THR. Indies.

The Hollywood Reporter presents its "annual survey of the indie dealmaking, production and finance community."

• Anne Thompson: "As the major studios suffer through the summer boxoffice doldrums... [t]he premium on low-cost, narrow-targeted, high-quality production has never been greater. More producers and financiers are jumping headlong into the indie arena, and new technology is bringing a mind-boggling array of distribution alternatives." She asks several of these leapers what's on their minds, and then, talks to indie producers who "painstakingly develop, assemble, sustain and push."

• Nicole Sperling presents "a case-by-case examination of the year's most interesting indie marketing stories." Related: To Filmmaker's Scott Macaulay, it looks as if Hustle & Flow is going to do rather well by indie standards yet still fall short of expectations. Posing the rhetorical question, "What happened?," he proposes a few answers. Eugene Hernandez approaches the problem from another angle.

• Stephen Galloway on the next film featuring Johnny Depp: "In all, it has taken a decade for Malkovich [and his business partners, Russell] Smith and [Lianne] Halfon to bring Libertine to the screen, with the film set for a September release through Miramax. The project's rocky ride to existence might prove cautionary for anyone hazarding the turbulent waters of indie film."

• Galloway again, on "agents in today's independent-film arena... acting more and more like producers, finding new and sometimes inventive ways to package and finance movies," and on foreign "tax breaks and subsidies that rapidly are becoming the lifeblood of the indie sector," and on Film Finances Inc, one of the last companies in North America offering "completion bonds."

• Minju Pak: "[C]able networks such as IFC, Sundance and Bravo are targeting those who seek an insider's view of filmmaking."

Filmmaker profiles:

• Liane Bonin on Gregg Araki.
• Kevin Cassidy on Werner Herzog.
• Sheri Linden on Miranda July and Terry Zwigoff.

THR also profiles the companies, their "indie status," their management and their plans:

• Studio subsidiaries: Fine Line, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, Miramax and Dimension, Paramount Classics, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Classics and Warner Independent Pictures.

• "Standalones": IFC, Lion's Gate, Newmarket and, although "they are two separate and distinct companies, Samuel Goldwyn Films and Roadside Attractions remain linked by an umbilical cord, Independent Distribution Partners."

• Minis: First Look, Indican, Magnolia, New Yorker, Palm Pictures, Regent Entertainment, ThinkFilm, Wellspring and Zeitgeist.

Posted by dwhudson at August 2, 2005 6:12 AM