What do sales agents and film representatives want? | DOC CONFERENCES | TIFF 2018

The documentary marketplace continues to grow with new buyers, higher prices, more complex deals, celebrity partners, and fiction remakes. These projects are often handled by big Hollywood talent agencies. In this conversation, we talk with several of the top agents who are selling nonfiction titles at this year’s Festival about new trends, opportunities, and things to watch out for in the market.
Guest
Amanda Lebow
Amanda Lebow is a media finance agent at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Lebow works in the Los Angeles office and represents documentary filmmakers and producers. In addition, Lebow packages and sells nonfiction feature films and series and works on overall film strategy for financiers and producers. Lebow began her career at Submarine Entertainment in New York City. Before joining CAA, Lebow worked in film distribution as the head of film for Bond/360. She joined CAA in 2015.
Guest
Kevin Iwashina
Kevin Iwashina is a Senior Associate at Endeavor Content, a division of global entertainment leader Endeavor (formerly WME \ IMG). In his role, Iwashina identifies financing opportunities, handles sales and provides advisory services for media companies and content creators in the non-fiction space. Endeavor Content finances, packages and sells over 100 feature films and television series a year. In non-fiction, recent film and television projects include Chef’s Table, Le Mans, The Grand Tour, Gleason, Step, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story, and Long Strange Trip, among others. Iwashina joined Endeavor Content in 2017. Prior to that, he served as Founder & CEO at Preferred Content (PC), a film, television and digital sales, production and advisory company. During his tenure, he oversaw the representation of fiction and non-fiction content creators to secure financing and distribution of feature films and episodic series concepts.
Guest
Rena Ronson
Rena Ronson heads the Independent Film Group and is a partner at leading global talent and entertainment company United Talent Agency. One of the industry’s pre-eminent packaging and finance executives, she specializes in global film finance, distribution and marketing strategies for independent and co-financed features, helping the world’s most acclaimed independent filmmakers see their work reach global audiences. Ronson oversees a group of agents known for packaging and representing many high-profile independently financed films from a diverse range of US and international filmmakers, including Greta Gerwig, Asghar Farhadi, Wes Anderson, Michael Showalter, Judd Apatow, Marielle Heller, Haifaa Al-Mansour, Noah Baumbach, James Ponsoldt and Mike White. Most recently, Ronson played an integral role in the 2018 Academy Award nominated films I Tonya, Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird, as well as Bryan Fogel’s Oscar-winning documentary ICARUS.
Guest
Jessica Lacy
Jessica Lacy is a partner and head of the international and independent film department at ICM Partners. She leads her department in structuring and arranging financing, packaging and securing distribution for independent films. She has brokered distribution deals for many of the most acclaimed films of the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and SXSW. Among Jessica’s most recent sales at Cannes were Karyn Kusama’s Destroyer starring Nicole Kidman, which sold to Annapurna for a 2018 release and will premiere in Toronto in the Platform section. At Sundance earlier this year her sales were among the most significant, each selling in the mid-high seven-figure range, including Jennifer Fox’s The Tale, starring Laura Dern, which sold to HBO and garnered multiple Emmy nominations, as well as Marc Turtletaub’s film Puzzle, starring Kelly Macdonald, which sold to Sony Pictures Classics and was recently released theatrically, and the Zellner Brothers film Damsel starring Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson, which sold to Magnolia. Jessica will be representing a number of exciting films in Toronto, including Tom Donahue’s documentary on gender inequality, This Changes Everything, and Emma Tammi’s film The Wind, which premieres in the Midnight Madness section.
Guest
Thom Powers
Documentary Programmer, TIFF - HOST
Powers has served as an International Documentary Programmer for the Festival since 2006. He created and leads the Festival's Doc Conference; and hosts the podcast Pure Nonfiction interviewing documentary filmmakers. He curates for the digital streaming service SundanceNOW Doc Club, and for the Miami International Film Festival. He and his wife, Raphaela Neihausen, serve as directors of DOC NYC, run the weekly documentary screening series Stranger than Fiction at Manhattan's IFC Center, and host WNYC's radio segment Documentary of the Week. Powers teaches at the School of Visual Arts MFA SocDoc program.
www.tiff.net/t...

[@markbarbee8659]

Great panel!

[@patricklandond1]

Good panel surprised there’s not more doc filmmaker comments on here! Lol this is the game and you have to learn how to play it and what the market may want to help your chances of success! Thom Powers living legend in the doc space!

[@LASTEREOTV]

it wasn't that informative lol

[@patricklandond1]

@@LASTEREOTV guess it just depends if you have used a sales agent before and how the process works, i've sold docs independent of a sales agent and also have sales agents interested in my new project, so it is what it is... have u ever produced and distributed a feature doc?

[@LASTEREOTV]

patricklandond1 I am in the process. For me the problem with these people is that they are totally inaccessible. They represent the pinacle of documentary and it just all seems very elitist.

[@patricklandond1]

@@LASTEREOTV for sure and i understand ur frustrations having been on either side of the equation... here's the bottom line if u have a completed project that's worthy of their time, look up the agent that can best represent ur project get them something they can review and if they are interested they will let u know... so start w/ a short email, intro and maybe a teaser clip or trailer... if they like they will ask u for a screener then go from there... good luck.

[@LASTEREOTV]

patricklandond1 ty

[@PolarityMovieReseach]

Thank you.

[@MrArtist1971]

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