For my latest lunch in, I had the awesome opportunity to sit down with the International Division of Good Universe made up of Helen Lee-Kim, Akshay Mehta, Micheal Meyer, Brent Jack, and Kristina Starner. I think it would be safe to say that the average moviegoer never really considers the importance of international sales to the film industry. In fact, international sales can make up as much as 75% of a total film's gross. This is due in large part to China becoming a big player in importing films in the last decade.For this post though, I will try my best to layout certain international factors and explain how producers such as Good Universe do business. Once again, I am relaying this info in incredibly broad strokes and it should be noted that I am no expert on the subject myself.
Before we get into the nitty gritty of it all, it is important to understand how international distribution is handled based on the size of the producer. For this example, I will separate studios, independent studios, and independent producers into three categories. Studios are obviously the biggest and would be represented by something like Universal or Sony. Independent studios fall in the middle and are represented by an entities such as Lionsgate and EuropaCorp. Independent producers are the smallest and Good Universe falls into this category. After a project receives the "greenlight" by a studio the studio will then self distribute the film domestically and abroad. While the studio maintains autonomy over the film, which is ideal, if the film fails to perform up to box office expectations the studio loses money. An independent studio on the other hand will also self distribute domestically but will license the rights to the film abroad. The indie studios still hold the same domestic risks as the bigger studios studios but if they are able to sell their licenses for a good price over seas they can see a nice payday. On the flip side of this, if they sell their licenses and the film happens to do much better than projected, they may lose money. Independent producers such as Good Universe have a little more flexibility. They can either go to a studio and let the studio distribute the film worldwide or, and this is more likely, they take a film and sell it to individual foreign markets therefore splitting the rights by territory. An advantage to this strategy is that Good Universe can ask for an MG or a minimum guarantee. This means that even if the film bombs they are protected in their investment. The negative side to this though is you may have lost a business partner over seas if the film you sold them fails to perform.
Since there are so many risk factors that go into selling a film internationally, it is extremely important to do good research. One of, if not the most important thing, is to understand what kind of films do well overseas. Action flicks tend to travel well while comedies have trouble. There are various cultural factors that go into this but the most important thing to understand is the importance of "high concept vs low concept". A high concept film can be defined by one symbol or a couple of words. A good example would be the batman symbol. The higher the concept of a film the better the probability of a film doing well overseas since there are less cultural and or language barriers present. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but if you have ever seen the British version of The Office you see very quickly that cultural references that make people laugh in the UK are lost on American audiences.
Lastly, and for me the most interesting aspect of the international team, is the fact that they basically run a separate business outside of Good Universe. It takes a lot of work to run an international department, that is why many studios just outsource the international part of the business to entities such as Good Universe. Many scripts that interns such as myself read may not be picked up by Good Universe for production, but the international team may continue to track it if they like the script for its international qualities. Notable films handled by Good Universe's international department but not produced by the company include Snowpiercer and Kick Ass. In the end, it takes a certain kind of personality to pitch a film to foreign investors over and over again, but traveling to Cannes every year probably makes the stress bearable.
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