USA: INDEPENDENT FILMS ARE SOLD FOR DISTRIBUTION IN " FILMS4 AUCTION" IN LOS ANGELES

Record ID: 388910

  • Title: USA: INDEPENDENT FILMS ARE SOLD FOR DISTRIBUTION IN " FILMS4 AUCTION" IN LOS ANGELES
  • Date: 5th March 2000
  • Summary: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) HAL "CORKY" KESSLER OF ART IN MOTION SAYING "We went all of you filmmakers to give us lists of places that you've set your films to and have turned you down. We want to especially invite every one of those people to come to the world's first auction." PARK CITY, UTAH, UNITED STATES (RECENT)
  • Embargoed: 20th March 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES AND PARK CITY, UTAH, UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVACLVP4XJ5LVUIGZCTHY2A15TE6
  • Story Text: A first of its kind auction, hatched as a new way to sell independent films, drew modest bids but no buyers for the 15 movies that came under the block Friday (March 3) in Los Angeles.
    With audience appreciation for independent films at an all-time high, Art in Motion, a Chicago-based film distribution companny, has come up with the latest outlet for the struggling filmmaker, a film auction.
    On March 3, 2000 "Films4Auction", touted by its organisers as the world's first film auction, gave film buyers from around the world the opportunity to bid on and purchase 15 independent films chosen by the braintrust of Art in Motion.
    While bids were taken on all 15 films, all fell below the moviemakers' pre-set prices.Promoters of the event still hold out hope that some bidders will eventually see the bargain to be had and buy some of the movies.
    "We have worked very hard to make this first auction really a celebration of fine filmmaking," said Marilynn Preston, of Art in Motion, at a meet-and-greet breakfast with the filmmakers represented in the auction, "Where films will sell at fair market value because that's how auctions work."
    The 15 films chosen for the auction were determined to be the best of more than 2,000 entries submitted to the competition.To qualify for auction, the films had to be completed, undistributed, at least 80 minutes long and must be in English or have English subtitles.
    "We want all of you filmmakers to give us lists of places that you've sent your films to and have turned you down," said Hal "Corky" Kessler, a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer anda partner in Art in Motion, "We want to especially invite every one of those people."
    But why would an independent filmmaker chose to go this route? Why not the traditional method of shopping a film on the film festival circuit? As writer/director Lisa Abbatiello knows all too well, film festivals aren't the outlet for up-and-coming filmmakkers they used to be.
    "Festivals can only do so much," said Abbatiello, "It's usually about whatever the festival programmers feelthey want the festival to represent and that's often at odds with Hollywood really."
    Abatierello's film "Killing Cinderella" is just one of the pieces being offred up on the auction block, but its chances of being picked up for distribution are considered high as it takes advantage of the perennially popular romantic comedy format with a modern twist on an ages old fairy tale.
    "Killing Cinderella" is also the feature film debut of Jessica Capshaw, daughter of Indiana Jones veteran Kate Capshaw and step-daughter to Capshaw's director-husband Steven Spielberg.
    Another movie expected to garner studio attention is "For My Baby", a psycho-drama starring Alan Cummming.Clips from all of the films are available on the Film4Auction website at 'Films4Auction.com'.
    Joining "Killing Cinderella" and "For My Baby" are: "35 Miles From Normal", "Escape From Cuba", "Le Dernier Plan (The Last Shot)", "El Maya", "The Next Tenant", "Only in L.A.", "Our Father", "Rats", "The Ride", "Rose's", "Second Cousin, Once Removed", "Seducing Maarya",and "The Trust".
    The auction format is intended to benefit both the filmmakers and the approximately 1,500 studios worldwide who have expressed interest in bidding on the films according to the organisers.
    "We won't know if it's going to be successful until people bid," said Kessler, "We hope that the buyers come.And we would think that the buyers would come to buy."
    In a marketplace where independent films and the festivals that used to promote them are being rapidly monopolised by not-so-inndependent movie studios, film auctions could be the last hope and outlet of choice for the struggling filmmakers of the future.Then again, it might not.Only the drop of the gavel will tell.
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