears to have lost its edge - or the word at least. For most mortal companies, no mega marketing mantra has replaced it to serve as a welcome port in a sales storm.
Two of the most talked-about films at Sundance - Slam and Pi - were about as alike as Tweedledum and, say, a nuclear fission chamber. "What was special about this year's Sundance was how uncategorisable the works are," says Sundance programmer Geoff Gilmore.
With a more conservative Sundance, there is no "monkey-see, monkey-buy" film market in the world. With sales options contracting for most independents, companies are cautioning more care, more professionalism, more marketing nous. Trimark, for instance, looks set to polish the edge off Slam for a full-blooded sales launch at Cannes.
The indie business seems to be increasingly driving on two gears. For one, check out the Intercontinental or Kempinsky. If there is any buzz-word for companies there, it is 'theatrical'. Companies are 'theatrical companies' selling groups of increasingly genre-bent, high-concept pics, with blue-chip marketability. Or trying to.
So where does that leave the rest of the business as it pitches at Berlin? Perhaps the best advice at Sundance came from actress Frances McDormand. "Independent scripts are always more interesting and complete, often because a script is all they've got to raise the money from," she said.
"It's got a great script": now that's a good catchphrase. Especially, of course, if it's true. JH/CP
[Home ] [Content] ] [The Team ] [Comments ]
