Local films, like wandering into the unknown: Roadshow
Releasing a local film can be the most fulfilling experience for a distributor, according to Joel Pearlman, managing director of Roadshow Films… but it can also be like wandering into the unknown, with no track record of success and no guarantees.
Will the performance of recent local hits increase distributors’ interest in local product? Is the slate more diverse than before?
All of our Australian films tend to be across a wide spectrum. In the last 12 months we’ve had Mao’s Last Dancer and Bran Nue Day, which are completely different films, and we finished off with I Love You Too, a modern romantic comedy. Beautiful Kate was for a limited audience, so the releases couldn’t’ be more diverse.
In the next 12 months we have Red Dog, which is a broad comedic family film, and The Cup, based on a true story, so those films couldn’t be more different in terms of genre or tone. But at the end of the day, we don’t go seeking out that difference as a reason for supporting their films.
I’d like to think that for distributors who don’t tend to have as many Australian films on their schedules, the recent successes will force them to potentially reassess that, because it would be very good for the industry to have even more Australian films getting excellent distribution from major companies that have the ability to really support those releases.
Having said all that, the quality project still needs to be there, and it’s incredibly difficult to find great material in this market that you believe has the potential to attract a broad audience. They’re not easy to find, they’re rare and precious and there can often be quite a lot of competition for those films because of the potential they may have, but certainly increased box office success of Australian films is only going to increase the appetite from all distributors to consider a greater number of acquisitions of material that they like.
How would you define your experience distributing local films?
It’s extraordinarily positive. There’s something that is unbelievably exciting for a distribution company, to bring a local project to market and see it find success with audiences. It’s one of the most fulfilling things for a distribution company, and it can also be a very smart decision commercially if you can get those films to succeed. It feels like you’re wandering into the unknown, because there’s generally no track record of success, no guarantees. It’s very exciting when you have a film and you help it find traction in the marketplace.
It’s much more work. We would always find it difficult to refuse any project that we thought was outstanding, but having said that, it does put tremendous pressure due to ourselves; we only want to release films really effectively. We’re well aware of the enormous workload that’s involved in conceptualising and executing a campaign. It’s hard to put a number on it, but it’s not a high number [of local films we can take on board] because of the work that’s involved.
Were you satisfied with the results of I Love You Too?
We’re very proud of the film, but we were disappointed by its box office because we thought it could work better but that’s going to happen sometimes. Not every film is going to live up to your box office expectation.
Will Roadshow experiment with its release windows?
Right now, the traditional windows still provide the best opportunity to maximise the performance of films in the marketplace. The window from theatrical to DVD is very important to protect exhibition and continue to encourage the sector to invest in its cinemas, which is what provides Australia with a very healthy marketplace.
The same can be said for windows that support the DVD industry, which still provide very strong revenues in this market, and it continues through to the ancillaries of television.
There needs to be a strategic reason from a revenue perspective to collapse windows; otherwise it’s simply short-sighted. From where I sit, it’s about looking at the model which is going to best protect and ensure the strongest performance out of each of our titles.
I’m speaking as of right now, but it won’t come as any surprise that there will be continuing pressure on all aspects of the business to maximise the performance of film releases. The business is always evolving, and as much as one can take a macro approach around the world, where windows may change because of the specifics to other markets, in this particular marketplace you need to look at the local environment to know what’s going to best suit the exploitation of our titles.
Are the traditional media still relevant for your promotional efforts?
We do everything we can to maintain ad levels, to come up with more creative ways of driving our marketing message. Each project is different and requires a different budget based on the revenue objectives of the film and what the pressure points are going to be to ensure that that film delivers on its revenue potential.
We have seen a dramatic change in the last years in terms of where that revenue is being spent. In terms of our online presence and the use of social media there’s been a substantial increase in expenditure in those areas, with a corresponding decrease particularly in press, but it’s about understanding where the audience is going to be.
Online, from our point of view, is enabling an incredible dialogue with audiences because of the richness of the experience that can be provided, the length of the time that you can spend with your potential audience online, and it has the benefit of both audio and video.
Free-to-air television is still an extraordinary way to aggregate audiences; it still remains incredibly critical, particularly for wide release films, and up market press in particular can be very important, for art house films.
It’s still about finding the right media for each particular title and then spending appropriately but we’ve been doing everything we can to ensure we’re not putting increasing pressure on our budget because we’re using a wider range of media.
Do you provide feedback when you turn down a film?
We do tend to provide feedback. We have to be incredibly selective in terms of the projects that we support because we have to be able to have a strong sense of the potential to succeed in a competitive marketplace. There are many projects that we think are worthy, but we’re only going to back a few that we can effectively bring to market. We have a huge consciousness of the working commitment, both financial and in terms on man hours that is necessary to bring a film successfully to the market. We make no apology for the fact that we’re seeking films that can be successful in the marketplace.
We do back art house films, but they need to be successful art house films. It’s not about just seeking blockbusters but ensuring that the film will have elements that can find an audience, even if it’s limited like Beautiful Kate.
Could the relationship between producers and distributors be closer than it currently is?
There is always potential to build that relationship; it’s critical that distributors and producers are always seeking to improve.
It’s impossible to generalise, because there are some producers who are extremely commercial and have an enormous understanding of distribution and exhibition, and there are those who have less knowledge and experience, but the continual dialogue between the distribution and side of the industry and the producing bodies and producers themselves is critical to help the industry.
What are the main mistakes producers make when trying to sell you their film?
I don’t think it’s an issue in terms of pitching. We still are an industry that needs more script development; we still seem to see too many scripts that just aren’t ready and are a long way from going to production. There needs to be a greater development and funding available for script development in order to enable producers to effectively develop material. That remains one of the greatest challenges; we have extraordinary talent, extraordinary directing and writing, but we don’t have enough of them and the ones we do have need more support and a lot of that has to be financial.
What comes next for Roadshow?
We’re very excited about our upcoming slate, with extremely strong films for 2010/11. We have Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One in November, and we’ll also have two films from Todd Phillips, Due Date in November and then the sequel to The Hangover, and then conclusion of Harry Potter in July.
Other pretty big projects include a sequel for Sherlock Holmes and the third Batman, so we’re excited about what comes down the pipe into 2012.
