Film Budget: Official blog of Filmbudget.com and Producer Jack Binder. Info on film budgets, movie production, film tax incentives and television budgeting.
Europe is marketing its movies to China and apparently, the Chinese are loving it!
Such is the success of the annual European Union Film Festival in China that the event, which is now its fourth year, could be expecting greater numbers than ever before! Last year, the event expanded to showcase films in three Chinese cities and according to EU Ambassador Markus Ederer, the number of moviegoers increased from 5,000 attendees in 2008 up to 13,000 in 2010.
What: European Union Film Festival
When: November 1st – 30th 2011
Where: Beijing and two other cities in China (TBA)
The film festival, organized by the Delegation of the European Union to China and supported by the Embassy of Poland, invited all 27 EU Member States to showcase one recent, popular and successful film.
The organizers of the festival hope that the event will increase the appreciation of European films and culture among the Chinese, hence paving the way for the possibility of importing European movies into China in the future.
The films screened at this year’s festival include a diverse mix of local flavors and a wide-range of genres from comedies and dramas to documentaries. Moviegoers can view their films of choice in commercial theatres as well as in cultural institutions.
Among this year’s selections are some of the following European picks:
France – “The Piano Turner”
Denmark – “Aching Hearts”
Italy – “20 Cigarettes”
Portugal – ”Beauty and the Paparazzo”
Each film is screened in its original language with English and Chinese subtitles.
Meanwhile, the European Film Academy has unveiled its nominations for the 2011 European Film Awards. You can see a full list of the nominees on their official website – www.europeanfilmacademy.org
Winners will be announced in a December 3rd ceremony in Berlin.
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Film Budget | The international leader in worldwide film budgeting and scheduling production services for film finance, production incentives and film tax credits.
Film Production in the UK – Jan to Sept 2011 – Report from the BFI Research and Statistics Unit – 3 November 2011
Eighty-six films achieving film budgeting levels of £500,000 or more entered into principal photography in the United Kingdom during the first quarter of 2011. This amount of production starts represented the lowest rate in 9 years. Of these productions:
-Twenty-three were co-productions
-Forty-seven were domestic UK features
-Sixteen were inward investment films
Undoubtedly these figures have supported and lead to Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent extension of the film tax credits program through 2015.
Read the full report from the British Film Institute
Filmbudget.com is the international leader in worldwide film budgeting and scheduling line producer film production services.
The 2011 American Film Market is winding down at the moment and as promised, this year’s event is proving to be quite a success! Though film financing remains a difficult proposition, projects with the right combination of well known talent, directors and strong marketing prospects funding is on the rise in combination with lenders, equity, gap, film tax credits, co-productions, government funding and incentives. The market is indeed hungry for quality films to distribute with solid packages, a film budget with a reasonable recoupment potential and name talent is the constant mantra.
Here are a list of some the deals that were made at this year’s AFM: (updates forthcoming as we write)
* IM-Global takes rights to ‘The Sister’ for Europe, Latin America
* Universal Pictures International Entertainment has picked up rights to Content Film’s ‘Hard Boiled Sweets’ for the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Benelux and Scandinavia
* Drafthouse Films has picked up crime drama ‘Bullhead’ and raucous comedy ‘Clown’, for distribution in North America
* Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has picked up domestic distribution rights to ‘Bel Ami’, from Protagonist Pictures. The company also picked up comedy ‘Bailout’ starring Jack Black, for multiple territories including North America, South America and Scandinavia.
* FiGa Films has picked up ‘The Last Christeros’ (Los ultimos cristeros) by Matias Meyer, which had its world premiere in Toronto Film Festival (link to blog on Toronto Film Festival), and ‘Machete Language’, directed by Kyzza Terrazas, which had its world premiere in Venice.
* FilmDistrict has acquired ‘Drive’ the Nicolas Winding Refn-directed film adaptation of James Sallis’ suspense-themed novel
* Sierra Pictures announced the acquisition of ‘Rampart’, a crime thriller starring Woody Harrelson. The company also picked up comedy ‘Darling Companion’, which stars Kevin Kline, Diane Keaton.
* Tiberius Film has picked up a trio of horror sequels – ‘Piranha 3D’, ‘Children of the Corn: Genesis’ and ‘Hellraiser: Revelations’ for the German market.
* Exclusive Media Group picks up international rights for ensemble drama ‘Disconnect’
* Lightning Entertaiment picked up 7 films including ‘Brake’, ‘Columbus Circle’ and ‘Wrath’, making their world premiere debut at the AFM. The other films are ‘Boy Wonder’, ‘Bloodwork’, ‘The Trouble with Bliss’ and ‘Scents sand Sensibility’
* Wild Bunch acquired the international rights to Academy-Award winner Geoffrey Fletcher’s directorial debut ‘Violet & Daisy’
* Los Angeles-based film production, financing and foreign-sales company Unified Pictures has entered into a three-movie deal with Vancouver-headquartered production-finance group Bron Studios
Announcements of major financings include:
* Exclusive will finance Matt Damon’s ‘Yesterday’ with Focus Features handling U.S.
* Endgame Entertainment announced the creation of Endgame Releasing, to provide as much as $500 million in funding for marketing and distribution of four to six wide release movies per year through major studios. One of the first movies to tap into the fund will be the movie ‘Looper’ starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis.
* W2 Media has come on to co-finance and distribute ”The Theatre Bizarre 2,” a sequel to Severin Films and Mataluna Prods.’ ”The Theater Bizarre” horror anthology.
* Green Isle Entertainment has entered into an initial $60 million dollar multiple picture financing agreement for film budgets with Allegiance Capital Corp.
* IM Global to finance $20 million action-drama ‘Hummingbird’.
These are just a few of the ‘official’ announcements. With the AFM still underway, many more similar announcements are anticipated in the coming days. With deals being made fast and furious – don’t miss your chance to catch a piece of the action! For more information on this year’s AFM, check out the blog on filmbudget.com
Filmbudget.com is the international leader in worldwide film budget and schedule line producer film budgeting production services. Film finance and camera ready movie budget and schedule packages.
AMERICAN FILM MARKET 2011 – Be Pro-active, Prepared & ready to Pitch!!
Are you an enterprising filmmaker, producer or writer with a brilliant idea looking to make the right connections in the business, obtain film financing and get your project underway?
Well, now may be the break you’ve been waiting for! If you don’t already know about the American Film Market, then its time to do your research and seriously think about attending this event.
There’s a well-known expression in the film business – its not what you know but who you know, that really counts. It may be a common cliché but there is plenty of truth to the old saying. The problem most of us in the business encounter, however, is the ‘how’ and ‘where’ aspects of getting to meet these so-called ‘right’ people. This is precisely why forums like the American Film Market (AFM) present such a golden opportunity.
A quick synopsis of the AFM – it is organized by the global trade association of independent film & television producers and distributors, known as the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA). It is an eight-day event held in Los Angeles (from Nov 2nd -9th ) in which more than 400 films will be screened and more than 400 production/distribution companies will be exhibiting. It is an international event, with 8,000 attendees from more than 70 countries expected to attend. Furthermore organizers estimate that more than $800 million in deals will be closed this year.
If that sounds enticing and you’re keen to get a piece of that estimated $800 million pie, then you’ve got be willing to pay the price for the ticket. Passes for the event start at $345 and upward.
Also, a word to the wise – be prepared. Like any opportunity, the AFM will be most lucrative to those who do their research and adopt a professional, business-like approach to the forum. Most importantly – do your research! This really cannot be stressed enough. It is important to identify your goals – ask yourself, what it is you want to achieve from the AFM? Once you’ve identified what you want to get out of the forum, the next step would be develop a target list of the people you want to meet and then proceeding to scheduling the key meetings.
Finally, you should be aware – the AFM is not a festival. While a number of films are screened at the festival, there are no competitions and subsequently no prizes. It is essentially a coming together of a range of ‘buyers’ and ‘sellers’ in the film industry. An opportunity to network with your peers, raise money for projects and possibly even walk away with some signed contracts.
So be pro-active, be prepared and be ready to pitch! Keep these things in mind and you just never know what you may walk away with….
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Film financing, distribution, foreign sales, film tax credits and your investors require an accurate, quality film budget that is reliable and bankable.
Celebrating 25 years experience producing major studio and independent film for the international entertainment industry.
Cost cutting in the film world has always been a buzz word. However, in today’s credit strapped economy reducing the level of a film budget has become a necessity more than ever.
From large scale, tent-pole, enormous film budget productions to mid-level movie productions and of course the lower tier film budget range, the pressure from lenders, studios, production companies, investors and sales executives has increased dramatically. Salaries have continued their downward plunge at all levels.
In addition to the financial downturn, the credit crunch and the lack of capital for movie production, the states have compounded the problem by pulling the rug out from under their growing local film industries that were beginning to gain self-sustaining momentum with the aid of film tax incentives programs which got the ball rolling. Rather than stick with these job creating, and industry generating film tax credits, they have systematically pulled the plug on them, thereby exacerbating the film finance situation. Fortunately, foreign governments realize the importance of supporting the entertainment (ie. culture) sector and they continue to expand their support mechanisms.
Therefore, filmmakers must do much more with much less, now more than ever before. It is critical to have an extremely tight film budget and shooting schedule, however one with great production value built into it. The critical eye of a seasoned line producer is required to make the tough decisions on where to cut the budget and where to enhance it. Which departments can get by with less and which demand being saved from the axe? A knowledgable line producer deals with these questions daily and reducing the budget is not new to them.
One such expert in the field of film budgeting is Filmbudget.com – founded by veteran major Hollywood studio and indie film producer Jack Binder (‘Reign Over Me’, ‘The Upside of Anger’, etc.) Here is a video trailer of Jack’s producer credits:
The AFM 2010 American Film Market in Santa Monica, California kicks off Wednesday, November 3rd through Wednesday, November 10, 2010. The premiere film market for independent film in the United States and the world AFM is on par with the Cannes Film Market of the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market, Sundance and now Toronto Film Festival as the mandatory stop for foreign sales agents, independent film producers, distributors, film buyers, producers representatives and production companies. Productions with large film budgets to smaller movie budgets are represented here and every level of film budget in between representing the entire breadth and scale of the worlwide film production industry.
Worlwide Film Business
With the exponential growth in overseas (non-US domestic) theatrical and television outlets and demand, the AFM grew out of a need to represent buyers and sellers armed with finished films, screeners, scripts, film budgets and finance plans in a professional format and centralized location to conduct an incredible amount of business in a short period of time. In order to fill supply chains built up by the demand from growing terrestrial, satellite, cable, DVD, pay-per-view globally, distributors have come to rely on the strength of the film business market presence and concentration that the American Film Market offers.
Global Entertainment Companies
Over 8,000 film executives and professionals from all regions of the globe come to participate in the industry’s ultimate film buying and selling event. More than 400 production companies, distribution companies, foreign sales agencies and related firms are indeed in attendance with their screenplays, film budgets and finance plans, finished films and a film budget for marketing P & A, expanding their involvement in the current product pipeline business for movies, film, television, new media and all their related outlets.
Conferences, Seminars, Meetings
AFM likewise presents an ideal opportunity for filmmakers and movie industry pros to network, exchange ideas, movie budgets and product information. Top notch conferences and seminars are held each year on film finance, foreign sales, movie marketing, film tax incentives, film tax credits, movie funds and film production. This year is no exception with panels from industry leaders in film financing and heavyweights like Harvey Weinstein on the current state of filmmaking today.
Nowhere in North America will the film industry see a greater collection of film professionals dedicated to the production, finance, marketing and distribution of indie film and television.
Filmbudget.com is the international leader in worlwide film budgets and movie budgeting services and global film tax incentive advisor. Specializing in providing maximum film production value for the most efficient film cost each film budget is custom tailored to our client’s projects with meticulous attention to detail. Contact us for a quote for your film budgets and schedules, film consulting and line producer and film budgeting services.
Film Budgets custom made by studio/indie line producer
Panasonic introduces its AG-3DA1 integrated twin-lens Full HD camcorder as the world’s first pro quality Full HD 3D camcorder with SDHC media card recording. Filmbudget.com looks forward to further on location testing however this looks to be an incredible breakthrough in the race for quality 3D on less than Cameron film budgets for the masses. As the industry embraces 3D many explosive arrivals are coming to be sure. As we prepare movie budgets and proceed with film budgeting for our clients, we will certainly investigate the validity of the new Panasonic 3D camcorder as it applies to the professional film production and high quality moviemaking environment for economic features and television productions as required in today’s cash and credit challenged market.
Film Budgets for professionals by a veteran line producer are required by film finance lenders and investors. Contact us for a comprehensive package and thank you for visiting our film budget blog for serious filmmakers looking to move their projects forward to production.
Film Location Austria enters the European film fund sector offering a nationalized film tax incentive to build upon indigenous and inward investment film production.
Current funding level is €20 million or USD $20M.
Details: 25% of total production spend in country or a cap of 15% the total amount allocated annually to Film Location Austria.
Local spend requirement: 25% of film budgets to be spent in Austria (20% for movie budgets over €10 million).
Applicants must pass an economic point system and cultural test following local and EU guidelines.
Recent films shot in Austria:
Knight and Day starring Kiera Knightly/Tom Cruise
The Pillars of the Earth
Quantom of Solace starring Daniel Craig as 007
Check out our summary of film budgets film festivals with fest dates, submission deadlines and updates.
Movie Budget
A movie budget is critical to moving your production forward to production and distribution. The key document in any film business plan, quality movie budgets are required by banks, lenders, completion bond companies and film fund authorities. Likewise, film tax incentive establishments will insist upon a budget for your project in order to consider it for investment. When you need a film budget contact us for a thorough analysis, consultation and delivery of a complete finance and camera ready budget and schedule. A veteran film producer provides you with extensive film budgeting advice and consultation in delivering a finance and camera ready movie budget for investors, lenders and foreign sales companies to evaluate a film project with credible analysis and reliable figures.
