The majority of producers might be forgiven for agonizing about their choice of career as they enter the 73rd Berlinale. Yet amid the industry’s gloom and doom around the shaky state of the independent film market and uncertain future of cinema shines a beacon of light. Habitually independent by both name and natural instincts, producer collaboration between themselves – across borders and continents —are playing an enhanced and vital role as the industry pivots once again in the face of ongoing disruption.
Definitions of so-called ‘independence’ in sync with the ‘producer’ moniker vary so widely that the very term has been questioned. “There is no such thing as an independent producer,” Bill Mechanic, CEO of Pandemonium and former Fox Filmed Entertainment boss memorably opined to IFTA members pre-pandemic. “There are dependent producers: dependent on distributors, financiers and bankers and distribution channels that understand the market even less that the corporations that own the studios.”
Yet far from rolling over, judging by the evidence amassed for this article, producer networks, clubs and market-facing, international collaborations are thriving. Building on natural co-production traditions and structures that underpin the European continental eco system, the EU’s member states and pan-European support structures have led the way. Now there are signs that the UK, not exactly famed for constructive relations with its European neighbours, has recently rubbernecked towards the continent after more than two decades of isolation. Meanwhile certain smart and ambitious LA-based operations are also deliberately outward facing rather than simply relying on kissing the incumbent Hollywood rings of power.
One of the more exciting recent international developments is a new Screen, Music and Sports investment initiative driven by the Canadian fintech VC operation The Holt Xchange. The soon to be launched Film and TV arm of the Canadian-based fund will be chaired by LA-London outfit No Fat Ego’s Niels Juul (“Ferrari,” “Killers of the Flower Moon”). Juul, who as an experienced senior executive producer, will build and spearhead a ‘Producer’s Collective” of more than 15-20 members to drive co-development, international production and “genuine collaboration” with equity finance from the new film fund, anchored by the The Holt Xchange and the Holdun family’s offices based in Canada, the US and the Bahamas.
“The driving concept is to create a talent hub capable of delivering high-quality content with clear values aimed at theatrical releases, while utilizing the Holt Xchange’s vast experience and network within the tech world, for new innovative and direct post theatrical distribution opportunities,” explained Juul. Part of his challenge, that undermines the industry at large, is the wide range of producer definitions and how they work together when setting up such a new structure. Juul has long been irritated by the downgrading of the Executive Producer’s role and credit status — specifically within the U.S. market.
“It’s often given away just for the money and we see far too many films with more than half a dozen EP credits at least. I take my role as an Executive Producer very seriously: I bring people together and deal with development, rights, packaging and the finance and see the projects through to launch. I work very closely with the hands-on producers, line producers, co-producers and we should look after each other.” With that philosophy in mind, and a slate of some 15 projects ranging between $10m-$25m, firmly aimed at the global theatrical market, Juul will use No Fat Ego’s Hollywood and European credentials and network as a starting point to help build out the Holt studio play.
Other L.A. production shingles are displaying the marks felt by the growing role of international, foreign language and culturally specific films and TV programming that has swept across borders (and Awards season), in part driven by the push from Netflix and other major platforms to increase their global footprints. To capture local value effectively, it requires a leap into co-development, an area not normally associated with more typically isolated, stubbornly independent producing outfits. Matt Brodlie and Jonathan Kier’s Upgrade Productions, set up in October 2021, is developing and packaging an array of local language film and series for global audiences. Partnered with German powerhouse Constantin Film, Upgrade has co-development deals in Japan, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Latin America, the UK and beyond.
With Brodlie’s Disney + and Netflix content experience, aligned with Kier’s international perspective as the former President of Sierra/Affinity (now part of eOne/Hasbro), a new take on the origins of scripted entertainment helped guide Upgrade’s direction of travel. “Mid-pandemic, Matt and I looked at what audiences were watching around the world given the increase in change and volatility more than ever. The clear and rising demand for local content matched our passion for stories from different cultures and we are now working with partners with a real vision for each project.”
Like-minded production shingles based in Blighty but driving the wave towards international collaboration include Good Chaos, co-producer of Oscar-nominated “Triangle of Sadness”, and initially set up in 2017. Former Protagonist CEO Mike Goodridge initially focused on partnerships with overseas producers like Philippe Bober’s long established Coproduction Office (and lead producer with Erik Hemmendorff of Ruben Ostlund’s award winner). Other titles the prolific Goodridge has co-produced or executive produced include Jalmari Helander’s “Sisu,” Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” Sudabeh Mortezai’s “Europa” and Icelandic helmer Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson’s “Northern Comfort,” and he is lead producer on Baltasar Kormakur’s Touch with Kormakur and his RVK Studios and Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero,” again with Bober.
“Producing a film is such a vast, challenging job and traditionally UK producers do everything on a film, from start to end,” reflects Goodridge. “But bearing in mind my background of thinking globally, it was natural to me to look to the European co-production model, where nearly ever project is a partnership driven by a sense of collaboration and sharing the burden”. That philosophy has now been emboldened by the BFI Global Screen Fund, driven by the recently departed Neil Peplow and managed by Denitsa Yordanova, with the fund, albeit modest in budget, widely praised for repositioning the UK to collaborate with European and international partners in a way that the previous UK Film Council ignored.
Good Chaos is one of 10 international co-production committed partners called ‘The Creatives’, set up in 2021 and spearheaded by French production and distribution powerhouse Haut et Court, led by Carole Scotta and Caroline Benjo. The creative partnership has a development agreement for series with Fremantle, but a critical part of the agreement moves away from ‘first-look, last matching’ rights commercial terms and is more fluid than typical international distribution development deals. “It’s a group deal as The Creatives is a project driven collective rather than driven by individual producers,” explains Scotta. “A certain number of projects are submitted over an agreed period, and Fremantle has time to decide to co-fund a number of projects going forwards. We’re also working with writers and offering them a safe place for their ideas and projects from an early stage.”
Beyond the varying series development projects across The Creatives, Goodridge points out that the sharing of information, strategies, IP and rights deals, co-financing models and hard data between production companies has never been more important across the independent market given the stubbornly opaque tendencies of the major streaming platforms and their reluctance to share granular data to date.
“Part of the initiative flies in the face of the major platforms in Europe who have been busy signing up writing and directing talent and negating the role of the producers, although some of the streamers have become more collaborative in the past couple of years,” Goodridge explains. “The Creatives is a really disciplined alliance. We meet every Monday without fail, and we meet in person every three months. It’s an incredible bonding experience and shows that strength in numbers can really make a difference.”
Indeed, strength in numbers goes some way to defining two key network initiatives whose current relevance and value has grown in appreciation post-pandemic. Inside Pictures, established by former PolyGram chief Michael Kuhn, is celebrating some 350 industry alumni that have passed through its program over 20 years. At least half that number are producers, some of which have recently enjoyed investment activity, including Ed Guiney’s Irish shingle Element Pictures following last year’s acquisition by Fremantle. Inside Pictures now takes 20 professionals per year (up from 15) and has opened up to TV applicants in 2022. Post Brexit the programme’s support has widened to international participants given the lifting of EU funding restrictions, while the initiative has close natural ties to the ACE Producers’ programme, certainly the most influential producer network ever built across the European film project.
Celebrating its 30th year, ACE was established in 1993 as the first permanent development centre for European feature films. Set up at a time when the European film market enjoyed a descending grip on its theatrical market, ACE is a network of European Producers (although membership has encouraged international members that now include reps from 53 territories). At the heart of ACE’s approach was that “projects should be market focused and that the producer is the essential bridge between the creative work of the writer and the director and the audience”. Such words and intentions continue to carry considerable weight at a time when producers are worrying about being shepherded by platforms into ‘working for hire’ and relinquishing rights and future revenue streams.
“At the heart of ACE is the network of more than 300 active members,” explains former president and consultant Simon Perry, who masterminded a relocation from Paris to Amsterdam in 2017 along with refinancing and the appointment of a new Director, Jacobine van der Vloed. “ACE is not a traditional training provider, but a collaborative program for professionals built around the essential principle of exchange. There’s a lot of co-production being talked about, but also a lot being made,” says Perry.
ACE’s collective impact has been a testament to those founders back in the early 1990s. More than 6,000 feature films have been made by credited ACE producers, and more recently some 500 TV series – a shift that reflects the need for producers to work on a blended development and production model across a range of formats. The required shift in high end TV and scripted drama skills, contacts and approach have been taken to heart by van der Vloed and the ACE team. An appropriate range of high-level consultants interact with producers at regular workshops, acting more as facilitators than formal trainers. “We don’t have podiums, but we take a lot of walks together,” explains van der Vloed. Indeed, long may independent producers “never walk alone”.
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