“Copyrights and owning a negative are assets. And just like real estate, if you can accumulate enough assets, you will have some real value,” says producer Steve Stabler, who together with Brad Krevoy sold a library of 65 films that included Dumb & Dumber for $32.5 million in 1996. In recent years, library values have skyrocketed. In 2010, investment firm Colony bought the Miramax library of films for $663 million.
This story first appeared in the June 27 issue ofThe Hollywood Reporter magazine.
Richard Linklater‘s new film Boyhood might jump-start a rare phenomenon in Hollywood: the director as owner.
When Linklater’s longtime lawyer, John Sloss, structured the contract for the experimental coming-of-age drama — Boyhood was made over 12 years for a modest $5 million and is set to open July 11 — he insisted that financier IFC Films give the helmer part ownership of the movie’s copyright. Unlike a typical deal that offers a percentage of profits — or “points” — so a director shares in the success but has no control over the movie’s future, Linklater’s pact gave him a say in where and how the film is released. Working together, IFC the financier and Linklater decided that IFC’s distribution arm was their best option.
by Tatiana Siegel