Bleecker Street, Broad Green Pictures, and Saban Films remain upbeat about the state of indie cinema amid basic changes in mainstream Hollywood’s structure and operation.
The exec of these outfits appeared at the Produced By conference, hekd at Sony lot in a panel titled, “Is the Sky Falling? Challenges and Opportunities Facing Independent Film Producers.”
Bleecker Street’s successes include “Eye in the Sky” with $18 million, “I’ll See You in My Dreams” and “Trumbo.” The latter two with over $7 million each, despite limited theatrical release.
Karpen noted that it’s crucial to not overreach with more screens than needed, and to recognize where the audience is going to be.
“If we can’t determine who that core audience is, we’re probably not going to get involved,” he added.
Broad Green
Daniel Hammond, COO for Broad Green, noted that A Walk in the Woods, starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, had enough broad appeal for wide release of nearly 2,000 screens, grossing $30 million, despite mixed reviews.
Broad Green sees wide release as the sensible approach, underlined by making producer Matt Alvarez (Straight Outta Compton) its president of production as the majors focus most of their resources on tent poles and franchises. He explained: “We’re pushing in-house development, We’re strongest in wide release.”
Sicario
A similar approach worked with drug war drama Sicario, financed by her Black Label Media, which grossed $46 million domestically via Lionsgate. “You have to be nimble today, disciplined and conservative,” noted producer Smith.
Saban Films
Jonathan Saban noted that his label has often opted to go the VOD route rather than theatrical. Saban released 2014’s The Horsesman, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank, and generated only $2.4 million theatrically.
“We’re agnostic to the medium of distribution,” Saban said. “We have not lost money on a film yet.”
The hour-long panel, moderated by Landmark Theater’s Ted Mundorff, lacked any bashing of the new giant players Amazon and Netflix. ‘For an independent producer, Amazon and Netflix are great partners,” Hammond said.
Little Miss Sunshine, which came out of nowhere (so to speak), is the prototype of a desirable indie, an original, low-budget feature with the potential of scoring big in the marketplace.
World premiering at the 2006 Sundance Film Fest, Little Miss Shine was made for about $2 million, but sold to Fox Searchlight for $10 million when it got rave reviews and created a buzz.
The effective marketing campaign elevated even more the visibility of the indie, which grossed over $60 million in its theatrical release, and benefited from some Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and Best Supporting Oscar Award to vet actir and multiple nominee Alan Arkin.
My Oscar Book:
Once: Indie Musical
The original musical, Once, was a huge critical and commercial success.
Fox Searchlight acquired it out of Sundance Film Fest for only $600,000, and due to smart marketing and positive word of mouth, the film made $9 million in the U.S.
Praised by most critics, Once also received Oscar nominations.
Indie Films That Matter:
A Walk in the Woods
Eye in the Sky
The Horsesman
I’ll See You in My Dreams
Little Miss Sunshine
Once
Sicario
Trumbo
If you want to know more about this issue, please read my book, Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film (most popular film book in NYU’s history)
