FEATUREFOCUS ■ UTA’S INDEPENDENT FILM GROUP The world from Wilshire
UTA’s independent fi lm group is using its international insight to connect fi lm-makers to innovative fi nancing partners. Jeremy Kay talks to Rena Ronson and Rich Klubeck about comedies, co-productions and Cannes
I
f there were any doubts about the rise in stat- ure of UTA’s independent fi lm group over the past couple of years, Sundance 2011 buried them. Co-heads Rena Ronson and Rich
Klubeck and their colleagues David Flynn and Bec Smith went to Park City with 14 acquisition titles. By late March the team had sealed deals on 12, including Like Crazy to Paramount, The Guard to Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) and Mar- tha Marcy May Marlene to Fox Searchlight, while The Weinstein Company took both The Details and Our Idiot Brother. This followed a strong 2010 for the division
after it secured a high-profi le sale of the Ryan Reynolds thriller Buried to Lionsgate at Sun- dance that year and closed deals on Mike Mills’ Beginners, among others, at Toronto. “We took time over the past year and a half to
carefully identify the projects to focus on and really got to work with fi lm-makers with very clear voices,” says Ronson, who arrived from WMA in October 2009. Ronson and Klubeck oversee a team which
takes pleasure in studying and understanding the environment in which it operates. “Our goal was to cultivate our clients’
projects and help get them set at the right bud- gets within the parameters the market [could] bear,” Ronson explains. “In Sundance we had an unusual amount of
comedies and film-makers with bold new voices, which really helped,” says Klubeck. Sundance comes up a lot during the conver-
sation: success there has fuelled a desire in the team to maintain excellent working relation- ships in the US and overseas. “This fi rst quarter we have eight fi lms ready
to go,” Ronson says, adding that the group enjoys a strong relationship with the wider agency. “A lot of the success has to do with the clients here at this agency.” The group’s knowledge of the international
arena is one of its distinguishing features. Klubeck comes from a production background and also serves as a partner in UTA’s motion- picture literary department, where his clients include the Coen brothers, Juan Carlos Fres- nadillo, Juan Solanas, Paolo Sorrentino and Fatih Akin. Ronson headed Lakeshore International
before working on hundreds of projects in WMA’s fi nancing and packaging unit. Ireland- born Flynn and Australian Smith bring a knowledge of global talent. Smith helped attract Animal Kingdom director David Michod to the agency. Klubeck also credits Jim Meenaghan, who runs motion-picture business affairs, and David Spingarn, who oversees business develop- ment, for their analysis before deals close.
■ 42 Screen International at the Cannes Film Festival May 13, 2011
FACTFILE RICH KLUBECK
A former CEO of Jersey Films, where he produced Garden State, Klubeck is co-head of the independent fi lm group and a partner in the motion picture literary department. His clients include Nicole Holofcener, Miranda July, Ewan McGregor, Mike Mills, Lynn Shelton and video-game company Electronic Arts.
BEC SMITH
Smith represents directors and writers including Julia Leigh and David Michod, serving as executive producer on the latter’s acclaimed Animal Kingdom. Prior to UTA, she was head of development in the Sydney offi ces of Working Title and started out as a fi lm journalist.
RENA RONSON
Formerly of Lakeshore International, Ronson joined UTA from WMA in 2009. She focuses on global fi lm fi nance, distribution and marketing strategies for independent and co- fi nanced studio features. In 2008, she spearheaded a partnership with Screen Capital International to form the Incentive Filmed Entertainment fund.
DAVID FLYNN
From left: Rich Klubeck, Bec Smith, David Flynn and Rena Ronson in UTA’s Beverly Hills offi ce
‘Cannes is where we can identify new film-makers and where we stay current with our buyers
overseas’ Rich Klubeck, UTA
The group’s ability to take advantage of international opportunities was written all over Beginners, Mills’ acclaimed drama which debuted in Toronto last autumn. UTA sold worldwide rights to Focus Features excluding a handful of territories, and licensed rights directly to MK2 in France and Hopscotch in Australia, among others.
Similarly, the success of Buried enabled the group to work with the fi lm’s Span- ish director Rodrigo Cortes on his next project, Red Lights. UTA brought
in
Spanish tele- vision finance
(TV3 and Antena 3), regional tax money (from
Spain), international and US equity, and attached Lisa Wilson’s Parlay Films to close several key international pre-sales.
Martha Marcy May Marlene sold to Fox Searchlight at Sundance 2011
Flynn is a motion-picture literary agent whose clients include Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Drake Doremus and Rodrigo Cortes. Prior to UTA, he was a founding partner in Los Angeles-based Chaos Management and produced Seraphim Falls starring Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson. He started his career at ICM.
The group has also arranged financing on
Fernando Meirelles’ 360, now shooting in Europe, and Fresnadillo’s upcoming Intruders. With Intruders, the goal was to structure fi nancing around a broad international distri- bution deal with Universal Pictures Interna- tional and a deal for ancillary rights in Spain with Antena 3. “We opted for Universal Inter- national as opposed to a foreign sales- based approach because of the type of distribution we all wanted for the fi lm,” says Klubeck. “Throughout
the
year, we have ongoing conversations with the buyers,” Ronson adds. “[We have] cultivated good relationships with them and in many cases are working with them to help set up co-productions, as with Red Lights, Andrew Adamson’s Mis- ter Pip and Sorrentino’s This Must Be The Place. Our ability to sell directly helps us in
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Aimee Rentmeester
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