How To Succeed With Transatlantic Production? “Don’t Ever Give Up” – Deadline

The challenge and opportunity of transatlantic production was the subject of a session at the Zurich Summit this morning, whose panel discussion included Bert Hamelinck, Head of Films and Global MD at Belgian-American film and television group Caviar, Benjamin Kramer of CAA Media Finance, Elysian Film Group CEO Danny Perkins and Hype Studios founder Ilya Stewart.

Russian producer Stewart is aiming high with his latest production refuge, which sold to US neon label Super this week. The genre film starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott is an example of American-European collaboration.

“refuge started with Rumble Films in the US. We came on board with French distribution company Charades and put together pre-sales and equity. It was a relatively low budget and a great festival premiere was essential.”

The film had its world premiere in Toronto, where it received strong reviews (it currently has a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes).

Stewart acknowledged that another of her recent titles will go into production, Limonov, starring Ben Whishaw and directed by Russian helmsman Kirill Serebrennikov, presented a different challenge and made more sense as a European production. “The moment we started assembly, the industry changed. It was an auteur filmmaker, so he needed a lot of money from Europe. These films don’t get as much funding at the script stage.”

Hamelinck spoke about his experiences at work A teenager’s diary: “I often work in the most vulnerable category: first feature films. People tried to make A teenager’s diary For years, but it was a difficult subject. There was a reason a European actor was willing to take the lead [Bel Powley and Alexander Skarsgård]. The more you can draw on different sources of funding, but keep control, that’s very important for talent. For a lot of young actors, they have to postpone everything.”

Noting a key difference between Europe and the US, he added: “I’m still amazed at how hard it is to get development funding for screenplays in the US.”

Kramer countered: “I don’t think there is any resistance. I think there is resistance to the price point. We have the structure of studios so writers give up an opportunity when they get into long development because they can make hundreds of thousands just working on one studio script.”

The panel agreed that presence in the United States remains key to an international film’s journey.

Perkins commented, “When I was at Studiocanal we had a lot of US partners who came on early. It’s still a market of 330 million people. Those days of great P and A engagement may be gone, but there’s still great value. The US sets the bar and is still the number one market to crack. To do something bigger, you have to look beyond your limitations. Our latest movie greatest days has equity funding from Europe, a US distribution company, Greek funding, you have to be willing to merge to achieve greatness.”

Hamelinck agreed: “Creatively, it’s important to get that recognition from the US. Check out the Oscar category for foreign languages. The movies just keep getting better. This is still a bigger platform than anything else in Europe. Likewise, a film at Sundance opens many doors. My main motto when putting these projects together is “Don’t give up, never give up”. You have to keep going if you’re trying to put these films together.”