Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a two-part story on the Sundance Independent Film Festival. Part two will appear in next week’s SHOOT.
PARK CITY, Utah—For members of the film community, it is a land of opportunity. The Sundance Independent Film Festival—and dozens of alternative competitions that have been spawned from it—is where discoveries are made, million-dollar deals are brokered and the voices of independent filmmakers speak volumes.
Increasingly, the commercial community is tuning in. Agency, production and post personnel have invested time and money to bear witness to the Park City event, which this year ran from Jan. 20-30. As DDB Chicago’s executive production director Grant Hill put it: "I want to connect with that world. I’m working on some projects that might relate to [the independent nature of] Sundance. Also, I’m interested in meeting young filmmakers, and I’m always looking for potential agency producers."
At the same time, commercial and clip directors are exposing their indie selves to film industry decision-makers. This year, of the 112 films in competition, at least eight came from current or former members of the spot/clip community, including Girl Go Boom, by New York-based Celsius Films director Mark Tiedemann; Beyond the Ocean by director Tony Pemberton, who formerly helmed a few spots via Publicis United Campaigns Moscow; and one of the most lauded films of the festival, Saving Grace, by British director Nigel Cole, which won the audience award for world cinema. Shortly after Saving Grace premiered, Fine Line Features ponied up a reported $4 million for North American rights to the film, the highest sale price of this year’s Festival at press time. Cole is repped for spots domestically by Shooting Star Productions, New York. He also maintains Rawi Macartney Cole, London.
Other spot directors with films screened at last month’s Sundance include Steve Buscemi (Animal Factory) of Los Angeles-based A Band Apart Commercials, and Barbara Kopple (My Generation) of non•fic•tion spots and longform, Santa Monica. Still others could be found at the so-called alt fests. Director Brian Belefant of New York-based Wildlife Management screened Burning Passion at SlamDunk, and executive producer David Sussan of The Sussan Group, New York, entered Minimum Wage in NoDance; it was directed by Brian O’Malley.
Then there are the commercial artisans credited on films, such as composer Billy White Acre of Spin Music, Los Angeles, who scored the Sundance premiere and hot commodity Love and Sex, directed by Valerie Breiman (White Acre also does some spot work via HUM Music+Sound Design, Santa Monica); and editor Matt Chessé of Crew Cuts West, Santa Monica, who cut Everything Put Together, by Marc Forster, which was part of Sundance’s dramatic competition.
All of which turns Park City into "a reunion of sorts," according to Loretta Jeneski, executive producer of non•fic•tion. For instance, DP Maryse Alberti shot Joe Gould’s Secret, which was directed by and stars Stanley Tucci, and premiered at Sundance. Alberti will next shoot a J. Walter Thompson, Detroit, campaign for the Race for the Cure Foundation and Ford, to be directed by Kopple. Naturally, Jeneski said, "I was interested to meet her and see her film." The non•fic•tion contingent also included Sundance jurors/documentarians Jessica Yu and Jon Else.
Deanne Mehling, executive producer of editorial house Jigsaw, Santa Monica, pointed to the Festival as an artistic shot in the arm. "We all get drained creatively," she said. "It’s great to see the work of new, independent filmmakers."
"Commercials borrow from film and vice versa," added Amy Grgich, director of sales and marketing for Ring of Fire Advanced Media, Hollywood. "It’s important to know what’s out there and what people are doing."
If visiting Sundance marks a reunion for anyone, it is Trevor Macy, COO of bicoastal/international Propaganda Films. Macy was formerly COO of Sundance, where he was primarily involved in building corporate sponsorships for the organization. Among his chief reasons for attending the Festival this year were scouting talent and supporting filmmakers from the Propaganda ranks, such as Mark Osborne, who has been working out of bicoastal/international Satellite, a division of Propaganda. Osborne’s feature debut, Dropping Out, premiered in the American spectrum collection. "My being here is about getting to know [the directors] better," Macy said, adding that he plans to attend film festivals on a regular basis.
Still, Macy’s intent was not to sign new directors during the Festival. "That shouldn’t happen here," he said. "They’re all getting the hard sell now. We want to be the people still standing after all the [distribution] deals are brokered."
Having ties to Sundance insiders can’t hurt. "It’s pretty easy to get phone numbers," Macy admitted, though he said he generally doesn’t view films prior to their debut. "I respect the process. Sundance is about filmmakers showing their work to multiple buyers at once. Otherwise the filmmaker loses out."
Lora Schulson, a producer at TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, was also scouting talent in Park City. "We’re always looking for new directors," she said. "Sometimes a scene in a movie will strike you as being commercially viable."
Director’s POV
From a director’s standpoint, Sundance is often a place where careers are made. Osborne, for instance, previously directed the Oscar-nominated animated film More, which won the short film award at Sundance last year. A graduate of California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, Calif., Osborne had for several years been looking to break into music videos prior to More, to no avail. By the time he was in production on Dropping Out, however, he regretfully had to turn down assignments, including a Beck video.
On the other hand, Josh Aronson of Aronson Films, New York, a 15-year veteran of the commercial business, found it difficult to cross over into longer projects. "Commercials are so competitive," he said. "You have to keep working or people forget about you." Three years ago, however, he took a leap of faith to focus on a documentary about cochlear implants, a hearing device that has triggered a war within the deaf community. Sound and Fury, which screened at Sundance, will be the basis of a feature version; Marlee Matlin is slated to star.
Similarly, since making the cut at Sundance, Mike Mills of Hollywood-based The Directors Bureau is mulling over the possibility of a feature-length version of his 23-minute short, Architecture of Reassurance.
For Belefant, indie filmmaking serves another purpose. While the director’s first love is commercials, he said, "It was so liberating to do something on my own." He also hopes the film will demonstrate skills that might otherwise go untapped by the spot industry. "I hope agency people will see it," he said. "I did a Sony PlayStation ad [for TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles], and now everyone knows I can direct a guy in an animal suit, which is great. But I can do other things, too."
The bottom line according to Bill Scarlet of One Such Films, New York, is that, "it’s just a thrill to be here." Scarlet’s short, The Kiss, was accepted at Sundance after three long years of off-again-on-again production. "I don’t have any expectations," he said. "I hope The Kiss is recognized for what it is, and maybe it will open people’s eyes and they’ll consider me for longer format work, which I’d love to do. But it’s just a nice feather in your cap to have your film shown here."
Concluding our Sundance coverage next week, SHOOT looks at the online and short film aspects of the festival, as well as digital filmmaking.
