Glen Basner and Roeg Sutherland opened their global sales playbook at TIFF: The Market. The duo discussed the realities of working in the modern-day independent film business during a conference session at TIFF’s newly-minted market. They also got into the weeds on the dos and don’ts of packaging indie film projects.
Sutherland, CAA’s Co-Head of Media Finance, said that a fast-changing market is nothing new, but the pace of change has accelerated. “It’s cyclical, [but] what is happening now is that things are changing so much quicker than they ever have. Instead of having to reset yourself every six months, you have to reset yourself every two weeks.”
He added: “Things will be uncomfortable, but we work in independent film; everything’s uncomfortable pretty much all the time.”
Sutherland said that when the business is changing super-fast it also creates huge opportunity.
“Studios are not developing the way they used to, which presents an unbelievable opportunity to the independent community. All our talent, be they directors or actors, are desperately looking for great ideas. And those great ideas, for the most part, are not coming out of the traditional routes.”
Basner, CEO of FilmNation Entertainment, talked about challenges around packaging indie film projects, and specifically distributors’ attitude to risk.
“This is my biggest complaint about the independent distribution community right now,” he said. “There’s a very traditional approach to packaging. They’re worried about how much risk they’re taking, and so they know they need to mitigate that by selling their movie to pay television, and specifically to streamers. The only problem is that we’re [then] building movies for the streamer companies. That may work great on streaming, but it’s not the same thing as building a theatrical proposition.”
He continued: “We are trying to evolve to say, ‘how do we make the best possible film so that it can compel people, in an undeniable way, to see it in a movie theater?’ And if they do go and see it, then it’s going to work in home video, it’s going to work on pay TV, it’s going to work on free television.”
To warm applause Basner also sounded an optimistic note about theatrical. “I see all the films that are premiering at festivals like TIFF, and I’m going to have a really busy next four months sitting in a movie theater watching great movies.
“Filmmakers are finding a way, not just to get their films made, but to tell their stories from their own unique perspective… and audiences are responding. I think 2027 is going to be a great year at the theatrical box office.”
