With the ripples of the pandemic era still spreading their tentacles through the film industry, the fate of the arthouse and indie movie has been a much-debated one. While, contrary to some rhetoric, we’ve seen decent success for a variety of films in this category over the last three years, seeing a number of high-profile axings and career changes for senior independent film executives has left some with more worries about a contraction in the indie industry. Brandon Blake, our expert entertainment lawyer from Blake & Wang P.A, looks deeper into this tumultuous week for us.
The Netflix Stir-Up
It’s no secret at this point that 2022 was not Netflix’s year. Finally forced to do more than bask in their status as the ‘original’ streamer, shake ups, restructuring, and content changes following such a difficult year were inevitable. Few were expecting to see them lay off not one, but two key documentary and indie executives (Ian Bricke and Lisa Nishimura), however. It’s clear the company wants to double down on its streaming-friendly fare instead of focus on award and festival-friendly titles.
Offsetting this a little, we see John Vanco move to Netflix after nearly 2 decades at the IFC Center. Here he will be handling the bookings of several key historic theaters now controlled by the streamer. Netflix has been looking for a new face for their exhibition arm after the exit of David Schwartz last year. And Vanco has been working closely with Netflix over the last few years. With the IFC Center owned by AMC, which has its own woes at present, perhaps it also feels like better job security! However, few were expecting the exit of Arianna Bocco, one of the few buyers still actively investing in non-English films for the US market, from the presidency of IFC Films after 17 years.
Indies and the Streaming Shadow
While streaming is facing its own contraction at the moment, and we’ve seen a massive consolidation in the sector, it isn’t hyperbole to state that the shift to streaming-first models has had a huge impact on acquisition and distribution for the arthouse industry. If it isn’t genre, it has become tough to sell. With the PVOD streaming market eating into many of the same demographics and audiences arthouse theatrical releases relied on, it has become a much tougher environment.
Luckily, we have seen streaming entities finally acknowledge the importance of two key factors present in the arthouse market- theatrical releases as a marketing tool and the need for original content for global audiences. While Netflix is ‘playing it safe’ with its new fare, we’ve seen the tech-giants-turned-streamers turning their gaze back to theatrical markets, with both Amazon and Apple making concerted pushes into cinemas.
Like it or loathe it, there’s less of an ‘indie contraction’ than a seismic shift in who is controlling the indie markets. How arthouse fare is acquired and marketed may change, but the industry itself remains a stalwart and necessary cornerstone of the wider entertainment world- which is all the better for it, too.
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