04/04/2014 - In the lead-up to the first edition of Brussels’ Frontières Market, Cineuropa talks to American distributor James Shapiro

On the eve of the first edition of Brussels’ Frontières Market, Cineuropa talked to Drafthouse Films’ chief operating officer, James Shapiro. Drafthouse Films, the distribution arm of the already iconic US movie-theatre chain Alamo Drafthouse, is an emerging company that is trying to make its mark by distributing mostly genre films from all over the world in the US, such as Belgium’s Bullhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile], Denmark’s The Act of Killing [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and the Netherlands’ Borgman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alex van Varmerdam
interview: Reinout Scholten van Aschat
film profile]. What are the biggest question marks within today’s market?

Cineuropa: Is there a difference between genre-film distribution and non-genre-film distribution?
James Shapiro: Films like dramas or comedies need, on average, star power in order to build a model of distribution that’s going to be successful. Really good genre films that don’t have any star power can be marketed and distributed just around the fact that it’s a war movie or a science-fiction film. And that already has its audience built up. Still, things can always perform differently on an individual basis, but genre films have that built-up audience around which you can prepare your distribution plans for appealing to that genre audience. 

What’s the most important thing for your company when it comes to picking a film for distribution?
In the beginning we’ve got to have a movie that we love passionately. When we picked something like Bullhead – a really small, dark film that’s not supposed to appeal to a wide audience right away – it was because we saw it and we loved it on the festival circuit, and we thought that there was an audience that we could build for it. We saw how it played at the Fantastic Fest, and we picked it right afterwards – we were the first non-Belgian distribution company to buy it. Then it got the surprise nomination for the Oscars, and that really helped to build an audience for it. Because of cases like this, we tend to rely on our instinct.

How is distributing European films in the US?
The studios have settled on a model for genre films – they need to be distributed as PG-13 or as a franchise film (a remake, a prequel or a sequel). American independent genre films have suffered greatly because of that. You do have a countermovement to that, with names like Ti West, Adam Wingard and EL Katz – they still want to take up the challenge and create great low-budget films that can show up in the market. But what’s happening in Europe is that you can celebrate the genre filmmaking better – and I’d like to say the US is catching up with that. For example, the case of Let the Right One in, which is the best-case scenario: it was a movie that’s extremely well done and that you can actually make some money out of. Europe tends to be the place where most of the quality genre stuff is getting made these days. We’re always looking for the next Let the Right One in.

Might genre-film distribution be easier in Europe than in the US?
I know things are not great in Europe now either, but now we’re at a strange time in US distribution – we’re in a transitional period, and nobody really understands what we’re transitioning into. We know it’s going to be digital, but we haven’t been able to monetise digital distribution yet. It’s tough to know if something’s really going to work, but it helps us to have this parameter of quality because once we filter out the stuff we don’t want, we can focus on what we truly love, so we can build a market around those movies. 

Does film distribution have to change its business concept and adapt to new platforms?
In the US, there’s not just one model to follow when distributing a film. We look at the different films, and we discuss the best model to use to distribute it. In a lot of cases, we go for VoD and we get a theatrical window, whereas in Europe they haven’t fully embraced this yet. The genre audiences are seeing the movies in their houses, rather than in actual theatres. VoD makes it quicker and easier for them to see the films, so you may as well make it available to them. We don’t want to push the audience in a specific direction; we want the audience to have it no matter where they go. We’re doing it right now with the movie Cheap Thrills – we decided to make it available for the first 30 days on VoD, and now it’s available in both VoD and theatres. We’re now seeing success in some markets theatrically, and also success in other markets with VoD. It used to be the same way that it is now in Europe: the theatres get to be the first window, exclusively. But now we’re moving on.