American Film Market Dailies

Eric Brenner, President of ETA Films, Tamara Birkemoe, President & COO of Foresight Unlimited, Tannaz Anisi, President of 13 Films, Paul Bales, Partner & COO of The Asylum, Caroline Couret-Delegue, Managing Director of Truffle Pictures, and Paul Hertzberg, President & CEO of CineTel Films, Inc., arrive at the American Film Market Production Conference: Producing for the Pre-Sales Marketplace at the Fairmont Hotel on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision for IFTA/AP Images)

Producing for the Pre-Sales Marketplace – QUOTES:

Eric Brenner

President, ETA Films

“I usually try to keep at risk non collateralized money to about 25% of a budget”

“A movie that I used to be able to make for 15 million I now have to make for 7.5 million; alternatively, if you have an established director and/or cast you can go bigger and make it for 35 million; in the independent world it is all about making a movie for as little as possible; it always helps to have a role that a great actor really wants to play”

“The market has gone down internationally over the last few years (the Euro and Pound are down, the DVD business is disappearing), and therefore as a producer we are much more creative now about where we shoot, etc.”

Tannaz Anisi

President, 13 Films

Tannaz Anisi, President of 13 Films

“Pre-sales in today’s market is very tricky; having a domestic distributor on board is helpful but when you can’t guarantee them something wide it makes pre-sales more difficult”

“We are finding that it is much better to help package a film from the beginning, to: “master of your own destiny”; to come on earlier in the process rather than being handed a great script with no names or an actor with a bad script”

Paul Bales

Partner & COO, The Asylum

“The market is limited for horror films with small budgets; but they are easier to sell than horror films with a larger budget”

“I would rather always know that the budget I am making a film for is the correct budget, and the only way to do that is to go to the markets and speak with sales agents”

“If you are going to make faith based films you should probably believe in god”

Tamara Birkemoe

Foresight Unlimited

“Having a domestic release can often times be more important than having stars connected to the project”

“It is very important to go to a sales company and see what the movie would be worth internationally before setting a budget”  

“It is always better to come to a sales agent with a director attached; but it all starts with a script for us; talent also helps but only if it is the right talent”

“Most sales agents and companies don’t take submissions if you don’t have an agent or producer attached”

“If you shoot in LA you can probably get a better cast, but you can save a lot of money shooting somewhere else”

Caroline Couret-Delegue

Truffle Pictures

Caroline Couret-Delegue, Managing Director of Truffle Pictures

“It is very difficult to presale horror films because of censorship issues in different territories; it is very likely that territories that do pre-buy horror films will need to cancel their contracts with you once censorship laws are confirmed; there is still a very strong market internationally for horror films”

“The market has changed significantly; there is lots of content but less and less release slots per territory; buyers have become picky”

“Comedies are very difficult to pre-sell because comedy translates very differently on the screen when translated in different territories; therefore buyers like to see the film before buying”

“We still do don’t know how Brexit will affect pre-sales, but the numbers out of the UK are very, very low at the moment because of the current exchange rate. The UK buyers are therefore being very cautious, and tend to not position themselves on a film as a pre-buy”