Relationships, reason enough to distribute a film: Mackie
Transmission Films managing director Andrew Mackie admitted that sometimes the company has agreed to distribute films that it “may not normally do” because of the importance of its relationship with filmmakers.
“Relationships are just as important as the films whose rights we have; they are one of our key assets as a company. There are films that we only take on because of relationships,” Mackie told Encore.
According to Mackie, having strong relationships from his time at Dendy Films allowed him and business partner Richard Payten to hit the ground running when they started Transmission two years ago, instead of having to spend years establishing trust within the industry.
When Transmission has taken on board a film to build or maintain a relationship, the distributor knows from the beginning that the project may be “commercially challenging” so the expectations are set accordingly.
“Sometimes the performance of the film is disappointing, but we’d work with the producers again in a second,” he added. “And sometimes they can surprise you.”
Mackie participated in Screen Australia’s market intelligence forum last week with his presentation Thinking like a distributor, telling the audience how intense film markets are for distributors, and explaining how a film sales meeting works.
As a distributor, Mackie believes producers should be thinking globally and always in terms of the international market.
“By all means, make it culturally specific to Australia, but have a point of difference and think of ideas that will travel. Take risks, find partners internationally,” Mackie advised.
Transmission has distributed some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful independent Australian films, including Balibo, Charlie & Boots and Samson & Delilah. Upcoming high profile releases include Beneath Hill 60 (April 15) and The Kings of Mykonos: Wog Boy 2 (May 20), as well as Red Hill and Griff the Invisible in late 2010.
This robust Australian slate, however, does not mean that Transmission would commit to distribute any Australian film.
“We have turned some down. It could be because we didn’t think the script was right, or because we had too many films in our slate, or because it’s a genre that we don’t do normally, like horror. It could be because the casting wasn’t right or because we have a similar project already,” explained Mackie.
According to Mackie, Australian films represent more work for a distributor than international product, but the interaction with the filmmakers makes it an interesting experience every time.
“They’re three or four times more work than an international film that you pick up at a market, but we get excited because we’re working directly with filmmakers and that doesn’t happen with international pickups. It’s the part of what we do that really keeps it exciting, and we’ll always do three or four Australian films per year,” he said.
In terms of their international slate, Transmission will test the 3D waters with the UK film Street Dance – the first dance movie in 3D, released just before the American Step Up 3D – opening in late May.
“Street Dance is a toe in the water exercise for us, but I encourage producers to see 3D as an option, a great point of difference,” said Mackie.
Transmission recently released the latest Pedro Almodovar film, Broken Embraces, and Mackie insists that the company will continue to distribute foreign language films, which continue to have a “steady niche market”.
“Australia has a vibrant ‘ethnic’ festival platform and they really generate an interest in foreign language films. Our roots are in foreign language cinema and there are directors we would always want to work with like Almodovar, so it’s important to us, even if it’s still very much a niche business, with the occasional breakout hit,” he said.
