A critical mass of pedigree UK packages is putting a spring in the step of UK sales agents who are delighted to have secured the projects to sell at Cannes, ahead of their European counterparts, who remain consistently attractive partners for UK producers.
“Collectively, UK sales companies have become more aggressive, saying, ’Hey, British created, so a British sales agent makes sense’,” said Cornerstone Films co-president Mark Gooder, who is handling A Waiter In Paris, starring Leo Woodall and Clémence Poésy and Foxfinder, with Tessa Thompson, Ebon Moss Bachrach and Owen Cooper.
Further buzzy projects from UK filmmakers include Bankside’s
Ceasefire and Night Swimming, HanWay’s Quest For Love and Becoming Capa, Altitude’s Mars Express, and WestEnd’s Margot & Rudi.
French sales agents are particularly active in the UK, buoyed by a supportive national film ecosystem that allows the companies to take risks on new talent, tempt producers with minimum guarantees [MGs], board early and sometimes even secure a Cannes slot.
UK sellers pointed out they bring their own financial participation to projects. “It’s doing pre-sales, it’s finding equity, or gap [financing],” said Bankside’s director Stephen Kelliher. “Many producers use our pre-sales to finance their films. Pre-sales is featuring more heavily in our business model.”
And different types of financing. “UK sales have been operating at a slightly different, focused level, and that includes finding equity, private equity, commercial equity, that can come out of the UK and the US,” added Gooder.
An MG fund for UK sales agents selling homegrown projects will be rolled out this year by the government-backed UK Global Screen Fund. “The fact that they’re making moves to make an MG possible for people is fantastic,” said Kelliher. “I think they are doing really great things. No notes.”
Gooder and Kelliher acknowledge the recent awards and box office success for Cornerstone’s Pillion and Bankside’s I Swear and The Ballad Of Wallis Island have been a profile boost. “Certain films come along and they become really helpful in sort of defining what risks you’re prepared to take and how commercially smart those risks are,” noted Gooder.
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