FEATURE
ongoing supply deals with Relativity, MRC, Endgame and Echo Lake, as well as third-party product, features Zhang Yimou’s Nanking mas- sacre epic The Flowers Of War, Michael Hoff- man’s Gambit with Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz, John Hillcoat’s Wettest County, Rian John- son’s eagerly awaited sci-fi Looper, Dan Brad- ley’s Red Dawn remake and Steven Soderbergh’s male stripper movie Magic Mike starring Chan- ning Tatum. And now the production slate is taking shape
under the keen eye of Ryder, a popular inde- pendent veteran and former president of pro- duction at Newmarket Films, whose credits include Memento, Donnie Darko, The Prestige and The Mexican. The Raven, a fictitious account of the final
days of Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe that stars John Cusack and was produced with Intrepid Pictures, will open in the US in March, followed the next month by horror tale House At The End Of The Street, a co-production with A Bigger Boat that stars Jennifer Lawrence. Relativity is distributing both titles.
Creating a production brand “We’ve hit the ground running,” says Ryder from the set of Mud, a co-production with Ever- est Entertainment which stars Reese Wither- spoon, Matthew McConaughey and Michael Shannon. The director of the coming-of-age drama, Nichols, won the Cannes Critics’ Week award for Take Shelter. “As a production entity, you have to under-
stand the films will define the branding of the company,” Ryder says. “We make commercially viable independent films that can be developed outside the studio system and would have no problem being marketed and distributed by a studio. “Having worked as an independent pro-
ducer for as long as I have, it’s incredible to have the access to marketing and distribution perspectives [through FilmNation’s network of distributors] at such an early stage. As we’re putting these films together, we’re able to make informed decisions.” FilmNation is now in development on two
thrillers: Hirschbiegel’s Eye In The Sky and McTeigue’s Message From The King, which is casting and will shoot in Los Angeles in the first quarter of 2012. In the sales pipeline are Jonathan Glazer’s
Under The Skin set to star Scarlett Johansson, and a space mission thriller called In The Event Of A Moon Disaster based on a spec script from former journalist Mike Jones. “[The company backers] are invited to do as
much or as little as they like and we’ve definitely had some good choices out of them,” says Bas- ner, of his flexible approach to budget levels and the number of films the company makes a year. “We need to deliver for the financier of the film
to ensure they’re profitable and we need to reach the numbers we say we will. We need to create a platform for distributors to be able to come in and acquire movies. We need to service them in ways that have not been serviced before.” FilmNation’s IT boffins have created an
innovative way of doing this: Basecamp is a password-protected extranet inspired by social- media sites. It allows the company’s associates to track their film’s performance anywhere in the world, view materials and chat with part- ners.
n 16 Screen International at the AFM November 3, 2011
FilmNation sales titles include The Flowers Of War and (below) The Skin I Live In FACTFILE GLEN BASNER AND AARON RYDER
n Glen Basner began his career in 1995 under former Good Machine co-founder David Linde. He went on to head up sales at Linde’s Focus Features as executive vice-president of international sales and distribution, handling titles such as Brokeback Mountain (pictured below), The Constant Gardener and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He moved to The Weinstein Company in 2005 to become president of international, where his sales credits included 1408, Hoodwinked! and Superhero Movie. He launched FilmNation in 2008.
‘It’s incredible to have access to marketing and distribution perspectives at such an
early stage’ Aaron Ryder, FilmNation
“When a distributor comes in and buys a
film, they’re also buying a value-added service that we believe sets us apart,” Basner explains. Basner and Ryder know the international
marketplace well enough to move forward on projects without a US deal in place. “The importance of domestic box office
depends on the type of movie. On some films it has little or no relevance,” Basner says, in reference to Sanctum which grossed $80m out- side North America, where it took a disappoint- ing $23.2m. “We need to make sure the movies can work
in as many territories as possible. On House At The End Of The Street, we started production without US distribution in place. We believed it would work overseas. We made the decision to move forward and we [now] have excellent [US] distribution in place with Relativity. “It’s our approach to recognise how the
world is changing and deliver films that can be successful, irrespective of how they work in the US.” n
s
n Aaron Ryder joined Newmarket Films in 1999 as president of production. He developed and produced or executive produced Memento, The Mexican, Donnie Darko and Wrong Turn. In 2003 he helped Newmarket build a distribution arm and acquired titles such as Whale Rider (pictured below), Monster and The Woodsman. In 2004 he formed Raygun Productions with Newmarket, to feed Newmarket at least two films a year. He joined FilmNation as president of production in 2009.
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