CHICAS PRODUCTIONS

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. It was once so rich that Concorde used to fly from Caracas to Paris. But in the last three years its economy has collapsed. Hunger has gripped the nation for years. Now, it’s killing people and animals that are dying of starvation. The Venezuelan government knows, but won’t admit it!!! Four in five Venezuelans live in poverty. People queue for hours to buy food. Much of the time they go without. People are also dying from a lack of medicines. Inflation is at 82,766% and there are warnings it could exceed one million per cent by the end of this year. Venezuelans are trying to get out. The UN says 2.3 million people have fled the country - 7% of the population.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

U.K. Piracy Fight Aims at Educating a Younger Demographic...

The Industry Trust says there's been a "big spike" in pirated consumption among 11 and 12-year-olds.

LONDON – The fight against piracy in the U.K. has become more about persuasion and less about punishment than about trying to change behavior. And it's having to target an ever younger demographic.
OUR EDITOR RECOMMENDS
U.K. Government Report Criticizes Google's Anti-Piracy Efforts

Search Engines Power Piracy, Research Shows
That's the message from the Industry Trust, the U.K. film and TV industry body backed by everyone from the U.S. studios to retailers and TV banners, set up to look after copyright issues and fight piracy.
At a Piracy and Distribution workshop hosted by the Industry Trust during this year's BFI London Film Festival, a high profile panel of industry reps and commentators discussed the role web search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing play in pushing consumers towards pirated material, the need to educate a generation of movie and TV consumers and the hope that changing habits will reduce piracy.
According to figures presented by the Trust, 40 percent of those infringing copyright are not even aware the sites they are being led too via search engines are illegal.
Kicking off the discussion and debate, Industry Trust for IP Awareness director general Liz Bales said that over the last few years the industry body has seen a "big spike" in pirated consumption among the 11 to 12-year-old demographic.
Bales said the days of trying to scare people off from illegal downloads or buying pirated goods is less relevant as a generation grows up in a digital online age.
"What we are trying to do now is to inspire people to consume it [content] through legal providers. It's all about directing them where to go and create that kind of behavior."
Bales noted that in her eight years of overseeing the Industry Trust fight, piracy was a matter of "habitual behavior" and that concentrating on changing consumer habit via gentle persuasion rather than scare tactics was almost certainly more appropriate, especially among younger demographics.
She also noted that while often genre-led, titles such as Oscar winning The Hurt Locker directed by Kathryn Bigelow had been one of the most heavily pirated releases in 2009 because it had not been as widely distributed as the public's appetite wanted.
The panel also discussed the role of the web search engine powerhouses with Google at the heart of the debate.
"We hope the changes they made to the algorithm will begin to take effect and make an impact," Bales said.
There was also frustration in the room that the much-vaunted Digital Economy Act, a piece of British legislation that is currently languishing in the Treasury government department and has several legal sanctions and measure to combat copyright infringement in the digital age, remains shelved as the coalition government shows no appetite to enact it and make it part of the British legal landscape.
But the softly softly approach to educating children was highlighted with the debut of a short film made for the upcoming National Youth Film Festival for schools and youth groups to point them in the right direction.
It shows two Muppet-like characters talking as the older one watches Fast and Furious 6 on a laptop "that he's streaming".
The smaller, younger puppet suggests that it might be an idea to pay for the film because without the money, there would be no "awesome" special effects and bits of flying debris.
He also suggests that the "seven quid" ($11) the older puppet thinks would make no difference might pay for at least one of Vin Diesel's socks.
The humorous exchange aims to highlight that if people stop paying for content, then the content will no longer be made.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

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Connected Consumers Will Drive Media Innovation...

In a preview of its five-year forecast, PricewaterhouseCoopers says companies will have to adapt to customers' digital needs.

It's a complicated media world in which boundaries are blurring and consumers are increasingly in control.

MIPCOM: Bravo, Turner Executives Say Companies' Success About Branding
That was the essence of the remarks from PricewaterhouseCoopers' Phil Stokes, who offered up his company's assessment of the state of the media business worldwide in Cannes on Tuesday morning.
The comments and stats are an annual preview of the firm's forecast for the next five years across 13 media segments, set to be published in a massive tome later this month.
In a short session entitled PwC Global Entertainment Outlook, Stokes told the MIPCOM audience that "agility" and "innovation" will be crucial for companies to succeed in this ever more dynamic and shifting space.
Perhaps even more important, the executive said, will be understanding one's customers -- and in the case of content creators, knowing one's audience and scurrying to be relevant to it.
"Consumers will expect multiscreen options and they will increasingly value 'the experience' of particular content," Stokes explained.
And as several panels have articulated here, consumers are relying more and more on shared online recommendations in making their entertainment choices.
As for those who continue to fret that linear TV is on its last legs, not so, Stokes argued. Stats suggest it is holding its own quite well -- though, not surprisingly, the growth in ad revenues and such is coming mostly on the digital side.
"The Internet and video game sectors are the big drivers, but TV will continue steadily," he said, while graphs flashed behind him. Newspapers and directories will continue their steady decline.
On the digital front worldwide, the adoption of tablets will exceed that of laptops and desktops combined by 2017, the firm is projecting.
At this point, Stokes suggested, "the end of the digital beginning is upon us. The digital fog has lifted."
It will be "connected consumers" who increasingly drive companies to innovate -- or go to the wall."
'
Thank you Hollywood Reporter

Taiwan's Cinema Owners Voice Opposition to Proposed Movie Ticket Tax...

The territory's Ministry of Culture is pushing for a 5 percent tax on all movie tickets sold, with the funds to be used to help develop the local film industry.

Taiwan's Ministry of Culture this week proposed introducing a 5 percent tax on all movie tickets sold in the territory, with the funds used to help develop the domestic film industry. The suggestion has been met with swift opposition from cinema operators, however.

Oscars: Taiwan Nominates 'Soul' for Foreign Language Category

The Ministry floated the idea during a meeting with local filmmakers and industry trade group representatives, saying it would be implemented as an amendment to the existing Motion Picture Act, which allows for the creation of a public fund to subsidize the film sector.

STORY: Ang Lee, Jia Zhangke to Lead Discussions at Taiwan's Golden Horse Festival
Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai noted in the meeting the popularity of tax-based film funds around the world, according to local news paper the Taipei Times.
France, for example, has a long-standing 11 percent tax on movie tickets that is channeled into the film sector.

Reps for the local exhibition industry have voiced strong disapproval of the proposal. Michael Liao, chairman of a film and drama trade association in New Taipei City, said the tax would simply be passed on to consumers as a ticket price hike, which will scare away moviegoers. Liao, who is also chairman of local theater circuit Showtime Cinemas, said his company has resisted raising ticket prices for as long as a decade, despite rising utilities costs, for fear of alienating consumers.

STORY: Oscars: Taiwan Nominates 'Soul' for Foreign Language Category

By way of compromise, Taiwanese director Wang Shau-di has put forward the idea of reducing the tax to 3 percent for movie theaters that hold promotional events for domestic Taiwanese films.
Lung countered that the share of locally produced films shown in Taiwan remains low -- 17.46 percent of the market -- compared to other territories in the region, such as Japan, where domestic films account for 55 percent, or South Korea at 50 percent. The minister added that she realizes the policy will face resistance, but her office believes it is essential to the longterm vitality of the domestic Taiwanese film industry.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

WGA collects $11 million in payments from Nickelodeon ...

The Writers Guild of America, West, says it has collected $11 million in residual payments and interest for writers who work on Nickelodeon shows.

In an email to members Thursday, guild President Chris Keyser and Executive Director David Young said Nickelodeon had agreed to distribute the money owed to writers.

The guild had pursued arbitration claims against Nickelodeon alleging an "egregious, ongoing failure to pay residuals on a timely basis." This spring, the union had demanded the company post a multimillion bond to cover future residuals on its shows.

Since then, Viacom's Nickelodeon has worked with the guild to resolve the dispute on all 22 shows on which residuals were owed. Nickelodeon has paid writers on these shows more than $10 million in residuals and almost $1 million in interest.

"The last of this money is now being distributed. Just as important, Nickelodeon appears to have changed its practices and is currently making efforts to pay residuals on time,'' Keyser and Young wrote.

ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll

"The Guild's Legal and Residuals departments achieved this result, powerfully supported by the showrunners and writers of the 22 Nick shows,'' they added. "Our strength as a Guild is derived from the willingness of writers to stand together to address these kinds of intolerable practices."

A Nicklelodeon spokesperson said: "We have the utmost respect and admiration for all of our writers, and have worked very hard with the WGA over the past months to ensure all residual payments have been made. As the Guild notes, we have now completely remedied the situation, and we look forward to a continued excellent working relationship with our writers."

Thank you Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Sees Moderate Production Gains in Features...

Gains in feature film production offset a decline in TV shooting to lift overall third-quarter location shooting in Los Angeles by 9.5% to 11,792 permitted days, according to the FilmL.A. permitting agency.

The hike in activity may appear to undercut the contentions that the state of California needs to do more to put the brakes on runaway production, so FilmL.A. president Paul Audley issued a statement aimed at providing context for the latest statistics.

"Any increase in local production is cause for celebration, as long as we don't lose sight of the big picture," said Audley. "California has yet to match and overcome out of state competition for this business. For feature film production to be where it once was and should be in L.A., production would need to increase by 125%. Until Sacramento acts to level the playing field, we won't see the kind of growth and prosperity that California families are counting on."

The 19.5% jump in features — concentrated in small-budget projects such as Zach Braff's Kickstarter-funded "Wish I Was Here" — was enough to overcome a 3.4% slide in the mainstay TV production category, according to statistics released Tuesday by FilmL.A.

Feature production totaled 1,959 days during the quarter, a continuing sign of moderate recovery in a segment that's been hit hard by runaway production as the category improved its 5-year quarterly average by 14.6%. Still, FilmL.A. noted that the activity lags far behind the record setting numbers of 1996.

The report was issued with momentum gaining to improve the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program, which is far smaller than rival incentive programs in other states with a $100 million annual limit in credits and exclusion of features with budgets over $75 million. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently appointed Tom Sherak as film czar to address the runaway issue and several state legislators have announced plans to increase the scope of the incentive program.

"I've made the industry a priority for my administration because it generates 500,000 jobs," Garcetti said in statement Tuesday. "This isn't about the stars we see on the screen but about carpenters, caterers, and electricians and the stores they shop in."

State-qualified feature projects generated 107 days of shooting between July and September, or 5.5% of the category's quarterly total and included "Best Man," "Jersey Boys," "Kitchen Sink," "OT Beach" and "Ride."

Other features shot in Los Angeles during the quarter included "Life After Beth," "Reversal," "Stretch" and "Whiplash."

FilmL.A. president Paul Audley asserted that — when compared with five-year averages — the numbers also show that Los Angeles has continued to see erosion in features and TV dramas, which generate the highest level of economic activity, as other states lure away production via incentives that are far richer than California's.

"We are seeing increases but they are in the low-economic area," he added. "We're not seeing tentpole films shot here. It's great that we are getting micro-budget projects, but those use small casts and crews."

The television production category totaled 4,091 days during the third quarter as TV dramas gained 6.5% to 983 days — but have dropped 25.5% below the five-year average.

Reality TV was down 14.3% 1,353 days; sitcoms slid 15% to 517 and web-based TV production fell 15.6% to 357.

State-qualified TV projects generated 182 days, or 18.5% of all TV drama activity including "Lost Angels," "Major Crimes," "Rizzoli & Isles" and "Teen Wolf."

The commercials category jumped 17.7% to 1,925 days for its strongest showing so far this year. Production in this category has increased notably in recent years.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a two-year $200 million extension of the tax credit program last fall. Those funds will be doled out in June, 2014 and June, 2015.

Only 31 of the 380 projects that applied for the state tax credits were selected in June. That number has increased to 34, with thriller "Nightcrawler" receiving a $2.3 million allocation from the California Film Tax Credit program after moving off the waiting list.

August's cancellation of "Bunheads" freed up credits for seven other California projects, including "Sam and the White Tiger," "Perfect Heist," "Xoxo" and "Straight Outta Compto

Thank you Variety

Rio Film Commission Moves To City Hall...

RIO DE JANEIRO – In a move likely to bolster – and simplify – arrangements for international movies shooting in Rio de Janeiro, Rio City Hall film investment fund RioFilme and Rio Negocios, its municipal investment agency, are creating a new Rio Film Commission.

Presided by Steve Solot, the entity takes over from a Rio film state commission, which Solot also led. The Rio Film Commission will be based out of Rio Negocios offices.

The relocation – bureaucratic, geographic – serves in part a question of logic. As in any city in the world – think Paris – it is the city offices, not the regional film commission, however energetic, which leads the key day-to-day issuance of shoot-permits, and attends the minutiae of productions' needs.

The Rio Film Commission brief ranges from attracting Brazilian and international productions, to promoting Rio as an ideal filming location, to providing support to producers and facilitating the installation of film and TV companies in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The last may not seem such as pipedream as funding facilities and home markets for many film and TV companies in wither in old Europe.

"The Rio Film Commission will lead the campaign to ensure that the city is properly equipped to host film shoots of all dimensions and in all formats, ranging from student short-subjects to major international productions, for the advertising sector, as well as for film, television and the internet," explained Solot.

"The union of expertise of Rio Negocios and RioFilme offer the ideal combination to fulfill this goal," he added.

Bringing the Rio Film Commission under the co-aegis of RioFilme will also allow the two companies to officially co-ordinate their involvement in movies that not only set up shop in Rio but are framed as official Brazilian co-productions.

The City of Rio still has yet to approve a rebates system. That may, however, be only a matter of time.

For the meantime, the new Rio Film Commission will work towards the standardization of shoot permits, and the easing of the authorized circulation of production vehicles in the city. It will also meet with principal players in the market to discuss improvements to the sector's business environment.

Thank you Variety

MPAA’s Chris Dodd Calls for California to Expand Tax Credits to Lure Big Budget

Speaking on Friday to a San Fernando Valley business group, MPAA chairman Chris Dodd called for an expansion of California's production tax incentive program to include big-budget films, noting that the state has lost out to others on projects like the sequels to "Man of Steel" and "The Amazing Spider-Man."

California's incentive program, adopted in 2009, provides $100 million per year for film and TV productions, but movies with budgets above $75 million are not eligible. The intent was to prevent only a handful of movies from depleting the annual outlay, but Dodd said that the result has been a dearth of big-budget tentpoles shooting in the Los Angeles region.

It should be no surprise, then, that "11 of this year's 12 biggest blockbusters were filmed in states like Louisiana and New Mexico instead of California," Dodd said, according to his prepared remarks to the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. "And this trend is only going to continue."

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2″ shot in New York, and the sequel to "Man of Steel" will shoot in Michigan, he noted.

The MPAA actually advocates for incentives nationwide, and the industry's lobbying org, in seeking congressional support, has often promoted the fact that so many states benefit from production jobs.

Dodd said his "job at the Motion Picture Association is to advocate on behalf of my studios, not the locations of their productions, but I know the studios I represent would prefer, everything else being equal, to make their films and television programs here in California, for many reasons."

He warned that with other states offering incentives, "It does not take long for those states and countries to attract and train talented local people to do the work that historically could only be found here and a few other places."

Dodd also called for a California incentive program that will make it possible for long-term productions, like TV series, to budget well into the future. The state program was renewed last year until 2015, even after advocates called for a longer-term extension.

Critics of incentive programs have called it a "race to the bottom" and have challenged some claims of job growth when productions shoot at a location. And while Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has put runaway production on his priority list, with a plan to lobby state lawmakers to expand the California program, he will have to convince them to do so against many competing interests.

Critics of expanding the incentives, however, have questioned the urgency given that NBCUniversal, Disney and Paramount each have plans to expand their production facilities in Southern California. Indeed, Dodd said that the "film industry is not suddenly folding its tent and moving elsewhere." He said that the expansion plans indicate that the industry "is betting on California's future as well." But he said that "more needs to be done to keep this industry from slowly slipping away."

Dodd also called on Google to do more to fight piracy, citing a study funded by the entertainment industry showing that 74% of consumers surveyed cited using search engines to discover or navigate to infringing sites in their initial effort to download a movie or TV show.

"These search engines have the ability to stop directing audiences to sites with illegitimate content, and I am still hopeful that we can work with them in the coming days to find ways to make this happen," Dodd said.

Thank you Variety

Italy Renews Production Tax Incentives, Including for Foreign Films...

Bill is considered a crucial lifeline for Italo industry and key to luring foreign shoots

The incentives — which give local producers a 20% tax break, outside investors a 40% tax shelter, and foreign productions a 25% tax credit — have been in place since 2009, and had been previously approved through 2013.
But in recent months foreign producers started seeing them as a risky proposition because the country's cash-strapped government initially indicated the tax breaks would be frozen and also not renewed again. This fear has caused an estimated thirty million dollars in lost business over the past few months.
Bowing to an Italo industry uproar, the decree called Valore Cultura (Culture Value) has now cleared its final hurdle with an overwhelming majority in the Lower House. It provides a total of Euros 110 million ($150 million) in production incentives over the next three years. Most of the coin is for film, but 20 million Euros have been designated for TV productions, marking the extension of the Italo incentives to TV.
"It was a life of death situation, so we are very relieved," said Riccardo Tozzi (pictured), prexy of Italo motion picture association ANICA, in a statement. "Now we have to build on this new dialogue to make cultural industry a driver for this country."
Italo tax incentives offer a 25% deduction for international productions capped at $7 million, payable through an Italian executive producer.
Woody Allen's "To Rome With Love," produced by Letty Aronson with financing from Italy's Medusa, Amber Entertainment's "Romeo and Juliet," helmed by Carlo Carlei, and "Third Person" by Paul Haggis, produced by Belgium's Corsan, are among foreign titles that have tapped into the generous Italo incentives.

In separate Italo industry news , Andrea Occhipinti, head of prominent Italo indie shingle Lucky Red, has been appointed head of the country's distributors org. a sub-section of ANICA. Occhipinti has pledged to step up efforts against the country's rampant piracy plague.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

Santa Barbara Offers California’s First Production Rebate Program...

In an attempt to attract production to the region, the county of Santa Barbara is offering an incentive program that it says is the first of its kind in California.

The Santa Barbara County Film Commission will provide a cash rebate for films, TV shows, unscripted series, commercials and still photography shot in the country, which was the home of California's first film studio in 1910.

Production companies qualify by booking a set number of room nights, as determined by the type of production, in certain areas including Montecito, Santa Barbara, Los Olivos and Solvang. For example, a feature film must book 200 room nights, while a reality show needs 50 room nights to qualify. Permit fees will qualify for reimbursement along with 50% of California Highway Patrol or police costs.

Total funding for the program is $50,000 for the fiscal year, and eligibility is determined on a first come, first served basis until available resources are depleted for the year. For more information, visit FilmSantaBarbara.

Thank you Variety

California Lawmakers Say They Will Introduce Bill to Boost Film and TV Production

California Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) and and state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) say that they plan to introduce a film and TV production tax credit legislation in January, 2014, once the legislature returns from an interim recess.

GET CALIFORNIA FILM TAX CREDIT NEWS AND ALERTS FREE TO YOUR INBOX

California's existing tax incentive program, which originally passed in 2009, provides credits up to $100 million per year. Critics say that the sum is insufficient to meet the demand or to compete with other states, and that the credit is not available to categories like premium cable shows and commercials.

Gatto and de Leon have key roles in Sacramento as chairmen of their respective chamber's appropriations committees.

In an interview, Gatto said that specifics of the legislation are still being drawn up, but he said that an expansion of the total amount available to producers is "the most obvious thing to consider."

He also said that they are looking at proposals to try to draw tentpole feature film production back to California, which are not eligible for the current credit because it is capped to features with budgets over $75 million. What they are looking at, he said, is removing the restrictions on those big-budget movies, but limiting the amount of credit that is available to them. That would be a way to try to lure such productions without burning through the state's total incentive budget with just a handful of productions.

"Those tentpole productions can be very lucrative to a local economy for a long time," Gatto said.

Another area they are looking at is a way to give some sort of extra incentive for productions that shoot in areas of the state that rarely see much movie and TV production, as a way of addressing criticism from lawmakers who may see the program as solely benefiting Los Angeles.

Also being studied, he said, is a "tiered system," where producers would be eligible for credits for locating their production in California and for another type of credit for wages that are paid to state residents.

Gatto also said that they were looking at ways to expand the eligibility of more types of TV production, in particular TV pilots and hourlong drama series. "We think the bread and butter are scripted hourlongs," he said.

He also said that they are working on measures to retain post-production and other types of production infrastructure.

Gatto and de Leon said that they have been meeting with below-the-line workers and small business owners to create their legislation. Gatto also said that his staff has been collecting the many studies that have been done on film and TV tax incentives — some of them favorable, some of them critical — so as to "try to get a sense of what works and what doesn't work" and to "try and anticipate what critics will say."

Although the state's tax incentive program has been extended twice, they have been for short increments, with proposals for five-year extensions whittled down in the face of opposition. Orgs like the California Federation of Labor and the California Teachers Assn. have been on record opposing incentive legislation, arguing that the measures didn't make sense at a time of strained resources for areas like education. The last extension, for two years and $200 million, was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last fall.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has made the issue of runaway production a priority of his administration, but he has suggested that the key to meaningful incentives lies in Sacramento. He and his newly appointed film czar, Tom Sherak, plan to lobby Sacramento lawmakers.

Gatto acknowledged that the legislation will be a "heavy lift." "If it was easy to get done, there would be a much bigger, broader incentive than the one on the books," he said. He also acknowledged what Garcetti has: That Brown also remains to be convinced to expand the program. A big push among advocates for the industry is expected to be the impact it has on middle-class workers and related businesses.

Thank you Variety

More info:
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Thank you for reading us,
Thank you for your time,
Hope you'll found the information you expected,
Don't hesitate contacting us,
Have a great day ☼
Chicas Team ❤

--------------------------------------------------------> Submit to: Show contact info
In order to avoid all the SCAMS, we decide not to publish all the info of the recruter in the job postings. You'll find the Daily Password in our Monthly Newsletter. You can Subscribe to our Newsletter here Thanks. A.

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Korea Is on the Cusp of a New Golden Era...

Fresh talent and diverse pics draw big B.O. as local indies make inroads

New faces behind the films and fresh stories on the screen have reinvigorated the Korean film business. In the first nine months of 2013, two local films have entered the all-time top 10, market share for local titles has hovered around the 60% mark, and Hollywood has seemed powerless to respond to a succession of well-made and diverse local titles.

Making the picture even rosier for Korean cinema, the B.O. boom has been accelerated by new filmmakers, movies (mostly) made on reasonable budgets — up to $4 million in some cases — and the growing influence of five-year-old distributor Next Entertainment World.

The industry's recovery from the slump of 2007-08 feels like it's been a long time coming.

The year kicked o with an unexpected hit, "Miracle in Cell No. 7." Handled by NEW, which was launched by former Showbox employees, the film is by far the biggest of 2013, and with 12.8 million admissions and $84 million, it's one of the biggest Korean titles of all time.

Melodrama "Miracle" joins other local successes that have been edgier and darker; indeed, Korean screens have seen more thrillers and horror, and a markedly lower emphasis on romance and comedies than in the recent past.

"The films are better, they are fresher, they have better ideas," says producer Jonathan Kim. "The scene is vibrant because there are many people having a chance to make big movies in Korea these days."

It's notable that many of this year's hits came from first-time directors.

Two of the biggest were action thriller "The Terror Live," which collected $36 million at the box office, and started as a pitch at the Network of Asian Fantastic Films genre film project market in 2010 before being picked up by giant local distrib Lotte Entertainment; and thriller "Hide and Seek," which was made by Huh Jung, a director with four shorts to his credit, and distribbed by NEW. The latter pic has made $36 millon so far.

Finding newcomers and backing have been deliberate strategies by NEW, which this year ranks as the country's No. 2 distributor, behind traditional market leader CJ, and ahead of the combined might of Disney and Sony.

"NEW has contributed a lot," says Suh Young-joo, head of sales agency Finecut, and who has represented many NEW titles overseas. "Eighty percent of their fi lms are by fi rst-time directors. They are also good at script analysis. They want to work with budgets of $3 million-$4 million, even for new directors."

The success of NEW has been significant in another way too. For many years Korean cinema has been dogged by worries that two or three vertically integrated groups — CJ, Lotte and Megabox — backed by even larger chaebols (Korean-style conglomerates) have dominated the exhibition and distribution scenes.

But NEW has managed to crack the so-called monopoly, with three films so far in the Korean top 10.

"We have strong distribution companies with enormous cinema chains behind them. But this year NEW has been very successful without a cinema chain," says Nam Dong-chul, Korean film programmer for the Busan festival. Nam notes that independent producers and big distrib/exhib companies are working together and achieving B.O. success.

Nevertheless, some are still wary of the big players.

"I'm worried by the number of screens available to arthouse and independent directors," says Lee Tae-hun of Opus Pictures, one of the producers of "Snowpiercer," which was distributed by CJ and has racked up some $62 million in grosses. "The independents are not challenging the hierarchy. Rather the Korean studios are choosing to cooperate with the slaves. Just like Hollywood, they are always looking for new blood. They are not adopting the indie spirit, they are just buying it. I'm worried by that too."

And the Korean films are thrilling local auds only.

"The big overseas markets have shrunk. The Japanese market is again down after the 2010 natural disaster," says Finecut's Suh.

Perhaps the burgeoning indie scene will make monopolies a thing of the past and boost global interest again.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

AFM: Indie Hits Fuel Optimism as 2013 Market Kicks Off...

The American Film Market kicks off Wednesday with a kind of cautious bullishness, following the relatively robust business at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival in September.

With 402 films scheduled to screen — including 321 market premieres and 75 world premieres — more than 8,000 buyers and industry professionals are expected to attend, including some 100 distributors, producers and executives repping more than 50 companies from the hot Chinese market.

With "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" opening in two weeks and successes from indie-financed titles like "2 Guns," "Lee Daniels' The Butler," "Now You See Me," "Insidious Chapter 2" and "Olympus Has Fallen," AFM, which runs until Nov. 13, sees more ambitious slates from the indies at the beach mart.

The less-than-dazzling returns of indie-financed films such as "The Fifth Estate" and "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" has not deterred financiers from coming on board bigger budget projects.

In a move that underscored the growing clout of the independent sector, QED Intl. and Worldview Entertainment announced Nov. 1 that they would finance and produce the crime thriller "Term Life" — a few weeks after Universal Pictures had backed away from the project. Universal will simply handle U.S. distribution for the Vince Vaughn and Hailee Steinfeld starrer. QED will introduce the film at AFM to international buyers, joining a slate that includes Takashi Miike's Tom Hardy topliner "The Outsider," which is being produced and financed with Worldview; World War II actioner "Fury," starring Brad Pitt, and "Sabotage," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which are both directed by David Ayer; and Barry Levinson's "Rock the Kasbah," starring Bill Murray.

"It is our goal to identify high-caliber star-driven films," said John Friedberg, QED's exec VP of international sales. "We think that buyers are coming to AFM with money to spend. We're seeing new buyers in the U.K., China and Latin America. There's even been an upswing in Italy."

Marc Damon of Foresight Unlimited is similarly bullish, following a solid performance by "2 Guns" with $130 million worldwide. Budget was $85 million.

"With something like `2 Guns,' you do generate momentum," Damon said. "And it's helpful that we oversee the campaign so I have 36 different territories on my desk right now."

Last week, Foresight disclosed that it was in talks to bring on Spike Lee to direct Justin Timberlake starrer "Spinning Gold," a biopic about record exec Neil Bogart. It is set to update international buyers at AFM after beginning sales at Cannes.

Foresight Unlimited is one of a growing number of financing-sales-production entities that have emerged during the past decade. the hyper-competitive list includes QED, Worldview, Studiocanal, Voltage, Mister Smith, IM Global, Sierra/Affinity, FilmNation, Exclusive Media, the Solution Entertainment Group, Radiant and Hyde Park.

"We go over 100 to 150 projects a month," Damon said. "We fund development, pre-production, bank loans, oversee production and find the right U.S. distribution. The most difficult part of this is pulling all the pieces together."

That sentiment is echoed by Lisa Wilson at the Solution, now at its second AFM with "The Forger," "How to Make Love Like an Englishman" and a pair of Pierce Brosnan projects — potential franchise starter "November Man" and corporate thriller "The I.T. Man."

"I think we saw fewer packages over the summer," she said. "Buyers don't want to spend the time to read scripts if they're not part of a package. When something like `The Butler' does well, it gives people renewed faith."

Jere Hausfater of Aldamisa Intl., which is screening action thriller "Red Sky," starring Cam Gigandet and Rachael Leigh Cook, said buyers are much more discerning today.

"If you hit the bull's-eye, you can do very well," according to Hausfater. "The problem is that the bull's-eye keeps getting smaller."

Jonathan Wolf, AFM's managing director admits that he's bullish this year.

"One of our key measuring tools is how many participants — bankers, lawyers — are general attendees and that is up 15% this year," Wolf said. "We had 400 in 1998 and we are going to have 2,500 this year. This is a trade show so we have been building programs — just the same way that Disneyland keeps building rides."

The AFM started its conference program three years ago and it's launching a producers forum this year with anticipated attendance at about 300 for 16 sessions Saturday through Tuesday.

Thank you Variety