With studios tightening their belts and mini-majors dropping like flies, the days of festival feeding frenzies are long over. But then there's always the exceptions to the rule. As Fox Searchlight's Adam gets nudged into the big, bad world today -- gradually, of course, on four screens, typical of the measured strategy that turned Little Miss Sunshine and Juno into massive sleeper hits -- we asked director Max Mayer, an East Coast theater veteran, to recount the night his microbudget romance was scooped up at Sundance.
So you go to Sundance with a baby, and you're looking for a mom. What's that experience like?
Well not being that much in the business before, getting accepted at Sundance was huge. I'm sure that that's true for most people. For people like Leslie [Urdang], my producer, that's nice, but the next thing is the important thing -- selling it. So I was sort of on this blithe high -- we're here! And then what was truly overwhelming, actually, from that standpoint, was going from three or four screenings with five or six friends, and going to the Eccles Theater, which was 1400 people. That was our first screening at Sundance. And Hugh [Dancy, the film's star] and I were sitting there thinking, "Is our little movie going to hold up in here?" Then after five or six minutes you realize that the audience is with it, and everyone's along for the ride. Then you hear some laughter and you think, well if they liked that, I think they're going to like this. And sure enough, they like that! It's just an incredibly gratifying feeling to be with an audience who's getting it, after all of that work.
So again, I'm on this response high. And right after that screening, there was this 20th anniversary screening of Sex, Lies and Videotape, so we all sort of piled into two cars and went with Peter [Gallagher] to that screening, including with Leslie and Miranda [de Pencier], our two producers. So we went to that screening and watched Sex, Lies and Videotape. The screening's over, and they turned back on their phones -- and you could practically hear their phones. The sales agent was screaming, "Who turns off their phones after the first screening at Sundance?! WHERE ARE YOU PEOPLE?!" And so they turned to each other, and one said, "There's an offer from Searchlight." And they were both gone. I went, "Well -- that's nice!" We had a party to go to. [Laughs]
Had you discussed who your Holy Grail was?
Well, yeah, but it wasn't even Searchlight, because basically they were prepping me in some way, but all I heard was "we won't sell at Sundance. Don't be concerned about that -- look at what year we're in." I believed we'd sell it, and it was great we got into Sundance, but we weren't going to sell it to some place like Searchlight or -- there aren't really any more "or"s. There used to be Warner Independent, which was probably still alive at that time . But we'll sell it, I thought, and try to get it open. [Laughs]
So the two of them and the sales agent just took over. I went to the party and they called and said, "Look, Searchlight's made an offer. They want the movie. The offer's good for today only."
So we're having a little party for our first night after our screening. They're all excited, I'm waiting to hear. Then I get a phone call from Leslie: "I need to talk to you." I said, "OK, I'll be out of the party in five minutes." So I leave and Leslie and Miranda are sitting in a car waiting for me, and they say, "Searchlight, as part of their deal when they acquire a movie like this, they want a deal with the director for another movie." So they couldn't negotiate it without me. So they had to get me involved.
So then I had the classic experience. We go up to the Fox condo, and we're there until two in the morning.
Was your lawyer there?
No! There was nobody there! It was [Fox Searchlight President of Production] Claudia Lewis reading parts of this contract to me and explaining what it meant! I had no idea that any of it had anything to do with me.
But you only wrote and directed the movie.
Yeah, but I didn't own it anymore. They contractually could sell it...
But now they own you.
[Laughs] And I'm very happily...owned.
So that's to write and direct another movie for them?
It's sort of an option. They have a first refusal on things that I want to write and direct.
How do you feel about moving into Hollywood and all that entails?
I mean so far it's been great. I had a wonderful time doing this movie. It was a true labor of love. People tell me horror stories, but whatever job you're doing, it's the people around who are going to make the experience great or not great. So I hope I keep working with people I enjoy.
What happens if the Fox bigwigs see Adam, and they see it making a lot of money for the size of movie it is --
Wouldn't that be great!
Sure. And they see it achieve in the genre of romantic comedy what most big-budget romantic comedies fail to achieve. And they come to you and say, "Here's $60 million, Matthew McConaughey, will you do this for us?"
It depends on the script. I'm not 25 anymore. I know that I'm not going to have a career experience that changes who I am anymore. That's not going to happen. I also know I'm X number of years old. So if I say yes to that, I'm stuck with that for two years out of my life. That's different for two years out of somebody who's 25. So I'm going to have to like it. But if I love the script or feel that I could fix the script, I'd love to do that. I've found in the theater, I generally have good experiences when I can identify what it is personally that makes me want to tell the story. And when I don't, I don't necessarily have a good experience. It doesn't sustain my either interest in doing something because it would be good for my career, or any other reason. ♦