We remain fairly accessible to producers: Madman
Madman Entertainment head of theatrical James Hewison says the distribution company remains fairly open to producers and local projects, and that the success of films such as Animal Kingdom is nothing but the result of a close collaboration.
What were your strongest performing films of the 2009/2010 financial year?
The September Issue was a great performer, particularly for a documentary. It took $1.6m here and around $620,000 in NZ.
We were also pleased with some of our Australian films, most notably Van Diemen’s Land and the re-release of Wake in Fright, which took $300,000 each. In 2010 it’s been Animal Kingdom, which we expect to gross about $5m.
With $300,000, Van Diemen’s Land wouldn’t necessarily sound like a strong performer…
It’s fairly uncompromising material, so we were thrilled; we didn’t think it would get to that kind of level, that the audience would have an appetite for such a film.
And Wake in Fright stood the test of time and showed that there’s a great appetite not only for a classic film, but also one that’s as challenging and relevant now as it was back then. It’s made many times over its original gross; that was a wonderful part of that process because it gave a legitimacy to that film and its collaborators, most importantly Tony Buckley, who was the forensic archaeologist who was determined to help it find its rightful place.
What titles didn’t necessarily meet your expectations?
I guess the animation Nine and the comedy In the Loop, which was released on Australia Day. We thought we’d capture the hearts and minds of people returning from their summer holidays, looking for a film that was entertaining as well as brain food, and obviously, once it has been released and hasn’t performed according to expectations, you have to start asking why. Maybe it had to do with the date and the kind of adult fare that it was.
Also films that I’m fond of, such as Last Ride; it did almost $400,000 and I thought that was a film that would have done better if it had been released another year. When it was released in the middle of 2009, there were a number of strong Australian films in the marketplace, and perhaps there’s an instance where a more intimate Australian drama gets lost in the public’s attention. It was an honourable result.
How experimental are Madman’s plans in terms of distribution models?
With Exit Through the Gift Shop, we had to take an alternative route. We engaged some of the exhibitors when we had a release date on DVD; the exhibitors were aware of what was the release date and we ran a campaign that was particularly strong. We had been pressured by the English DVD release and concerns about piracy, and their release was pushed back so we were able to push back ours and the film enjoyed a considerable life at the box office.
In terms of collapsing windows, we would, if they were breakout hits from particular film festivals, or if there’s a strong call from particular exhibitors on a small scale to release films in the foreknowledge that it will be released on DVD within a certain time frame. We have done that in one or two instances to capitalise on important sources, both from a MKT, audience and financial point of view.
How do you explain the success of Animal Kingdom?
There’s been forensic timing between us and the filmmakers. I started with Madman two years ago and one of the first meetings I had was with David Michod and Liz Watts. They were still in the final draft of the script when we started planning for that film.
We were forensic in our attention to detail. It was a very close collaboration with the filmmakers themselves; a carefully structured collaboration.
Animal Kingdom is the work of a remarkable director who has a very clear sense of what he wants to do, and in a world stage, that is the archetype of Madman Film. I’m personally very proud of that.
Will the performance of recent local hits increase distributors’ interest in local product? Is the slate more diverse than before?
It depends on your definition of diversity. If box office is a measure of diversity, I’d have to say yes. Mao’s Last Dancer, Bran Nue Dae, Aniimal Kingdom; by any measure of any filmmaking nation, that’s a pretty rich feast laid on the table for a relatively small country in terms of population and production size.
From our part, we have The Loved Ones and at least two Australian films into 2011, so we’re keen as mustard. We have Snowtown, which is in pre-production, and The Hunter, which stars Willem Dafoe, going into production later this year, for delivery next year.
Financially and in terms of relationships, our collaborations have been largely terrific. Obviously we anticipate great things from Animal Kingdom on DVD and that relationship has been a close one from conception. Overall collaborations with filmmakers, like The Loved Ones and the others that are about to go into production, are excellent.
Madman has different kinds of involvement in different local films…
We look at each case on its merits and ultimately what the filmmakers need. There’s not one way that we can characterise our investment, involvement and collaboration; they vary enormously, because each production has different needs that must be looked at individually.
Do you think the $90m, three-year fund SPAA has proposed to stimulate distributor investment in mid-range features ($7-30m) would work?
Anything that can stimulate production is good as long as the end result is good. That will be determined by both the public sector in terms of the agencies, and at the other end, the appetite for local audiences to pay money to go and see them. For our part, we judge everything based on its merits, so if there’s more production that we can become involved with, it would be terrific.
What is the process to get involved with Madman?
We check out projects that producers send to us. Our address is public and we remain fairly accessible. Local scripts, on average we’d receive one or two a week, sometimes even finished films.
Sometimes I’m a little surprised that pitching of films is done in a fairly clandestine fashion, like a covert operation where someone rides a motorbike, throws something a package into reception and escapes without any contact details. I’m surprised by that, because one forms an opinion not only about the structure of how the film might be financed and indeed made, but ultimately, we are building relationships that will last for a number of years, so we need to know that they will be able to deliver a film to us, and that they will work closely with us.
How do you know if a producer will deliver?
It’s about risk management, looking at a project and valuing that script, feeling passionate about it and also doing a market place assessment, and looking at their track record, which is always useful and helpful. It’s a relationship of participation, of standing back and listening and respecting points of view.
What’s the best way to pitch a film to Madman?
We receive finished films, and the film will speak for itself, and if accompanying it there are fundamental ideas, “we spent time, money, resources making this particular film, and in order for it to be released into the world there need to be marketing ideas that reflect the film and have a clear sense of the marketplace”, that’s certainly useful as well.
On the story side and on the business side it’s about delivering a financial plan. Everything is a discussion ultimately. In terms of script stage we’re not particularly interventionist unless we’re asked to be, and in terms of the campaign, in most instances production will get to sign off, so that needs to be a relationship based on trust, on trust that production will deliver the film they said they would, and equally, to do the job and deal with the realities of the marketplace.
