International markets, then and now

As thousands of screen professionals do business at this week’s MIPTV in France, Antony I. Ginnane (SPAA president), Charlotte Mickie (EVP of international sales at eOne Films International), Andrew Mackie (Transmission Films), Nicole O’Donohue (producer, Griff the Invisible) and Lizz Watts (producer, Animal Kingdom, Laid) reminisce about their first experience at an international film market, and describe how those events have changed since.

Antony I. Ginnane

What was your first market?

The 1973 Cannes Film Festival Marche, when I attended with Richard Franklin to advise on foreign sales for The True Story of Eskimo Nell. A lot has changed since then. There was no video or DVDs for screeners so you either got buyers to your market screenings or you shipped them a 35mm print to view. And buying decisions were made on the basis of primary theatrical value with some TV underpinning in some territories.

The Palais was at the opposite end of the Croisette. The Australians had just opened up in the Penthouse Apartment on the Croisette, and Australian films were the next hot new thing with agents like the late Lawrence Safir and Jeanine Seawell banging the drum. Australian accents were still a thing of wonder to the Americans – they hadn’t been exposed to hundreds of our actors in film and TV.

But some things were as they are now. A bunch of buyers looking for product and a bunch of sellers trying to make their movie part of that product acquisition, and the same push pull between mainstream cinema and specialty. In some territories theatrical pricing and competition was as aggressive or more so than today but in many territories there were two or three circuits and three or four buyers… and the children of many of the buyers I met that year are running companies today.

Charlotte Mickie

What was your first market?

The Monte Carlo TV market in the mid-80s. That was a long time ago, and it was a TV market at the dawning of the home video explosion. It’s so different from what I do now with theatrical features, and so much time has passed that I can’t make a comparison. It was also a surreal setting; between home video and pay TV, people were looking for product with little regard for quality, cast, genre—anything. Not everything sold, but a lot sold for no reason other than there were pipelines to fill. That’s all over.

Andrew Mackie

What was your first market?

It was a MIFED, in Milan, about 15 years ago. I remember the smell of cigarette smoke, and how surprisingly unglamorous it all was. We picked up David O’Russell’s Spanking the Monkey. The buyer/seller dynamic hasn’t changed that much, and in many of the same people working the markets then are still doing it today.

Nicole O’Donohue

What was your first market?

The International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2008. I was invited to the Rotterdam Lab that runs alongside Cinemart and selects about 40 producers each year, with workshops and round table sessions with sales agents and industry professionals.

I came away feeling illuminated about how the film industry is really an international industry, especially when it comes to raising finance for films back home. The networking element of smaller markets like Cinemart is really fantastic, because it is smaller in size there is more opportunity to spend quality time with the people who are there.

Liz Watts

What was your first market?

Cannes, such a long time ago I can’t even remember when it was. It was such an eye opener in terms of understanding that there’s a whole world of product out there. It was totally inspiring because you see that yes, there’s lots of competition and they’re all after the same dollars or want to get to the same sales agents and distributors, but you also see the opportunity and the fact is that people are able to make really amazing projects.

This is an excerpt form our April 2011 cover story Stand out! How to make the most out of your visit to the international markets. It’s on sale now.