How many indie movies make money? was one of the questions posed to top European film financiers and producers today at the Zurich Summit, which takes place during the Zurich Film Festival.
Vincent Maraval, President Goodfellas / The Veterans; Christian Vesper, CEO of Global Drama and Film Fremantle; Elisabeth d’Arvieu, CEO Mediawan Pictures; Karl Spoerri, Co-Founder & Managing Director Zurich Avenue AG; and Constantin board member Martin Bachmann, all took part in the session.
Film sales vet Maraval, who has recently handled high profile movies such as Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez starrer Emilia Perez and Audrey Diwan’s Emmanuelle, responded: “I can only speak to what I know about our films. It’s different between independent American film and independent international film, but in terms of independent local [to Europe] film, I would say that probably 60 to 70% make money, or at least recoup and don’t lose money, because they are in a system where the pre-financing model covers costs. It’s not as speculative as the U.S. system. In Europe, you don’t really make huge profit but you don’t lose as much or take as big a risk. In American cinema, I would say it’s more likely that one out of three indie movies make money. Our job is to make sure that the third compensates for the two thirds that don’t make money but the challenged theatrical market for indie cinema in the U.S. today means that the gamble is bigger there than it used to be.”
