Buying time

Hollywood | A writers’ strike and fears about 2009’s movie season do not prompt studios to open up their wallets at Sundance | Meghan Keane

PARK CITY, Utah— Geoffrey Gilmore, the director of the Sundance Film Festival, says that he considers 15 to 20 film sales to be a success for his festival. This year, only 10 films were sold by the end of the festival's 10 days, a surprise to many who thought that the continuing writers' strike would be a boon for completed independent films.

Despite the number of studios hoping to pick up films, plenty of people in the industry are worried about overbidding for films. And the fear of a hole in the 2009 movie rollout resulting from the writers' strike did not seem to affect the bottom line. Only $25 million was spent during the festival this year, compared with $53 million for 20 titles last year.

The Cinderella story of the festival in recent years has been Little Miss Sunshine, which made over $100 million worldwide on a production budget of $8 million. Purchased for a record $10.5 million at Sundance, the film was a huge success and won Alan Arkin an Oscar for best supporting actor.