Why Making Drama Films Went From Difficult to Very Difficult: Venice Forum

The packaging and financing of drama films have become increasingly challenging, according to experts at Winston Baker’s inaugural Film & Television Finance Forum Venice. “Dramas have gone from being difficult to very difficult,” Benjamin Kramer, co-head of the media finance department at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), said during the panel on “State of the Industry: State of Finance.”

Despite the hurdles, Kramer noted that dramas of all budget tiers still get made, even those costing around $30 million. The funding for these films largely depends on the filmmaker, the cast, and whether the project is based on something significant.

Kramer’s comments were in response to a query from fellow panelist and Italian producer Lorenzo Gangarossa. Gangarossa highlighted a sentiment from Europe that many drama movies, specifically those with budgets between $10 to $20 million, are no longer being produced due to a lack of financing.

Gangarossa pointed out that calls are coming in for projects he would never have had access to before, as studios are looking to see if a European financing model is possible. He explained that European cinema is primarily financed through presales to television, with big broadcasters required to spend 80% of their annual content budget on local productions. Therefore, if a film qualifies as a European production, it can tap into this funding model.

Kramer acknowledged this approach, noting, “We do look across the Atlantic a bit for dramas.”

The CAA expert elaborated on why drama films face these challenges. He explained that dramas don’t perform well in the pay-one window, leading independent distributors without output deals to buy them less frequently. This also affects their performance in theaters.

Christian Vesper, CEO of global drama at Fremantle, echoed these sentiments. He shared a recent conversation with a global distributor interested in one of Fremantle’s films. The distributor requested adding local language elements to ensure viewers immediately recognize the film’s origin, turning it from a suggestion into a demand.

Kramer noted that his team has received similar feedback, initially from platforms and then from theatrical distributors who learned these expectations from those platforms. This trend affects various genres, including horror, action, and comedy. He shared that feedback consistently demands clarity in the film’s premise within the first three minutes, whether it’s a horror film needing a scary scene or a comedy requiring a joke right at the start.

Concluding his remarks, Kramer noted the difficulty in balancing these demands with creative integrity. “It’s difficult to say to a filmmaker, ‘Your script is great, but move that scene from page 20 to page two.’ You end up feeling like you’re just making widgets,” he said.

Source: Winston Baker