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Jane Clark - Cannes Journal
Day 7
 Jane Clark writes from the Cannes Film Festival
DAY 7 The business energy to the Cannes Film Festival and Market is really unique - everything is fast and fluid. Meetings are moved up, delayed, pushed to other days, cancelled, instigated in a constant flowing mess. Being a fairly organized person, complete with little charted schedule and plan, I have had to go through an adjustment to get used to it and today, on day seven, I have finally fallen into the groove. Despite erratic temp, there is definitely feature film business getting done. Shorts can be another matter. I met a guy last year that, within two days of the market opening, made $5000 in distribution deals for his film. But he was Belgian and his film was shot in French, so it was appealing to French-speaking distribution companies. For Americans things are not so easy. My friend, Ford Austin, asked mem to look after his film, “Tiny Dancer,” a sweet little ten-minute movie. He paid the steep $100 entry fee hoping to find distribution, and perhaps actually make back a bit of the money charged to his credit cards from the production. I’m afraid he is going to be disappointed. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, but I think in most cases it is improbable. Not only do a lot of American shorts translate poorly to the European markets, but there are other problems. First of all there is a huge amount of dreck screening in the corner – absolutely horrendous films that no one told the filmmakers were horrendous. It is therefore necessary for the filmmaker to be present, and pro-active at the festival to get noticed. If you can’t attend, don’t spend the money. Honestly. That goes for everyone, not just the American filmmakers For anyone who shot their film using SAG actors and the Experimental contract, there is the further issue that you are required to pay FULL SAG scale for all days worked by your actors upon signing a distribution deal. Normally the deals aren’t enough to pay the SAG fee off. For instance last night at the FIND party on the Perfect Persuasian Budweiser yacht (I just think that is hysterical - Budweiser in Cannes) I met a filmmaker from San Francisco. He made his film with the experimental contact and owed upon signing a distribution deal, about $2500. He was offered a deal, but it was for $500. So unless he gets lucky and gets another $2000 in deals, he’s out of luck. As a side note, for those of you who read my blog earlier in the year in which I bitched about FIND spending my membership money on parties rather than services…yes, I am a huge hypocritic. Because despite my disgust, I still go to the parties and have a ball. The guy that stars in Entourage was there for some reason that I couldn’t fathom, but boy he is CUTE!! Anyway, my friend has had only two distributors watch “Tiny Dancer” in the past 7 days. Other American filmmakers I met yesterday haven’t had any distributors watch their film. Not only that, but going back to my organized personality, the area itself is a mess.Postcards are piled up on small ledges around the main area. Many have fallen to the floor. Those that are still on the ledge are buried under two or three or four other filmmaker’s postcards. Now I’d like to blame it on the Cannes Market and say they should take more responsibility for the area, but in the end I can’t. It is the disrespectful and thoughtless filmmaker who came along and tossed his cards down on top of someone else’s without a thought who is to blame. Filmmakers have to have a little more awareness if not for ethical, at least for personal reasons. A messy pile of postcards that slip off and fall all over the floor when you go through them isn’t good for anyone, no matter who’s on top of the pile. And I could say that Cannes is ripping people off by charging $100 to filmmakers who in a vast number of cases don’t have a good film, but again that really in the end is the filmmaker’s responsibility. First off, you really need to be able to honestly and clearly judge your own work. Secondly, for those people who do have a good film, just playing there isn’t enough. Just attending isn’t enough. You have to work your film, contact the distributors, set up meetings, and encourage people to watch – just like the feature producers are doing. And if you can’t then use that $100 to enter 3 US film festivals and spread your odds across the board a little more. It’s a numbers game anyway, isn’t it?
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