Out From Under Sub-Contracting

Visual effects houses rise and fall with the amount of work they bring in from other sources. Yet another job shop is working to change that:

French visual effects company BUF has optioned “Romeo,” a spec script from newcomer Will Simmons.

The film, an action thriller with a modern twist on William Shakespeare’s legendary character, marks a partnership between the effects house and Energy Independent, a film development, packaging and production arm of Brooklyn Weaver’s Energy Entertainment. ...

It recently launched a production arm and has begun to make animated and live-action films such as Eran Riklis' "Zaytoun" and Moebius' "La Planete Encore."

Of course, optioning a script is a long way from greenlighting a production. but it's a beginning, no?

BUF understands that companies yoked to visual effects sub-contracting limit themselves, often even doom themselves. More often than not, they cut their throats economically by low-balling the price they put up to acquire the work, then make minimal or zero profits.

You might survive on 4% margins, but you ain't gonna prosper. BUF gets this. Stil in all, creating original productions isn't the easiest task in the world. You gotta sell them to the world market, and you have to get a distributor who will seriously push your product. We'll see if they can make it work.