FEATURE FOCUS
lifford Werber was already intimately acquainted with local-language production from his senior executive days at Fox and
CLIFFORD WERBER NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON VOLGAFILM SANFORD PANITCH
Breaking the language barrier C
Warner Bros. So as he watched demand grow and, closer to home, witnessed trends like lower distri- bution fees create increasingly advantageous posi- tions for studio partners such as Alcon and New Regency, the idea for Fluent Entertainment was born. “The past 15 years or so have been witness to an evolution in equity fi lm-fi nancing models in Holly- wood as well as the growing success of local-lan- guage films,” says Werber, a former senior vice-president of acquisitions at Fox where he snapped up international rights to Braveheart, and more recently the ex-head of global co-production and acquisitions at Warner Bros, where he was involved in Trainspotting and Asterix, among others. “Fluent is a marriage of these two evolving
opportunities, and perhaps the fi rst of its kind to apply the apparatus of a studio-aligned equity fi nance model to local-language fi lms.” Fluent’s financial and advisory clout thus far
comes from New York-based bank CIT Group and European law fi rm Olswang, plus a strategic inves- tor within the US. The studio component was sealed in March, with a three-year worldwide fi rst- look deal with Sony Pictures that taps into Sony’s impressive distribution network. Werber began exploratory talks with Sony in mid-2011, at a time when the likes of Disney, Para- mount and Universal were scaling back their local language co-production and acquisitions busi- nesses to varying degrees.
“While at Fox and Warner Bros, when we fi rst launched local-language fi lm strategies, the only studio then actively involved was Sony,” Wer-
ber says. “While we’ve seen some of the studios recently recalibrate their focus on local content, Sony’s hasn’t wavered,” he says. “Together, we identifi ed an opportunity at Sony to build an Alcon- like fi nancing structure.” The company aims to make 10 fi lms a year in mul-
’A local territory can be a petri dish for intellectual
property’ Clifford Werber, Fluent Entertainment
tiple territories. Its MO is to fi nd an intellectual prop- erty, take it to an international producer — although Werber notes that in 80% of cases the producer will most likely come to him with a property — inject equity into the equation and offer up Sony’s pipeline. “The appetite for local fi lms has increased and
the films have improved in quality and become more commercial,” he says. “Fifteen-or-so years ago, local fi lms were predominantly auteur-driven and released like specialised fi lms. We didn’t see a lot of romantic comedies, teen or family films. Audiences have responded in kind and today local- language fi lms are in wide release and, in many territories, populating, if not commandeering, the top-10, week after week.” Werber anticipates identifying the fi rst crop of
titles with Sony this year in time for release in 2013. When a project receives the greenlight in a terri- tory, Sony can also dangle the carrot of test screen- ings and will advance the p&a. The distribution mandate extends only to the territory where the film is made, although the partners are free to explore wider footprints. Sony’s distribution fee in the Fluent deal is, Werber says, “very competitive”. Prior to the studio’s involvement, Fluent set up a
couple of productions in Germany. Funf Freunde is a remake with Sam Film of the classic young adven- ture property The Famous Five, and is on its way
Clifford Werber of Fluent Entertainment talks about the company’s studio-aligned equity finance model for local-language films, and its new deal with Sony. Jeremy Kay reports
towards 1 million admissions through Constantin. A remake of Brazilian body-swap comedy If I Were You is in the works with H&V Entertainment. “A local territory can be something of a petri
dish for intellectual property,” Werber says. “If you can’t get Harlan Coben’s Tell No One or Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five produced in the US — and Lord knows I’ve tried — you might as well pro- duce it in France, Germany or elsewhere as a local-language fi lm.” Once a project is set up, Werber likes “to get out
of the way” and leave the creative decisions to the fi lm-makers. But he is not averse to offering busi- ness advice. The runaway ($325m-plus) success in Europe of French hit Intouchables offers pause for thought. “A producer should try to hold on to the rights outside of the territory because he or she is waiting for that time when the rights have value as an exportable fi lm,” says Werber. The retreat from the international arena of New
Line International and Miramax a few years ago has created a dearth of regular US product fl ow and led to the larger focus on local product. Fluent is betting on being in the right space at the right time. “Today we’re seeing local fi lm market share rise, from India’s 90% to France’s 42%, Germany’s 28% and Korea’s 52% and there are emerging ter- ritories joining the fray,” Werber says. “The number of local fi lms breaking out and the upside of these breakout fi lms has markedly increased.” The industry is taking notice. “Clifford pio- neered the studios’ local-language production efforts here in Brazil and helped expand the market for our films here and worldwide,” says Carlos Diegues, who chairs the 2012 Camera d’Or jury in Cannes. “A fi lm-maker could not ask for a more supportive partner.”
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Funf Freunde
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