Variety
Though long expected, Disney’s announcement Friday that it will scale back Miramax was just more downer news for the already browbeaten indie film community. The larger studio will now handle “certain marketing, distribution, operations and administrative support functions from its Burbank headquarters,” Disney said. That translates to an almost 75% reduction in staff to just 20 remaining execs. On the whole, the shrinking indie slots at studios spell ongoing tough times for filmmakers. Some are already crying doom over what the Miramax cuts will mean for acquisitions at Sundance in January. Despite the fact that the label made very few pickups in recent years, the notion that just one more possible buyer was taken off the field is cause for a full indie orange alert. Some say the indies are already on red alert. One sales agent reported that U.S. distribs can now play hardball when it comes to paying filmmakers and sellers. “People are behaving really badly. They’re basically saying, ‘We’ll pay you whenever we want to pay you, no matter what the contract says,’ ” the seller lamented. “There were 20 places to distribute your film before, and now there are 10.”