All in all, I think this Variety article by Anthony Kaufman has a lot of good news in it for real indie filmmakers. Don't be lazy, click over & read the whole thing, & to encourage you, here are some quotes:
"...more than two years after the initial hoopla, is day-and-date the distribution solution indies have been hoping for?
Executives at IFC and within Cuban's indie empire still believe it is, and now they have the numbers to show for it."
And:
"For foreign and American indie producers, the model has proved largely worthwhile. Paul Trijbits, an exec producer on two of IFC's VOD successes (Ken Loach's "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" and Shane Meadows' "This Is England"), says day-and-date uniquely helped the films to thrive where other releases have failed.
"On previous films from Loach and Meadows, there were no overages. Never. They were largely unrecouped films," he says. "Before, we couldn't barely sell them. Now they've all returned money."
IFC's advances can be painfully meager, ranging from nothing to low-six figures, but Sehring says 90% of the movies recoup their advance, minimal P&A costs and earn overages.
Low-budget filmmaker Caveh Zahedi, for example, received no money upfront for his feature "I Am a Sex Addict" but recently received a mid-five-figure check. "The day-and-date thing made the difference between the film being commercially viable and not," he says."
A lot more at the Variety article, including views by producers who do not see the current level of financial viability of VOD releases as being good enough for the moment. Check it out.
- Sujewa
"...more than two years after the initial hoopla, is day-and-date the distribution solution indies have been hoping for?
Executives at IFC and within Cuban's indie empire still believe it is, and now they have the numbers to show for it."
And:
"For foreign and American indie producers, the model has proved largely worthwhile. Paul Trijbits, an exec producer on two of IFC's VOD successes (Ken Loach's "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" and Shane Meadows' "This Is England"), says day-and-date uniquely helped the films to thrive where other releases have failed.
"On previous films from Loach and Meadows, there were no overages. Never. They were largely unrecouped films," he says. "Before, we couldn't barely sell them. Now they've all returned money."
IFC's advances can be painfully meager, ranging from nothing to low-six figures, but Sehring says 90% of the movies recoup their advance, minimal P&A costs and earn overages.
Low-budget filmmaker Caveh Zahedi, for example, received no money upfront for his feature "I Am a Sex Addict" but recently received a mid-five-figure check. "The day-and-date thing made the difference between the film being commercially viable and not," he says."
A lot more at the Variety article, including views by producers who do not see the current level of financial viability of VOD releases as being good enough for the moment. Check it out.
- Sujewa
