Distributors steered clear of most films up for sale at the recent Sundance Film Festival, but the talent on display generated excitement, with agencies pouncing on actors, directors and writers.
Many of the fest's top winners also topped the agency lists. WMA signed writer-director Courtney Hunt, whose illegal immigration drama Frozen River won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and her film's star, Melissa Leo (21 Grams, NBC's Homicide), who was repped by Don Buchwald and Associates. Hunt's feature debut also scored a distribution deal from Sony Pictures Classics.
WMA also picked up writer-director Andrew MacLean, whose Alaskan thriller Sikumi (On the Ice) won the jury prize in short filmmaking. The Inupiaq filmmaker recently helmed the full-length docu "When the Season Is Good: Artists of Arctic Alaska."
Russian writer-director Anna Melikyan won the world cinema directing award for her romantic fable Mermaid, then won representation from Endeavor, which is selling the film. Her Central Partnership Sales House production, a follow-up to her 2004 comedy Mars, will be screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.
And while Andrew Fleming's comedy Hamlet 2 didn't win any awards, it won the unofficial $10 million grand prize from Focus Features for the biggest acquisition of the year. Skylar Astin garnered some of the film's biggest laughs as an overly dramatic drama student, earning him a deal with UTA in his feature debut.
Many of the fest's top winners also topped the agency lists. WMA signed writer-director Courtney Hunt, whose illegal immigration drama Frozen River won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and her film's star, Melissa Leo (21 Grams, NBC's Homicide), who was repped by Don Buchwald and Associates. Hunt's feature debut also scored a distribution deal from Sony Pictures Classics.
WMA also picked up writer-director Andrew MacLean, whose Alaskan thriller Sikumi (On the Ice) won the jury prize in short filmmaking. The Inupiaq filmmaker recently helmed the full-length docu "When the Season Is Good: Artists of Arctic Alaska."
Russian writer-director Anna Melikyan won the world cinema directing award for her romantic fable Mermaid, then won representation from Endeavor, which is selling the film. Her Central Partnership Sales House production, a follow-up to her 2004 comedy Mars, will be screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.
And while Andrew Fleming's comedy Hamlet 2 didn't win any awards, it won the unofficial $10 million grand prize from Focus Features for the biggest acquisition of the year. Skylar Astin garnered some of the film's biggest laughs as an overly dramatic drama student, earning him a deal with UTA in his feature debut.
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