Monday, Sundance Director, Geoffrey Gilmore moderated a panel, Panic: Push or Ponder
It was a great panel consisting of: Marcus Hu (Strand Releasing), Jonathan Sehring (IFC), Peter Broderick, James Schamus, Mark Gill (The Film Department, Ted Hope & Michael Barker.
All men with strong personalities, a great deal of experience and war wounds and medals to prove it. There was a little bickering, a lot of banter and Mark Gill told a joke, “Every time someone tells a lie at Sundance John Sloss gets a royalty”. It got a lot of laughs. James Schamus was delightful and funny. Johnathan Sehring (IFC) was very serious and Michael Barker had a lot of complaints sprinkled with a few meaningful victories. Ted Hope and Peter Broderick had really encouraging and thoughtful new ideas. All of these men are clearly passionate and dedicated to the film industry. I wish it had been a dinner party and we could have talked for hours.
In short, we discussed hybrid distribution models and the absolute need to embrace a different paradigm entirely. Today filmmakers must have a strategy; not just be reactive. Mark Gill stated that 50% fewer films will be released in the next 12-18 months allowing more breathing room for films to be seen. A lot of information was shared freely including numbers and dollar amounts. Hopefully the filmmakers in the room were paying attention and walked away with some good intel.
I think there needs to be several models of distribution to accommodate the various types of films. As companies and individuals it keeps us open and experimenting. I believe there will be more opportunity to team up and work together in ways we would not have in the past.
Geoffrey Gilmore wrapped it up asking two very key questions, “Even in today’s climate does theatrical have to drive the success of content in ancillary markets and is there any way to lower the cost of theatrical?”
We ran out of time but the overall opinion seemed to be Yes to the first, and No to the latter.
They are great questions. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Scilla Andreen- CEO IndieFlix
