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TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 – SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015
AT ZURICH FILM FESTIVAL www.ScreenDaily.com
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Industry braces for consolidation BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
The glut of scripted drama and European film consolidation were among the topics highlighted at this year’s Zurich Summit. Film and TV executives touched on the growing likelihood of consolidation, both in the US scripted TV market and the European film distribution space. Antony Root, EVP of original programming and production for HBO Europe, said: “There are 400 scripted shows on US TV this year. There can’t possibly be the amount of writing, directing and acting talent in Hollywood to sustain that… As happened with the dot-com boom, there will likely be consolidation.” Anonymous Content CEO Steve Golin said of the excess of content on US TV: “There is a glut. There will be a shakeout in the middle. High-end shows will
Antony Root
survive. Reality [TV] is suffering. With that many broadcasters, you need content that will differentiate itself.” True Detective exec Golin said he was initially “completely shocked” that his hit USA Network series, Mr. Robot, was not picked up by HBO or another established scripted player, but that the acquisition was a sign of the times and 60-70 US TV buyers actually provided great opportunity. “Initially I didn’t think USA
Network was the right demographic but the marketplace is changing so quickly,” he added. “Networks like USA Network are now saying a show like Mr. Robot or Suits can rebrand their network and inform their buying strategy going forward. From a seller’s point of view, we’re excited.” The surplus is affecting the film sector, which has its own challenges cutting through to audiences despite producing more films than ever. “There are too many films being made,” said Black Bear Pictures COO Daniel Steinman. “The hardest thing remains sniffing out the good material,” admitted Birdman producer John Lesher. Film-maker relationships and early ownership of IP are key steps to incubating film businesses in a challenging market
where release strategies are more difficult to predict, agreed a panel of indie financiers. “With the exception of Fox Searchlight and Sony Classics, you never know what kind of release you’ll get, even when it’s contractual,” said Thorsten Schumacher, managing director of HanWay Films. The executive predicted further consolidation in the European distribution sector. “There is some structural change going on,” added Schumacher. “Some European markets are still relying on free TV, which is eroding. “The UK is becoming quite consolidated but due to marketing shifts and changing viewing habits there will be further consolidation in markets like France, Germany and Italy, where many film companies are still smaller family-run businesses.”
Waltz gave up Hollywood ‘fantasy’ BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz had given up on the “fantasy” of a Hollywood career before getting the call to audition for Inglourious Basterds. Austria’s Waltz told industry during a Zurich Summit talk that the “fantasy” of a Hollywood film career had “evaporated” long before he met Quentin Tarantino. The actor, who had a prolific theatre and TV career in Germanspeaking Europe, had not made a film in three years prior to 2009
hit Inglourious Basterds and had not made an English-language film in five years. “When it did happen, it was really out of leftfield,” said the actor, who spoke of his previous disappointments when auditioning for US productions. “I went to a few castings on US films in my career and it was very frustrating because you could smell it was about the production looking for soft money in Europe,” said Waltz. Continued on page 3
Zurich bestows Golden Eyes Zurich Film Festival awarded its highest honours last night to US producer Steve Golin and German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl. Golin received the career achievement award at the gala screening of his most recent production, Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight. The Anonymous Content CEO has spent more than
four decades in film. Next up is The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Veteran actor Mueller-Stahl received the lifetime achievement award from the festival, which screened Jim Jarmusch’s Night On Earth, in which he plays taxi driver Helmut Grokenberger. Michael Rosser
Mr. Robot star Christian Slater here in Zurich, where the show features in the festival’s TVision strand. See page 3 for full report.
Filmmaker Awards pick winners BY MICHAEL ROSSER
Swiss directors Michael Steiner and Jan Gassmann have won the inaugural Filmmaker Awards. The prize, set up by the Association For The Promotion Of Film In Switzerland to support promising films, was open to Swiss film-makers whose projects are currently in the late production or post-production phase. Steiner’s project, Und Morgen
Seid Ihr Tot, received $77,000 (CHF75,000) and Gassmann’s project, Europe, She Loves, received $26,000 (CHF25,000). The two winners were chosen from a total of four nominated projects. The presentation took place at an IWC gala dinner For The Love Of Cinema, held as part of ZFF, and the jury was headed by actor Christoph Waltz.
TODAY
Liam Hemsworth, page 3
NEWS Oh brother Liam Hemsworth reveals plans to unite on screen with brother Chris » Page 3
INTERVIEW On a high Ben Wheatley reveals the secrets of festival title High-Rise » Page 5
SCREENINGS
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Dutch execs raise Periscope BY GEOFFREY MACNAB
Dutch industry veteran San Fu Maltha of Fu Works has partnered with Bruno Felix and Femke Wolting of Amsterdambased Submarine Films to launch a new distribution company. Details of the company, named Periscope, were revealed during the Holland Film Meeting in Utrecht. The new outfit has already made several acquisitions, the first of which is Crystal Moselle’s The Wolfpack, which plays here in the International Documentary Film Competition and was acquired from Magnolia. Other acquisitions include animation Long Way North, sold by Urban Distribution; Amy Berg’s Janis Joplin documentary, Janis: Little Girl Blue, sold by Content; and French animation Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy, from Michel Gondry and Noam Chomsky. Both Fu Works and Submarine are among the most active production companies in the Netherlands and recently partnered to produce Peter Greenaway’s Eisenstein In Guanajuato. Felix confirmed Periscope is likely to distribute some of the films that Fu Works and Submarine produces and the company may also look to expand beyond the Netherlands and release its titles in Belgium as well. Periscope surfaces in the Netherlands at a time when long-established Dutch company A-Film, co-founded by Maltha, is on the verge of closure. But Maltha emphasised Periscope will not be “another A-Film”, and he will be hunting “little gems” other Benelux distributors have overlooked.