American Film Market Dailies

Day 3 - November 4, 2016

THE 360 VIEW– QUOTES:

David C. Glasser, Chief Operating Officer and President for The Weinstein Company (TWC), and Micah Green, Co-Head of Film Finance CAA, speak at the American Film Market Finance Conference I: The 360 View at the Fairmont Hotel on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision for IFTA/AP Images)

David Glasser

President/COO, The Weinstein Company

“Today, less is more. We’re in a market place where it used to be about the volume of movies, because we’re always building a library. I think today the buyers are looking for higher quality. They’re looking for something special that separates them from everyone else on the market. It’s got to be about higher quality products.”

“The biggest challenge is the blurred lines between TV and film right now, and the platforms from where you watch them.”

“Everything we say here starts with one thing – todays’ market place needs high quality products, whether it’s drama, comedy, action. For theatrical releases, the bar is much higher right now.”

“The best advice for a producer is that you are no longer just a film producer. You need to be a content producer. You may take a great film script and it’s not going to work as a movie. It may be for a Netflix or Amazon program, it may be expanded to a TV series. You have to be thinking that way. You need to be able to shift.”

Micah Green

Co-Head, Film Finance, CAA

“Today, studios want high quality, high impact, mid to low budget movies. They recognize the value of high impact – and the bad news for independents is that you are competing directly with studios for every great script that attracts a proven director and a legitimate movie star. The same package is being pursued by all kinds of investors and distributors. There’s lots of overlap. The other side is that if you’re actively putting together projects, if you’re proactive in pulling together quality packages, there are options to monetize and distribute.”

“The Netflix phenomenon is inspiring. It proves that there is room for bold innovators. They came in and took huge risks and bets with a completely different model and it worked.”

Miguel Palos

CFO, IM Global

“We’ll see a shift outwards for the revenue of the film, away from the U.S. Other territories will continue to evolve – their methodology for selecting films, alternative digital platforms, space that’s replacing home video. If you want a worldwide audience – things like comedy for instance are difficult to translate from one society to another. Again the content, the script, the quality of the film is going to have an impact everywhere. Certain things will translate in some countries, some won’t. You have to look at it worldwide and know that it won’t translate in all countries.”

How Equity is Successfully Investing in Film – QUOTES:

Don Starr

Chairman & CEO, Grosvenor Park Media

“The local needs of individual countries have changed. The number of distributors have changed. The total number of presales, across the board in independent movies, is down by 30% at least, maybe more. Before, we used to be able to drive a movie with very little equity. Now we’re finding that if there’s isn’t significant equity as well as a U.S. sale, foreign markets cannot be sold and a movie cannot be made.”

“Quality of the writing is everything in the independent business. In the old days a movie actor going to TV was a career death, now it is a career boost”

Richard Saperstein

Principal, Storyscape Entertainment

“My primary criteria is always the creative and original quality of the material. The script is the drive to attract the financing to make the film. I look for scripts with strong original voices, international appeal.”

Robert Sherman

Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP

“There are many different factors that have contributed to the compression of sales in international markets: localization, growth of local content (China), currency issues, geopolitical issues; so if you are a filmmaker looking to make a project viable in that changing environment, you need to look and see if your project has aspects that may attract buyers from a creative and financial perspective” 

Day 2 - November 3, 2016