The role of a successful sales agent now means being an integral part of a film’s creative team and bringing in finance, according to Stephen Kelliher, managing director of UK outfit Bankside Films.
“It’s more than just the sales,” he told an audience at the 20th edition of the Production Finance Market in London today (October 6), where he delivered this year’s keynote.
“One of the things we say to filmmaking teams is that we definitely do not see ourselves as just the sales company,” he explained. “We see ourselves as much a part of that creative team as they are.
“It used to be you would just come on and do the sales estimates, but it hasn’t been that way for a long time. If anything, we act more, or equally, as executive producers now.”
He explained the sales company now comes on to a project at a very early stage.
“Sometimes there might only be a script. More often than not, there’s a script and a director. But that’s it. Then we go to work with filmmakers to determine, ’Is the script as good as it possibly can be? What budget are we making this for? What is the international value? What will the international market support? What cast makes sense?’ Then we go out and bring the finance as well.”
Kelliher was speaking following a successful few years for Bankside, in which the company has repped box office hits including Bafta winner I Swear, which grossed $20m globally off a budget of under $3m, and The Ballad Of Wallis Island, which grossed over $6m globally for Focus Features/Universal from a modest production budget.
Bankside’s slate also includes Ashley Walters’ debut feature Animol, which will have its UK premiere at BFI London Film Festival ahead of its release by Studiocanal/Sky later this month, and Paul Andrew Williams’ Toronto premiere Faith.
The company’s strategy is to board a project early and not to become involved in bidding wars for projects at markets. “Yes, we will miss out occasionally – but those high-stakes bidding wars can be very risky. My view is it’s better to not get caught up in that.”
When pulling together finance, he says Bankside looks internationally “100% of the time”.
On distribution, Kelliher noted, “We don’t see global streamers knocking on the doors of sales companies to buy their films. They will do it if there’s a particular kind of reason or motivation, but they are few and far between. It’s not a thing that’s consistent. And if you’re not selling it on a global basis to a streamer, the value of doing that territory by territory is relatively small.”
He also noted, “It’s funny, maybe 10 years ago or 12 years ago, people were saying that streaming was going to revolutionise the way films are distributed and all of that. It hasn’t. Actually, what has happened is that we’ve gone wholly back to a theatrical model. So, for a film to be truly successful internationally, it has to be theatrical.”
When it comes to theatrical distribution in the UK, he said, “There are relatively few distributors in comparison to the number of films that come out of the UK. It’s a very divided market. There are a handful of very big players, not really anybody in the middle ground, and then the lower-tier distributors.”
What’s working?
Bankside boards 10-12 films per year from thousands of submissions.
“We have to judge everything from its international appeal, because ultimately that is our business. If you are only selling a film in the UK but not anywhere else, that’s not really a business.”
Horror is a genre Bankside has had success with, with Australian film Talk To Me grossing over $90m globally in 2023. Kelliher feels a similar breakout from the UK currently feels unlikely.
“In the UK, we almost never see it – and the reality is, when we do, it’s often not brilliant. There’s a misconception that you can build up the story and it becomes a genre film in the third act. Audiences are way beyond that. If you’re saying it’s a horror film, it has to deliver from page one.”
Boarding non-English language titles is also near-impossible, as “90% of the companies in the US won’t acquire non-English language material, and so that immediately is limiting our market. The qualifying factor is that if we feel we can go on to be Academy Award nominated, then that’s the moment.”
This was the case with the Irish-languageThe Quiet Girl, repped by Bankside and nominated for the international film Oscar in 2023.
While festivals and markets remain important, Kelliher said he senses markets may need to readjust their pricing strategies, as the cost of attending has become so high, they are at risk of outpricing themselves.
“They are expensive to attend. The market is less predictable now, and I think we’re probably going to start seeing a rebalancing of how long sales companies go, the types of offices they take. We’re spending a lot of money, and the return isn’t always there.”
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