Industry watching for strike-inspired bidding wars, hot films at Sundance

Last Updated: Friday, January 18, 2008 | 5:22 PM ET

CBC News

A day into the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, industry watchers are on the lookout for bidding wars and record high distribution deals stemming from the ongoing U.S. screenwriters strike.

Sundance festival founder Robert Redford speaks at the event's opening news conference on Thursday.
(Peter Kramer/Associated Press)

As the curtain rose Thursday on the annual indie film showcase, founder Robert Redford and festival director Geoffrey Gilmore were touting the number of first-time directors at this year's event (58, they said) as well as the increased presence of international filmmakers.

But distributors are just looking for high-quality films, according to Hollywood Reporter writer Gregg Goldstein.

Because of the writers strike, now heading into its 12th week, Sundance is predicted to see "a lot of bigger bids, depending on how the films are," Goldstein told CBC News Friday morning.

"[Studios] are in need of some product, so there might be some higher bidding," he said, adding that purchases are "really based on the quality of the film."

Influential movie mogul Harvey Weinstein admitted in an interview that he was preparing for bidding wars.

"People are going to be looking for that commercial movie out of Sundance, which very often happens," said Weinstein, who has developed a reputation for championing independent filmmakers.

"I think people are going to spend what they have to to get the film, because there's going to be a paucity of films" due to the strike.

However, some of his peers disagreed.

"I think the competition is always heated. In the past, we've always tried to find something to buy and hope we will this year," said Peter Rice, president of Fox Searchlight, which in recent years has released Sundance hits such as Little Miss Sunshine, Napoleon Dynamite, Waitress and Once.

"I wouldn't put it down to the writers strike. There's always competition…and if there are commercial movies there, it will be heated. There wasn't a huge bidding war last year. I think it's very film-dependent."

Sundance films getting early buzz in Park City include Sunshine Cleaning, Be Kind Rewind, Hamlet 2, What Just Happened? and The Wackness.
(Amy Sancetta/Associated Press)

A handful of films are already garnering early buzz, including the dramedy Sunshine Cleaning, Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind and Barry Levinson's Hollywood insider tale What Just Happened?, which features Robert De Niro and Sean Penn in its star-studded cast.

Other titles "that could sneak up under the radar," Goldstein said, include the comedy Hamlet 2 and The Wackness, about a drug dealer who trades marijuana for psychiatric treatment.

Writers strike lingers while directors settle

The 2008 Sundance Film Festival, which opened Thursday night with Olivier-winning playwright Martin McDonagh's feature film debut In Bruges, continues in Park City, Utah, until Jan. 27.

The writers strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which began Nov. 5, has chilled production on a number of movies and a myriad U.S. television shows, including hits such as Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, 24 and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

The dispute also reduced the usually glitzy Golden Globes gala into an hour-long news conference after sympathetic actors refused to cross proposed Writers Guild of America picket lines at the event.

The strike may also throw into turmoil other prominent upcoming award shows, such as the Grammys and the Oscars.

As for its own Feb. 9 awards gala, the Writers Guild of America East announced Friday afternoon its intention to hold a scaled-down, informal ceremony open only to nominees, their guests and union members. The West Coast WGA bureau previously cancelled its awards gala, pending the strike's conclusion.

Meanwhile, the Directors Guild of America announced a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Thursday, after less than a week of bargaining.