The Indiewood 10
PREMIERE ranks the top ministudios—the companies that turn bite-size budgets into creative feasts.
By Anne Thompson
Every January, hordes of distribution company acquisitions executives descend on the Sundance Film Festival, armed with cell phones, PDAs, and FilmFinder printouts on the movies up for sale. They've read the scripts, they check out the reaction of audiences and critics, and then they woo the filmmakers. But how should the directors and producers choose the right home for their labor of love? They can take Oscar-savvy Miramax's money, but then they risk winding up on the shelf. Or they can go to Fox Searchlight, which buys fewer films but is currently batting a thousand with moviegoers around the country. Or they can stick with the less-is-more reliables at United Artists or Sony Pictures Classics. There's a myriad of distribution choices. Just remember: Bigger is not always better, and “independent” can be a relative term.
1. Miramax Films (www.miramax.com)
Key Players: Cochairmen Bob and Harvey Weinstein, 48 and 50, are struggling to manage their burgeoning 24-year-old empire. Disney chairman Michael Eisner used to admire their cost-effectiveness, but now the Weinsteins face growing pressure from their parent company in the wake of spiraling costs on productions such as Gangs of New York, Chicago, and the Paramount coproduction The Four Feathers. Their old business model-outbid every competitor to grab every possible Oscar contender-is due for an overhaul.
Staff: 100 in Los Angeles, 300 in New York City (including Dimension), 25 internationally.
2002: Released 26 films (separate from Dimension), with a total gross of $186.9 million. $ Breakouts: Todd Field's 2001 Oscar contender In the Bedroom, the Universal coproduction 40 Days and 40 Nights, Frida. $ Breakdowns: Birthday Girl, Tadpole, Full Frontal, The Son's Room, Stolen Summer.
Strengths: Nobody else will back major execution-dependent, hard-sell films like Iris, Gangs of New York, and Cold Mountain. And nobody else markets them better. Bob Weinstein's steady hand at Dimension (Spy Kids 2) helps to balance his brother's riskier Miramax ventures.
Weaknesses: The mercurial Harvey Weinstein (and cofinancer the Hearst Corp.) finally shuttered the money-losing Talk magazine. His (ultimately unsuccessful) bid to hire back his former business affairs executive Scott Greenstein after he left USA Films was met with resistance by Miramax top brass. The Weinsteins have lost their marketing brain trust (Mark Gill, David Brooks) and are relying on in-house staffers to fill the void.
Oscar Past: Has 174 nominations and 43 wins, including two for best picture.
Outlook: A strong Oscar slate includes Gangs of New York, Chicago, and Frida. Miramax has 22 productions and acquisitions for 2003, including Quentin Tarantino's long-awaited Kill Bill, Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain (which needs new investors now that partner MGM has withdrawn its funding), Cannes hit City of God, and Ben Stiller's Duplex.
2. Fox Searchlight Pictures (www.foxsearchlight.com)
Key Player: President Peter Rice, 36, who started as a marketing intern at Twentieth Century Fox in 1989, now heads the hottest of all indies. Miramax may put out more films, but, lately, Searchlight has been more consistently on the money. As a studio production executive, Rice brought in directors Baz Luhrmann, Danny Boyle, and Bryan Singer. And since he took over Fox Searchlight three years ago with a promise to be “original and provocative,” the division has been on a roll (Boys Don't Cry, Sexy Beast, The Deep End).
Staff: 37 in L.A., six in N.Y.C.
2002: Seven films, $128.7 million.$ Breakouts: One Hour Photo, Kissing Jessica Stein, Brown Sugar, Super Troopers. $ Breakdowns: None (!).
Strengths: Veteran staff. Distribution and marketing departments have unerring skill at hitting target audiences, whether they are selling the grim character study One Hour Photo or the downbeat The Good Girl.
Weakness: Highbrow taste can lead to commercial disappointments like 2001's Titus.
Oscar Past: 11 nominations, two wins.
Outlook: Denzel Washington's directorial debut, the true story Antwone Fisher, is an Oscar contender. Full steam ahead with a strong 2003 slate of 12 films, including Jim Sheridan's émigré drama In America; John Malkovich's The Dancer Upstairs, starring Javier Bardem; the Nick Nolte heist caper The Good Thief; Merchant-Ivory's marriage farce Le Divorce, starring Naomi Watts, Kate Hudson, and Glenn Close; and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers.
3. Focus Features (www.focusfeatures.com)
Key Players: The incorporation of production company Good Machine's top talent places Focus solidly near the top of the indies. Focus copresidents James Schamus (screenwriter and producing partner behind such Ang Lee films as The Ice Storm and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and David Linde (Good Machine's international sales mastermind), along with partner Ted Hope, built Good Machine (In the Bedroom, Lovely & Amazing, The Brothers McMullen) but remained dependent on domestic distributors. Now, under Universal's wing, they have the power.
Staff: 44 in L.A., 40 in N.Y.C. , two in London.
2002: Eight films, $81.8 million. $ Breakouts: USA Films' Gosford Park, Monsoon Wedding. $ Breakdowns: Possession, Never Again.
Strengths: After working together for seven years, these two Indiewood players know how to produce and fund movies for the international marketplace. They've retained most of the strong USA marketing, production, and acquisition team and have added ex-Miramax marketing honcho David Brooks. When they sell a film like Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation overseas, they now have the inside track for domestic distribution of a coveted title. They can also take advantage of Universal's overseas distribution arm to sell a pickup like The Pianist.
Weaknesses: The company is still in transition; Linde and Schamus have never run a domestic distribution company, and they have a steep learning curve.
Oscar Past: Gramercy Pictures, whose core team segued to USA in the spring of 1999, garnered eight Oscars out of 27 nominations. USA earned seven Oscars out of 20 nominations.
Outlook: Strong Oscar hopes for Todd Haynes's Far From Heaven; Roman Polanski's The Pianist; and France's foreign film entry, 8 Women. Focus is capable of challenging both Miramax and Fox Searchlight as a major specialty distributor with cash and smarts. Linde knows the world market; Schamus has production skills and taste; and in-house producer Hope will deliver Amores Perros director Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams. Also upcoming: Charlie Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet; Gwyneth Paltrow's Sylvia Plath flick; the urban-oriented Deliver Us From Eva; and The Shape of Things, directed by Neil LaBute.
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Focus Features (No. 3) is hoping Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven reaps Oscar gold.
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