pundits were quick to point to last year’s rampant overspending and predicted buyers would be cautious.
So, what happened? Not much. After an initial panic, over million worth of deals were inked at Sundance ’08. While this pales compared to the million forked over at Sundance ’07, we can consider 2008 as a return to sanity.
4. Of the 17 films sold at Sundance…8 were documentaries. In fact, all the films to sell in the usually frantic first weekend at Sundance were documentaries, leading many to believe that this year’s marketplace would be a bust. But even if prices were down a bit for dramas, critics and audiences agree that the American documentary is as vital as ever, and even after the disappointing box-office performance of last year’s Sundance docs (MY KID COULD PAINT THAT, IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON) there is still a very