Cannes Packages
Are you humbled and inspired by what's on offer?
Well hello there! How’s everyone holding up this week so far?
Busy times here at FS/MS HQ as we plan our summer and fall film and series production schedules. We have some exciting things lined up that I’ll happily share with you in due course, but in the mean time there’s the annual Cannes Film Festival and Market which kicks off next week and I wanted to share a little insight on the what you can expect to see coming out of it.
But first! Last week saw the introduction of my very first Packaging Playbook course which is in full swing now. So far we’ve covered Pre-Packaging checklists as well as attaching a Director and/or Producing team.
If you’d like to join us, you can still register at this link below and we’ll get you up to speed quickly with access to the first two lessons right here on Substack.
Cannes Packages Take Center Stage
Most of us know that the Cannes Film Market is all about premiering new films to the international market - I mean, huge blockbusters like Killers Of The Flower Moon, X Men, and Indiana Jones installments have debuted to international audiences there.
But behind the veneer of those hundred million plus studio budgets, there’s a whole independent studio ecosystem - like the Film Nation’s and AGC’s of the world (and smaller more boutique outfits) - who focus on launching their A-list packages for pre-sale, to hit their financing targets and green light production. I call this the independent studio ecosystem because they are financing films with a market-based approach and putting it all together with tax credits and equity, just like us smaller Indies do but on a much bigger scale.
When I first started attending Cannes as a brand new sales agent over twenty years ago, these were the companies and projects that intrigued me the most and to this day, still do to some extent especially as it’s become harder and harder to secure the level of talent needed to sell these types of packages.
Humbling doesn’t begin to describe it!
In reading the trades leading up to the big event, I came across a list of projects that Screen puts out every year to advertise the biggest packages for sale at the market.
As a Producer I can tell you I see these lists and wonder how on earth teams pulled all these actors together and put a shiny bow on it :) There’s no way around it, the packaging landscape is always tough but if you put in the time and sprinkle on a sound strategy, you might just make this list at some point!
Here’s the Screen article for you to peruse and pull intel from. I always advise to pay attention to the actors, directors, producers, and sales companies who are making these projects happen and if you find alignment with a project you have and can make a connection, then awesome. Lists like this are a great tool for market intelligence so be sure to bookmark and review it over the next couple weeks as the market takes place for all the latest updates.
What questions do you have around Packaging? Are you in the trenches trying to put projects together right now and how are you doing with it? Hit me up in the comments below!
On that note, I’ll wrap things up for today. I hope you have a wonderful day ahead and I’ll speak to you again soon.
Stacey
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Not humbled because I can still work on scripts :) and Christopher and I are making our animated sci fi action film, but I do have questions. Who determines what projects get on this list? When are those decisions made in relation to Cannes itself? (Are the submissions done beforehand?) Quite possibly not answerable, but how many of these names get iron clad pay or play and how many are willing to lend their names up front during the financing process perhaps for a smaller fee than they'll eventually receive if the project goes? Or do people assembling the packages hit up representation and see how they react? TIA.