Transcribed from Adi Shankar's talk:
The truth is, i feel like an epic douchebag every time I talk about Dredd.
Because, literally, no matter what I say, the headline will always say, "Producer says, Dredd was a F#*KING BOMB!"
Yeah, "F#*KING".
Like, my dad even once called me. He's like, "you know, I was reading the Belfast Times, and it say that you said that Dredd was a F#KING bomb. You should not be using the word F#KING!"
You know, I get inundated with questions on what it'll take to make a sequel all the F#KING time. And the problem is, the answer is very F#KING complicated. It's very complicated.
In the era of "NEWS BITES", to answer that question is literally (like, as in 'metaphorically speaking') standing out in public and begging, praying that you get misquoted.
[insert image of Johnny Depp, apparently drunk while giving a speech]
I'm here right now, te answer this question, and to demystify the process.
The guy who dresses up like the Crow is gonna give you a lesson in film finance.
[insert image of crow -- that has nothing to do with the Brandon Lee character from the Crow (1994) and more to do with The Birds (1963) flying menacingly at the screen]
But to answer the question, we need to know two things:
Dredd was an independent movie. By the way: Looper, Lawless, The Grey, uh, Killing Them Softly, End of Watch, John Wick -- all independent movies
Dredd was financed by an Indian conglomerate. It was not made by a traditional Hollywood studio. Kinda changes things!
How does film in the independent world work?
Independent movies are financed by piece-mealing distribution contracts from around the world together. You're literally taking distribution contracts from every territory in the world where you can pre-sell the... movie, okay, and you're trying to stitch them together in order to finance the movie.
[insert audio of children cheering]
If you start looking at your movie as an asset, then the formula's really, really simple at that point, right -- it's simply "D", plus "I", plus "S".
"D" is the domestic value.
"I" is the international value.
"S" is the subsidy government rebate for shooting in a specific location. For instance, if you go to, if you go to, uh, New Mexico or New Orleans, uh, or in a lot of international locations, the government actually gives you money, to make a movie there. They give you back a piece of, of your budget.
If the cost of making your movie exceeds "D plus I plus S" then your movie is not happening. It doesn't matter who's in it or how great the script is. It's just simply not happening.
If the cost of making your movie is less than "D plus I plus S", then, it doesn't matter how shitty the script is, or what not, the movie's probably going to F#*KING happen. That's why shitty movies happen all the time.
[insert image of crow -- that has nothing to do with the Brandon Lee character from the Crow (1994) and more to do with The Birds (1963) flying menacingly at the screen]
What determines the value of "D and I"?
Well, really it's three things:
A. A major movie star. B. A major filmmaking. and C. Sometimes it can be a piece of intellectual property.
There was a situation, that I saw a number of years ago for a movie called The Host. Not the Bong Joonh-Ho movie (2006). The Host -- the Stephanie Meyer movie (2013). Every F#*KING buyer, in the world pre-bought the shit out of that movie, because they were afraid that this was gonna become the next Twilight and they don't want to, you know, not have it.
The most important letter in "D plus I plus S" is "I". It's the international value. In the early '90s, uh, "I" accounted for less than ten percent of the formula. Today, "I" accounts for sixty to seventy percent of the budgets of films. And sometimes in can even be one-hundred percent, believe it or not.
The truth is, movies bomb in the United States all the F#*KING time and are hits internationally. That's just the reality of the world we live in today.
[onscreen graphic: Where do you PRE-SELL international rights?]
Now, where are these rights sold?
You sell international rights, or you pre-sell international rights, at film markets. At Cannes (Film Festival). At Berlin (International Film Festival). At American Film Market.
The movie doesn't actually have to be, uh, actually, like, made. It's just a movie in theory, right, so you show up to American Film Market (for example) and you go, "hey I've got this script. I've got, uh, Wesley Snipes in it. And it's an action movie where he beats up a bunch of ninjas." The Australian distributor comes to you and goes (commence horrid Aussie accent imitation), 'Adi! I really want a movie with Snipes, but I want him to fight someone other than ninjas? Alright? Maybe you can find sharks. Maybe we could do, like, Like Sharknado 3 or 4?"
You have this interaction with distributors all over the world and then you pre-sell them the movie. So you've sold them an asset before it's even been made.
The seven major territories in the world are, or were: France, Italy, Germany, Spain, U.K. and Scandinavia.
[onscreen graphic: Adi forgot to mention AUSTRALIA.]
However, the world, as we all know, is in complete F#KING turmoil so, uh, in the time that I've been doing this, which is a very short F#KING time, Italy and Spain, are bankrupt. China was like, a major F#*KING territory for about a year and then that bubble burst and now, it's no longer. But I remember... Machine Gun Preacher (2011) was sold in China for I think, like, ten...k (ten thousand dollars). And Broken City (2013) was sold for like, a million-and-a-half bucks. Like, it was just crazy shit.
By the way, all the Indian people who like to run up to me and go (commence amusingly accurate silly Indian accent) 'but why don't the Indian movie stars appear in Hollywood films?' I just answered your F#*KING question.
India's a territory that account for less than one percent of a movie's budget. You got a one percent bump in your budget. Yay! That's gonna F#*KING help a lot.
[insert image of crow -- that has nothing to do with the Brandon Lee character from the Crow (1994) and more to do with The Birds (1963) flying menacingly at the screen]
So for DREDD 2, two things need to happen.
All the distributors from the major territories need to re-acquire the film.
We need to get a U.S. distributor. Lion's Gate or someone else. And that's something I'm not really that concerned about.
The biggest problem, in the "D plus I plus S" formula is, is "I". At its previous budget level, Dredd lost almost every distributor movie. So, there are really three options here as I see it.
Lower the F#*KING buget. Maybe DREDD 2 as found-footage? I dunno. I wouldn't watch it, but...
Bring on a filmmaker that would really just move the needle. Like, someone like a David Fincher or something. That's not realistic. It's not gonna happen because major filmmakers who would move the needle, they're not really in the business of directing sequels to someone else's franchise. That's just, not how it works.
and,
[insert audio of children cheering]
But, you know, it's kinda simple, actually.
[insert image of crow -- that has nothing to do with the Brandon Lee character from the Crow (1994) and more to do with The Birds (1963) flying menacingly at the screen]
END.