Sundance: 2009′s Industry Indicator

The Nation’s most important market for independent film has officially kicked off.  With a struggling economy, this year’s Sundance Film Festival will be a significant indicator of industry trends in 2009.  Though festival submissions have remained steady with over 9,000 feature and short films, festival director Geoffrey Gilmore estimates acquisitions to plunge 66% from $45 million spent in 2007 to only $15 million in 2009.  “I know it’s going to be a difficult year for the festival” says Gilmore, “Buyers just aren’t in the mood to take a gamble…”.  Guy Stodel, Paramount Vantage’s executive vice president of production and acquisitions, sums up the buyer mindset when he told the Wall Street Journal, “You can get emotional about a film and want to buy it because it moves you, but that doesn’t translate to getting an audience on a Friday night.”

Adding fuel to the fire, Studios are in the process of slimming down – several indie distributors are now out of the game.  Last year, Warner Bros. closed Warner Independent and Picturehouse, as well as merging New Line Cinema into its main operations – Viacom followed suit with Paramount Vantage, as did Weinstein Co.  The players that still exist, such as Fox Searchlight, Focus Features and Lionsgate Films, are shifting their models, buying fewer films on the open market and producing more of their own.  In addition to a tough economic environment, this is likely prompted by a year of box office busts from last year’s most buzzed about films, Hamlet 2, American Teen, and Choke.

However, in the midst of an economic recession, Studio meltdowns, and a looming SAG strike, it is not all doom and gloom.  “The appetite for ambitious art films is healthier than many assume…I don’t think we’re in a period where people don’t want to see serious drama.” says Rick Klubeck of UTA.  I believe that in 2009 a beautiful sickness will take over the business and infect the minds of artists and executives that I will aptly call “The Slumdog Affect”.  Studios will embrace cost-cutting measures to lower overhead and sustain profitability, and though the circumstances by which this is forced are unfortunate, the collateral affect is opportunity.  David Carr of The New York Times said it best, “Part of the reason so many great movies come from outside the studio apparatus is that the lack of big shooting budgets and “help” from the people signing the checks forces filmmakers to innovate. Ultimately, you can’t manufacture cinematic excellence; you can only enable it.”

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More on Sundance Film Festival 2009:

• It’s Definitely a Buyer’s Market – LA Times
• Sundance to Screen a Leaner, Quieter Festival – Salt Lake Tribune
• Slowdown at Sundance? – Wall Street Journal
• At Sundance, ‘Slumdog’ Casts a Long Shadow – NY Times