Editor-in-Chief, International & Strategy

How many independent films make money? was one of the questions put to Europe’s top film financiers and producers today at the Zurich Summit, which takes place during the Zurich Film Festival.

Vincent Maraval, Chairman of Goodfellas/The Veterans; Christian Vesper, CEO of Global Drama and Film Fremantle; Elisabeth d'Arvieu, CEO of Mediawan Pictures; Karl Spoerri, Co-Founder and CEO of Zurich Avenue AG; and Constantin Board Member Martin Bachmann all participated in the session.

Film sales veteran Maraval, who recently rose to prominence with films such as Emilia Perez starring Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez and Audrey Diwan’s Emmanuelle, commented: “I can only speak to what I know about our films. It’s different between independent American films and independent international films, but in terms of independent local [to Europe] films, I would say probably 60 to 70% make money, or at least make money back and don’t lose money, because they’re in a system where the pre-financing model covers the costs. It’s not as speculative as the American system. In Europe, you don’t really make a huge profit, but you don’t lose as much or take as much risk. In American cinema, I would say it’s more likely that one in three indie films makes money. Our job is to make sure that third compensates for the two-thirds that don’t make money, but the current challenging market for independent cinema in the US means that the gamble is bigger there than it used to be.”