Liz Watts to research new distribution models
Producer Liz Watts has received the Churchill Fellowship to travel to the US and Canada for six weeks in October/November, to explore innovative production and distribution practices, as well as content creation within independent cinema.
In the meantime, Watts is anxiously waiting for the US release of Animal Kingdom next week: “I can’t wait to see what happens,” she told Encore.
As part of her one-year research project, Watts will write a paper to share her findings with the local industry. She hopes to be able to publish this work.
“The independent sector in the US is leading the way, even compared to Europe, so I’ll go there to talk to people and look at release patterns and how they’re changing and influencing how we make content – television, feature films, mobile content, even material purely for YouTube – and looking at how people are monetising the platforms,” Watts told Encore. “The Churchill system is based on the idea of people having time to go overseas and gather knowledge and bring it back to Australia,” she added.
Watts’s production Animal Kingdom has earned $4.6m at the Australian box office, and will be released in the US next week via Sony Pictures Classics. It will open on three screens in New York and two in Los Angeles on August 13, and will then expand to 120 cities across the United States.
Despite the size difference between the two markets, the producer has found parallels between the US and the Australian release of the film.
“A lot of the same principles apply. What Madman Entertainment did with the roll out in terms of platforming the release is similar to what Sony is doing.
“[Sony Pictures Classics co-presidents and co-founders] Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have 25 years of experience, so I’m not in any way qualified to fully understand the intricacies of booking cinemas in the US. There’s a much more direct relationship with the exhibitors in the US; it’s all about screens,” Watts said.
Watts is also pleased about the credibility of the Sony brand in the US market, and their focus on awards.
“Sony Pictures Classics is renowned for their awards push in terms of positioning of the film, so there is a lot of credibility in that brand, which is what Hopscotch, Madman, Icon and Transmission are here… unfortunately in the US there really aren’t that many distributors doing independent work; many of them have folded in the last few years.
“However, people like Walking Shadows are doing interesting distribution work,” she said.
