REEL DEAL: IRISH FILM IN THE US MARKETPLACE
Universal stories with a distinctive voice and strong packaging were the elements required to crack the competitive American marketplace, according to the US panel at the Reel Deal financing seminar. The speakers included Sarah Lash (IFC Entertainment), Bingham Ray, Lynn Holst (Hallmark Entertainment) and Eamonn Bowles (Magnolia Pictures).
Lash, who distributed INTERMISSION in the US, made the point that there isn’t a typical “Irish American” audience in the US. She also emphasised avoiding such liabilities such as un-impenetrable accents and the importance of having the cast available to promote the film when selling distributing features in foreign territories.
Lash said IFC set “the bar pretty high” for its four investments from script stage each year and INTERMISSION was a “compelling package” of a new director, good script, high profile cast and experienced producers, leading IFC to come in for around 20% of the budget by way of a distribution advance and equity investment. It was emphasised that the project was selected because of the packing rather than its national origin and without its stars the prospects of IFC committing to it would have been “drastically diminished.”
Hallmark, which has been focusing on epic stories such as HERCULES and MOBY DICK for the last few years, continues to back event TV mini-series and movies and announced that they are now moving into SCI-FI, feeding channels such as the SCI-FI Channel in the US and are looking further a field for new content. Hence, pitches for big ticket content on classic stories from overseas, such as Brian Boru, would be welcome, said Holst.
Outside of very well produced genre films like DOG SOLDIERS, all speakers recommended Irish producers steer clear of attempting to make generic films emulating American content, with Bowles noting “Irish film trying to emulate US films is a losing path - US crap is done well!”
All speakers emphasised the importance of packaging even low-budget films and focusing on their originality. Not every film needs a stellar cast however, with speakers agreeing MAGDALENE SISTERS and BLOODY SUNDAY had healthy markets. “What breaks through is very distinctive, but universal interest material,” said Lash.
“To be honest, there hasn’t been a ton of very good accessible films” coming out of Ireland, said Magnolia’s Eamonn Bowles, who pointed to films such as THE COMMITMENTS and THE SNAPPER as films that did well Stateside, while Bingham Ray added that “Good stories, well told that can carry people’s passions are hard to come by.”
Speakers agreed that there was often more money in Europe that the US for funding Irish films, with Ray noting it was “unlikely and improbable to expect young Irish filmmakers to get deals with studios or divisions of studios.”