Berney: "Different Paradigms"

Quite a bit of the discussion revolved about service agreements, and I even got to ask Bob Berney directly about the trades suggesting that service agreements are missed opportunities (he called the article "ill-informed and snarky" and said that "the trades don't understand the current business models.") On the subject overall, in fact, Berney defended service agreements as a new paradigm: rather than being deals struck by producers who couldn't find distribution, they are becoming "real partnerships" with producers. T.C. Rice even suggested that although they took "serious money" from the producers to make happen "serious money is a relative thing depending upon your goals." Look for service agreements to continue to both worry Hollywood and influence Indiewood as the lessons of Newmarket fully sink in.

There was also some Miramax sniping (inspired by Biskind's tell-all book) -- Tom Prassis mused how Miramax managed to not release films "without getting sued" and T.C. Rice told a story about snagging "Enigima" from Miramax after they "double-dealed the producer's rep" (including details when a filmmaker asked, "Can you describe what you mean by Miramax double-dealing?" that T.C. Rice tackled head-on.)

And Prassis showed himself to be a bit of a futurist, even though he admitted that he's "in the minority". He predicted that in five to ten years, all films will be projected digitally creating a new economy (sans print costs) for theatrical distribution. He also poo-pooed the impact of downloading and piracy on the the film industry: