Cannes: Independent head of WME on moving film sales and financials in-house
Deborah Mackintosh and Alex Walton are Croisette veterans, but this year marks her first Cannes Film Festival as the head of WME Independent.
Following its separation from Endeavor Content, WME Independent brought domestic and international film sales and financing consulting services back within the agency. (WME parent Endeavor agreed to sell at least 80 percent of its stake in Endeavor Content under the terms of the 2021 deal with WGA. South Korean media giant CJ ENM has since bought a majority stake.)
After setting up their new operations in October – after two years of virtual markets – the two are hoping to return to the south of France. “I will literally never forget the first market, where you just turn off your zoom and turn around and you are still at home. And you’re like, ‘This isn’t what I signed up for,'” Mackintosh laughs.
Before his return to Cannes – where he is representing the rights to films such as the Casey Affleck-Lawrence Fishburne vehicle catapultA Modern Take On small village Pakistani title starring Riz Ahmed joyland –Executive talks to THR about the benefits of being in-house, Netflix’s purchasing power and the success of A24 in the wake of recent customer problems everywhere together Might mean for the market.
How was the transition from Endeavor Content and were you looking to change anything in terms of strategy when you started WME Independent?
Deborah Mackintosh: A lot has changed since Endeavor Content was created and a lot has changed in Endeavor Content. So we’re playing with a new slate in some major ways on how to be inside the agency again. We also have a very unique additional side of our business in which we are an international sales entity with a film packaging and domestic sales group. All other agencies have that latter part, but the international sales company does not have the former. We are leveraging that capability within the agency, bringing to market a number of projects where we handle global sales. We’re certainly still willing and able to partner with film nations and heroes and rocket science if we so desire.
Alex Walton: If you are a production company and a sales team together, there is a natural conflict. You don’t always have to make movies that we can sell. Now being a sales team attached to an agency, our role is really feeding the distributors, trying to find things that we believe have a good audience out there.
Marcel the Shell Book at the Beverly Hills Offices of WME Independent Courtesy of WME
How important is it to keep worldwide rights available to potential streaming buyers?
Macintosh: Each film has a unique set of things that need to be addressed when deciding how to raise funding and handle sales. Yes, there are certain types of movies where we all collectively rely on this strategy to leave the world as open to us as possible. But Apple is the only real exception (that) really dislikes regions being taken off the table, making it possible to pre-sell individual theatrical-driven international regions and still score a dreamy deal domestically. We’ve been navigating that for some time, now. The pandemic set it up. For example, we always knew lost daughter If we’ve sold multiple territories in advance, which we did, it will be something we’ll navigate if we sell to a streamer. And we navigated it.
Is Netflix’s poor quarterly earnings report and subscribers something you’re thinking about going to market?
Walton: Netflix has a huge market share in the streaming world, I think we always have to keep that in mind. Netflix has been openly talking about less being more for some time now. They’ve established themselves that that’s what they’re generally looking for, whether it’s an acquisition or a pre-purchase film, so I don’t think the recent news is going to affect that strategy. They certainly still have the potential to be very competitive.
How about Amazon and MGM? Do you have any indication whether they will be buying independently of each other after the acquisition?
Macintosh: We have been fortunate enough to continue to have a lot of traffic and are already in flux with both Amazon and MGM on various fronts. Ever since the merger was approved, they’ve been more transparent about talking to each other about certain types of conversations, but I think it’ll remain a bit of a black box for us to decide which way to negotiate. stay in position.
Walton: We’re in very close conversations with them as well, and it certainly seems like there’s a very real synergy between the two companies — the amazing depth of Prime and the MGM library. The way they handle separate rights can actually give real strength to the combined company.
The Lost Daughter movie poster at the Beverly Hills offices of WME Independent Courtesy of WME
As the industry continues to emerge out of the pandemic, do you anticipate more interest from traditional theatrical distributors?
Macintosh: It’s amazing that the A24 has had so much success at the beginning of the year that it could have easily come and gone. But they worked their magic and struck their hands everything Everywhere, This year it will not be the only film that is not a superhero film or a franchise. We are definitely trying to sell more such products in the market through those types of distributors.
Walton: Not only domestically, but also internationally, [theatrical distributors] During pandemics have been really fluid and many are stronger than pre-pandemic because they can move so fast. The Neon, domestically, is a good example of a company that bought a lot and can jump straight back into its historic premium VOD type models that Tom Quinn has been leading for a long time. In the last few markets we have seen a lot of takeovers from independent independents domestically, which is good to see again.
How is the success of the film everywhere together Signals to buyers?
Macintosh: In many ways this shows that there are ready-made films available that we will sell that are going to do well individually. To bring out the audience, invest in seeing the type of product as it will drive your business. It’s great to have such a success story in this moment. I hope there are more rapid distributors, which I think certainly are, who still believe in that model. Whether you’re having a hybrid opportunity, like buying Searchlight for Hulu and still being able to do so in the first dramatic way that fits their studio model for the past 20 years, or focused on buying something for Peacock Well, we’re going to see a lot of really interesting models come out this year. I hope they continue to buy things that fit a new paradigm for the industry so that people have stuff to look at. There’s a lot of crap outside of CinemaCon that there just isn’t enough in cinemas. As a consumer myself, I do not disagree with this. I like to see something as often as possible, and some weekends, there’s just nothing there.
Going into the market, are there any trends you’ve seen in terms of the types of projects, whether it’s style or budget, that buyers are looking for?
Walton: I don’t see any trend. But home entertainment is always evolving. Theater programmers with a $20 million P&A, those films still being made are not being supported with a $20 million P&A. With the development of Window, it actually made those movies a little more possible. Certainly, those are the kind of movies that home entertainment platforms or buyers, whether television stations or streaming platforms, are eager to have as part of their programming.
Rebecca Hall’s Book of ‘Passing’ at the WME Independent Offices in Beverly Hills Courtesy of WME
Given that the past two years have seen a shift in 11-hour distribution for films, are filmmakers more proactive in voicing what they want to see as a distributor?
In our experience, they have always been active. We have always made every effort to fulfill their hopes and dreams for their films with the market and with our distribution options. negotiating a deal for passingFor example, in early January of 2021, [we were asking]: “What might the rest of 2021 look like in this pandemic world?” We had a tough choice to make between [a Netflix] Partnerships and some dramatic players who really wanted to lean in there. It was important to Rebecca [Hall, the writer and director of the movie,] He had some kind of life to film in theaters as the festivals continued. We were able to depend on Netflix to actually put that film on various award campaigns and in theaters. For BelfastWhen Alex and team sold it to Focus, it was hugely important. [Kenneth Branagh] That that film was, globally, as theatrical exposure as possible. Focus was able to strike the right strings of a deal for that occasion. Our aim here is to please everyone, especially with the autars at the center of these films.
How do you want to see WME Independent grow?
Walton: Our ability to maintain close rapport within our own agency is clearly important. It is as if a hundred creators are sitting on the floor below you. Especially now at its very starting point, we have to describe the ways we can add value to other pieces of the business. We have helped them with many music-based things and many sports-based things. For example, we were recently involved in selling a large football documentary to FIFA from one of our clients.
Macintosh: What we really want to focus on over the next 18 months is the most dynamic version of a talent agency’s packaging and sales group. Our pipeline, as evidenced by our slate at this year’s Cannes, is going to be massively eclectic and diversified. We are one of the only international sales operations not associated with our own self-financing studio. I think that gives us a real advantage. This means that we will be generous in everything we do.
