Academy Award winner Sean Baker discovered an sudden approach to encourage future generations of impartial filmmakers: within the financial institution.
The creator scored the primary huge payday of his profession for his sequel to one of the best image winner “Anora,” the comedy-drama about intercourse staff that made historical past in 2025 when the Oscars handed Baker 4 trophies in a single evening, tying the document set by Walt Disney.
The undertaking in query is “Ti Amo!” which Baker described as “an ode to Italian intercourse comedies of the ’60s and ’70s.” Warner Bros. introduced that it had gained the movie final week at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. This was a serious turning level for the studio’s new impartial label, Clockwork, run by Christian Parkes (former advertising and marketing director of Neon).
What they did not say on stage at Caesars Palace was that Clockwork bought the distribution rights to “Ti Amo!” for the spectacular sum of $22 million, based on 5 sources aware of the matter Selection. This determine consists of the movie’s finances, which is financed by FilmNation and is anticipated to be round $10 million. The ultimate price of the movie won’t be finalized till Baker completes a script.
Nonetheless, the excess shall be break up between FilmNation, just a few different key gamers within the manufacturing and Baker, who is about to earn a multimillion-dollar wage for his work as author, director, editor and producer of “Ti Amo!”
For Baker, the pact means better monetary safety after years of arduous work in service of his artwork. His trademark is making disjointed, rushed movies on shoestring budgets and, at first, filming “Tangerine” on an iPhone. With Clockwork, Baker could have a distributor overseeing launch, advertising and marketing and technique (besides in France) for the primary time in his profession.
“Isn’t it nice to see a filmmaker like Sean, who has earned his manner, lastly being rewarded so he can proceed making movies his manner?” mentioned an government with data of the deal.
Baker bought the undertaking final 12 months to a number of bidders, together with Neon and A24 and Disney’s Searchlight Footage. One provide, for U.S. rights alone, was round $5 million, based on two sources, whereas others had been closing in on Clockwork’s deal for world distribution. Baker didn’t signal with a serious expertise company, however requested Lichter Grossman’s lawyer, James Feldman, to barter on his behalf. It is run by Adam Kersh, a contract veteran whose shoppers embody different authors like Ira Sachs and Amy Seimetz.
The undertaking was bought as a pitch, sources add. Cameras must be rolling in September. One other signal of Baker’s post-Oscar energy is that Clockwork’s sale wasn’t depending on casting, nor was he supposed to rent a star.
The “Ti Amo!” » The deal comes as impartial movie stars wrestle to be pretty compensated for his or her work. Many initiatives depart festivals like Sundance or Cannes with out distribution, and even filmmakers who get offers have seen their residuals and last attendance decline as streaming has upended the Hollywood economic system. This has led some to experiment with different methods of bringing their ardour initiatives to the display screen.
“The Brutalist” director Brady Corbet is getting ready his subsequent undertaking – an epic story of the historical past of occultism in America – and not using a studio accomplice. Equally, Tom Ford tailored Anne Rice’s novel “Cry to Heaven” as an independently financed function movie, starring Adele. In both case, the hope is that the movies will fetch a better sale value after screening at a serious pageant than if the distribution rights had been bought earlier than filming. It’s of venture that Baker doesn’t take with “Ti Amo!” ”, and given the wealthy deal he made, why would he?
As revered as he could also be amongst film buffs, Baker would usually have to show to directing a mid-budget or tentpole movie or working for a streamer like Netflix to obtain the sort of compensation. The latter answer is doomed to failure, provided that Baker is a staunch defender of film theaters. Baker has lengthy been underpaid relative to his status and market affect.
Most of his initiatives take three years to provide, and he tends to reinvest any cash he makes into his subsequent movies. Throughout awards season for 2017’s “The Florida Challenge,” Baker lived in a small condominium in West Hollywood. On the evening of the 2025 Oscars, he and his accomplice Sammy Kwan went residence to stroll their canine between the ceremony and the after-party. It’s unlikely that Christopher Nolan or Martin Scorsese would have performed the identical.