Kristian Brodie, head of the Curzon CM Development Fund (CCM), has said the fund is “building relationships with talent”, despite not yet distributing any of the films it has produced.
The UK producer was speaking on a panel, as part of Glasgow Film Festival’s industry programme, about the past, present and future of Curzon across development, distribution and exhibition.
“The reason we set up the fund was as a pipeline for distribution,” Brodie said of the joint venture between Curzon in the UK, Cinéart in Benelux and Madman in Australia.
“We’ve got 14 films that we’ve been working on, and four of them have been finished and released into the world, and none of them has been distributed by Curzon.”
One of the projects was Edward Berger’s Ballad Of A Small Player, initially a $7m project when Curzon joined, prior to the release of Berger’s of All Quiet On The Western Front and Conclave.
“[Berger’s] star effectively rose to the point where he could benefit. He can make a film with Colin Farrell, and consequently, the budget for that film shot up,” Brodie explained of the feature that Netflix eventually took on. “We get a first right and then a matching offer. But if that person comes in and makes an offer to fund a fully funded film for 25 million… there’s not much we can do. We were reluctant to let that one go.”
Another project was Jonatan Etzler’s Bad Apples, starring Saoirse Ronan, for which Paramount bought world rights.
“We were able to find the funding and make the film as Paramount paid for it but consequently, again, we were sort of bought out of that process,” said Brodie. “But at that point, we had put in a mechanism which meant that we weren’t just completely out of the picture. We had put money down as production equity, and we were able to be bought out of it.”
While Brodie said it has not been an “ideal result” for the fund, it has allowed the company to build strong relationships with talent.
“We want to be ahead of the game in terms of how we would then be able to distribute the film, programme it, etc.,” Brodie explained. “But also, we want to be developing those relationships with talent. The filmmaker-driven question is still a really big part of the process for us.”
Curzon Creates
The producer also revealed more details about Curzon’s in-house talent initiative Curzon Creates, which produced its first feature A Long And Happy Life last year.
“It was great, I really love the script,” said Brodie of the film, which was developed by staff members at Curzon Mayfair cinema in London, where it was also shot. “Turns out making the film over 10 nights for £100,000 is really hard, so we’ve still got some work to do.
“The intention behind this was to use Curzon Creates as a model to support emerging talent, and initially that would be from within the Curzon biosphere… but we’re now looking at how we might be able to expand beyond that,” added Brodie, referring to a short film in development from a filmmaker who is not affiliated with Curzon.
“It’s a building block towards a bigger, more dedicated process of, or commitment rather, to actual physical production of films as well. So, we will ideally be in a place where we are developing, producing and then distributing and executing those films.”
No comments yet