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New York film market suffers a blow with the closing of Miramax
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RIP New York Cinema
Dearly beloved; we are gathered here today to pay our respects to a once great independent film company, and the long standing icon of the New York indie film scene. I am referring to of course, Miramax. Yes, some of you may claim that Miramax has not been independent since Disney bought it in 1993. Others may claim they stayed true to their roots until the Weinsteins cut ties with the brand four years ago. But ladies and gentlemen, one cannot deny the impact that Miramax Films has had on the New York independent film market. It is now that I would like to request a moment of silence for this once groundbreaking company.
OK, well I know no one actually died, but sadly, it was announced this past week that Miramax’s president, Daniel Battsek, will be stepping down from his post this January. Along with Battsek’s departure, the company also announced that it will close their New York office, leaving only about twenty staff members behind to man the division running out of Disney’s Burbank headquarters. Just eighteen months after winning best picture with No Country For Old Men, Miramax will now reduce its output to three films per year.
Miramax’s exit from the Big Apple has deeper implications than one may realize at first glance. The independent film market has been suffering greatly due to the recession as well as advances in digital media. With funding for films disappearing, several quality mid-majors have kicked the bucket over the last two years. Miramax may have once-upon-a-time been a tiny trailblazer in the early nineties, but as time passed, they knew they needed to get bigger or die trying. Even as the company’s success grew, the passion projects they took on became more and more expensive to produce, and ended up yielding a lower and lower return on investment.
Being a mid-major has proven to be quite dangerous, as shown by the long list of the aforementioned deceased. By becoming a larger player in the industry, each company was expected to produce bigger budget films with bigger names attached. Unfortunately, most mid-majors seemed to have been producing films outside their means, hoping to be paid off by the buzz they thought they had been creating. While one cannot deny the quality of the majority of these films, they simply were not big enough fiscal successes to warrant their budgets. As time went on, independent financiers scurried away from the larger independent pictures, leaving these mid-majors no choice but to try and step up to the big leagues. Unfortunately, these companies simply could not compete with the resources of major Hollywood studios.
Advancements in digital media have also been killing the New York film market. Means of distribution are changing on a month-to-month basis, and the mid-majors simply do not have the man power to stay ahead of the curve. To make matters worse, means of production have become less and less expensive, leading to the market being flooded with independent pictures. It’s simply the law of supply and demand. As the supply of independent films skyrocket, the returns on said films grow lower and lower. One could argue that a production company would be better off with a good story having no names attached, than it would be with several stars joining the cast and inflating the budget. Cutting costs has become one of the few ways for indies to see any return on investment, but because of the standard filmmaking model, most companies are still behind on the curve.
Seeing Miramax go is a sad day for New York film, but can be used as a tale of caution for other production companies. Studios need to re-examine their budgets, and do so quickly. Maybe instead of spending the extra million on a bigger star, they should consider investing $100,000 into a digital viral marketing campaign. In the meantime, let us pay our respects to the departed, and hope that they are not joined by any others anytime soon.
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