A self-styled independent movie studio is announcing its launch Monday by putting together the two things that independent films lack most: distribution and financing.
DF Indie Studios, headed by two New York corporate restructuring experts, is starting with about $300 million in loans and distribution deals, and is about halfway to raising $100 million in equity, its founders say.
The founders, Mary Dickinson and Charlene Fisher, plan to make and distribute 10 to 12 films a year that cost $10 million or less to produce. They expect to guarantee those movies theatrical release in the U.S., but only after putting them through the profit-focused “greenlighting” approval process generally seen in major studios.
Other studios have a similar strategy, but generally not for movies with budgets this small.
The market for low-budget, independent movies at film festivals has crumbled in the past two years, and indie labels at the major studios have been shuttered or merged. Larger studios that distribute movies had bid up the price for independent films even though many did not pay off, and the studios pulled back from the market when the economy turned bad and financing became harder to come by.
Dickinson, 51, and Fisher, 42, say they did not know the indie environment would look like this when they began working on the project two years ago.
“This was not nearly as brilliant as the market has made us,” said Dickinson, the chief executive. “It’s created a huge vacuum in the marketplace.”
DF Indie has a $150 million revolving credit line with a major bank to pay for film printing and advertising, and $150 million in deals with domestic and foreign distributors who have seen a proposed slate of films.
In addition, wealthy individuals have invested between $5 million and $20 million each for part ownership of the company and a share in the films’ proceeds.
The movie projects are being produced by people with strong Hollywood track records, including Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, whose company produced “Gladiator,” and Jennifer Fox, the producer of “Michael Clayton.”
A small theater chain has guaranteed even the smallest of the new studio’s films will be able to debut in up to 50 U.S. locations, while larger chains have also been receptive, said Fisher, the company’s president.
That’s a major step up from the industry practice in which independent producers cobble together the money to make movies, only to be entirely reliant upon a major studio distribution deal, often cut at film festivals, to have any chance of recovering their costs.
DF Indie’s healthy budget for printing and advertising, known as P&A, is designed to ensure that runaway hits can expand distribution quickly, much like last year’s “Slumdog Millionaire,” which began at 10 U.S. locations but ballooned to nearly 3,000 after it dominated the Oscars in February.
“That’s why we need a P&A the size we do,” Fisher said. “You can’t go and raise the money. You have to have it readily available.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More