{"id":1117,"date":"2011-01-11T15:00:21","date_gmt":"2011-01-11T23:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/wordpress\/?p=1117"},"modified":"2014-06-04T21:37:04","modified_gmt":"2014-06-04T21:37:04","slug":"finding-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/finding-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Focus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

NBC Universal\u2019s specialty arm has been \u201cloving on\u201d indie filmmakers and audiences for nearly a decade. We\u00a0go in search of what makes Focus Features so special<\/strong><\/p>\n

Few studios\/distributors get more out of the Sundance Film Festival than Focus Features.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe caliber of films they pick up is very in line with the films we launch,\u201d says John Cooper, the festival\u2019s director. \u201cIn past years they have acquired more films than they have premiered.\u201d At the 2010 festival, Focus acquired The Kids Are All Right<\/em> ($24,616,279, global box office), and premiered It\u2019s Kind of a Funny Story<\/em> ($6,363,628).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo courtesy of Focus\/Alex Bailey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Focus was created in 2002 after a three-way merger between Good Machine, USA Films and Universal Focus. Today, it operates as the \u201cart house\u201d division of Universal Pictures, producing and distributing its own titles and distributing foreign films, as well. Though its releases are hardly formulaic, the company\u2019s business model ensures its success at festivals like Sundance and in the larger marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, they generally work with well-established talent, who they can be sure will connect with audiences,\u201d says Bruce Nash, owner of Nash Information Services, LLC, a box office analysis firm and developer of OptiData. Leading men in Focus-released movies have included George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes and Sean Penn; leading ladies have been everyone from Cate Blanchette and Annette Bening to Julianne Moore and Renee Zellweger. Marquee directors (like Sofia Coppola and Ang Lee) frequently work with the studio, as do top-flight DPs like Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC; Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC; and Edward Lachman, ASC.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo courtesy of Focus Features<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of very intelligent people working there who are concerned with making good movies first and making money second,\u201d notes cinematographer (and long-time Sundance veteran) Andrij Parekh, who shot 2010\u2019s It\u2019s Kind of a Funny Story<\/em>. \u201cThey know a good movie will make money. [That] allows for more risk-taking and therefore more creativity. Making movies is hard work, and making independent features is even harder.\u201d Low budgets, tight schedules and a certain appeal mean that \u201cthe people making them have to really love them. And Focus does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cinematographer Martin Ruhe, who made his first U.S. feature, The American<\/em> ($45,689,195) with Focus, says the dedication to the craft of making high-quality independent films permeates the entire company from executive offices to post-production suites. \u201cThe creative team at the top understands that original filmmaking comes from the themes and stories you choose and from the vision of the director. They look for talent and give them space which is great,\u201d Ruhe explains. \u201cI have never worked on a production where there was so much input and understanding about every aspect of the filmmaking. Just to have somebody like Jeff Roth [Focus\u2019 vice president of post production] was great. From choosing the lab to every step in the post production, which of course has an impact on how you shoot things, is fantastic and helps to walk in the right direction with everybody being on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo courtesy of Focus Features<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another key is the company\u2019s savvy business model, which takes a measured approach to releases and relies heavily on festivals to generate buzz. \u201dEven their wide releases open in only about 2,500 theaters, which allows them to spend their marketing dollars effectively,\u201d Nash says. \u201cThis means they don’t have out-and-out blockbusters but they also don’t have many expensive misfires.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smart festival marketing entices a larger audience to smaller films, like 2008\u2019s Milk <\/em>($50,164,027) or 2004\u2019s The Motor Cycle Diaries<\/em> ($39,356,372). Focus\u2019 strong domestic and international distribution network enables the studio to reach additional markets, further driving revenue. Where other specialty distributors (Warner Independent, Paramount Vantage, and Picturehouse) down through the years have been shut down or absorbed by their studio parents, Focus has survived and even prospered. But perhaps the most important element of the company\u2019s success is an understanding of great material, strong characters and solid storytelling. As Sundance\u2019s Cooper puts it: \u201cThey just have good taste.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo by Phil Bray<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet taste and talent alone still doesn\u2019t account for the kind of financial and critical acclaim, Focus produced and\/or distributed movies have enjoyed over the last decade. A small sampling includes astonishingly productive global box office numbers (see below), as well as 58 Oscar\u00ae nominations and 19 Oscar\u00ae winners!<\/p>\n

2003 Lost in Translation<\/em> $106,454,000
\n2000 Billy Elliott<\/em> $109,280,263
\n2005 Pride & Prejudice<\/em> $120,918,508
\n2005 Coraline<\/em> $124,062,750
\n2007 Atonement <\/em> $129,425,746
\n2008 Burn After Reading<\/em> $163,415,735
\n2005 Brokeback Mountain<\/em> $180,343,761<\/p>\n

\"\"
Seamus McGarvey, BSC (left) Joe Wright (right); Courtesy of Focus\/Alex Bailey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clearly the people who run Focus have a nose for quality independent product that is capable of playing to a much wider audience traditionally associated with Sundance movies. Or as Nash explains: \u201cTheir strategy has worked well historically because \u2018smaller\u2019 films with familiar faces tend to do well on video and DVD, even if they aren’t huge in theaters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC (left) Ang Lee (right); Courtesy of Focus\/Kimberly French<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Margot Carmichael Lester<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NBC Universal\u2019s specialty arm has been \u201cloving on\u201d indie filmmakers and audiences for nearly a decade. 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