As distributors develop a more robust production arm, it means taking “fewer chances” with acquisitions, says Jeff Deutchman, president of acquisitions and production at Neon.
Speaking at an industry panel on film circulation at the sophomore edition of the Mediterrane Film Festival, the American executive said, “Because Neon and some of our competitors are producing films, by the time we go to festivals like Sundance or Cannes, our slate is 60-70% formed. When we were purely an acquisitions company and relied entirely on festivals to populate our slates, we could take more chances.”
Deutchman added that making an event out of film releases is no longer a requirement only for big Hollywood productions, with independent films also demanding an event component to attract scarcer audiences to cinemas.
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