"Another Earth" has another, better deal

"Another Earth"

Two days ago, Fox Searchlight bought English-speaking territories to Sundance competition title "Another Earth." However, the distributor has now purchased the rest of the world -- and it stands to be a better deal for the filmmakers.

In making two separate deals for all rights, Fox Searchlight paid about $2.75 million -- about the same they might have paid if they'd initially bought the world outright. However, since the two contracts aren't cross collateralized, that means each deal stands to earn its own overages -- something Fox would likely have avoided if they'd initially purchased worldwide rights.

After Fox closed its first deal for North America, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, "Another Earth" reps Graham Taylor at WME and Kevin Iwashina at Preferred Content turned up the heat by scheduling a Thursday night screening in Los Angeles for international buyers. Faced with a ticking clock, Fox chose to begin another negotiation before the screening could take place.

Directed by Mike Cahill, "Another Earth" stars newly minted Sundance darling Brit Marling, who also served as the film's co-writer and one of its producers. For more about the film, read iW's interviews with Cahill and with Marling.

Brit Marling: "As an actor, I found it really hard to navigate the space of being a young ingenue type without totally losing my morality. So I found I had to learn how to write."

Mike Cahill: He's written two new scripts, "one about reincarnation, the other about a fashion designer who lives at the bottom of the sea."