Search results

Instead, revenue today is increasingly built through the combination of multiple smaller income streams over time. Many indie films now start generating value through AVOD or FAST platforms first, then later through niche territory licensing, educational screenings, airline or hotel licensing...

What makes this discussion especially relevant right now is that Cannes market week tends to expose these structural contract problems very quickly. During development, vague clauses often survive because everyone involved is still operating on optimism, flexibility, and future expectations...

I think one of the biggest invisible transitions in the film industry happens when responsibility quietly replaces supervision. At the beginning, people are mostly learning: experimenting, assisting, observing, making mistakes, improving. But eventually a moment comes where other people start...

I think minimalism only starts to hurt when the deck feels uncertain, not clean. A short deck can work really well, but there still has to be something solid to hold onto. If it’s not immediately clear what the film is, who it’s for, and why it works, then it just feels empty instead of...

Interesting take, Lucas. I think you’re pretty much on point here. The package model really changed everything. By the time people show up at the American Film Market or even the Marché du Film, most of the strong projects have already been circulated privately. That whole “finding a hidden...

That’s a really sharp way to put it, especially framing packaging as risk communication. I’d maybe take it one step further: packaging isn’t just signaling the path to market anymore, it’s quietly defining it in advance. Once a project comes in with talent, financing, and a “clear audience,” a...

This is a great question, and I think the blind spot is exactly where everything still feels harmless. Most control isn’t given up during production or post, but earlier, around development and financing. Not in one big, visible decision, but through a series of small ones. When the first...

Michael that’s a really sharp way to frame it especially the idea of narrative necessity over pure style because that’s exactly where the tension seems to be right now. What I’m starting to notice more and more is that “cinematic texture” is no longer just an aesthetic choice but almost a...

Reading through the thread it really feels like everyone is pointing in the same direction that Cannes has become much more of a precision market than a volume one. One thing I don’t really see discussed though is how people actually filter meetings before arriving because in my experience...

Most filmmakers are completely misreading how the sales side actually works. From the outside, it looks like everyone is taking a cut and the producer ends up with nothing. But from the inside, it’s a risk management system in a market where most films simply don’t sell. The waterfall isn’t...

What’s happening right now isn’t that films got cheaper it’s that attention became more expensive. Lower production costs didn’t reduce risk, they multiplied competition. There are simply too many viable projects competing for the same limited audience attention, and investors see that clearly...

What usually kills a deck isn’t length or design, it’s hesitation. You read it, you kind of understand it, but you’re not fully sure what it is, who it’s for, or whether it actually works and that’s already enough to move on. That decision happens very fast. If I can’t explain it in one...

Park Chan-wook as Jury President is the ultimate signal for 2026. It’s not just a nod to South Korea; it’s a demand for visual unapologeticism. Park is the king of "Extreme Elegance," and his appointment tells every filmmaker in the competition that if your film looks like a high-end TV pilot...

Great points from both of you, especially the emphasis on risk sharing rather than just financing. One thing I would add from a practical production standpoint is that co-production becomes significantly more complex the moment creative control and financial responsibility start to diverge...

Very good point, but I think regional competition is not only about where production is cheaper. It is also about where the system works reliably over time. I have worked in Hungary, and it was a very strong experience. The crews were professional, fast, prepared, and fully understood the pace...

I think one of the industry’s biggest mistakes right now is treating this as only a technology or legal issue, when in reality it’s a trust issue. Most people are not afraid of AI because they fully understand terms like “Digital Replica” or “Synthetic Performer.” They’re afraid because they...

What stands out to me in this discussion is how often “good writing” and “market-ready writing” get confused. In the U.S. industry, a script isn’t evaluated as literature – it’s evaluated as a blueprint for a very expensive collaborative process. That’s why clarity, genre definition, and...

This is extremely common in film sales & distribution, so first: don’t take the silence personally. In most cases, when a distribution agent or sales company goes quiet after requesting a screener, it ends up being a soft pass rather than a deal that suddenly reappears. The reality of the indie...

This is a fascinating debate. We’ve definitely reached a point where digital extras and backgrounds are becoming indistinguishable from reality, and in many cases, it’s a great tool for safety and scale. But there’s a massive difference between technical perfection and a soul-stirring...

Hi MICA! It’s great to see a distributor already active here. I’m heading to Berlin as well, representing a small production house. We are currently finalizing our 2026 film slate, and while our main focus is on EFM co-production meetings, we are definitely looking to chat with international...