Refusing to sound corny, Robert ("Robbie") Little, Chairman of Overseas Filmgroup, resists the temptation to say this was his company's best AFM ever. Instead, he says business has been brisk and the market has been very productive. Indeed, like new associates eager to please the partners by working late into the night, the Overseas crew has toiled long after the Loew's Atrium has filled with darkness each of the nine days of the festival. In fact, Little is still meeting buyers on Friday, the last day of the AFM, while Overseas employees and hotel staffers are disassembling the suite, packing up promotional material that won't be unpackaged until about four weeks from Cannes, when market prep starts all over again. From the looks of things, Overseas' decision to jump into production and U.S. and international distribution of specialized and genre films was the right decision.

Last year's The Prophecy, from Overseas' packaging and financing production arm, First Look Pictures, grossed over $16 million in the United States, where it was released by the Miramax Dimension label. Overseas handled all other territories and, during the AFM, Little announced a "major deal" with Fuji Creative Corp. and SPO Entertainment on the upcoming sci-fi epic Ironclad to be produced by Neo Motion Pictures, the same company that produced The Prophecy. The "deal" involved intensive special effects for the film which was written by and will be directed by special effects veteran Frank Cappello whose first film, American Yakuza, was made for Overseas and is selling at the AFM and whose next project, No Way Back, will be released domestically by Columbia TriStar later this year. John Sayles' beautiful The Secret of Roan Inish, released by First Look Releasing after Overseas acquired worldwide rights, grossed $6 million in 1995. Internet savvy Overseas pulled off another coup last year with the World Wide Web premiere of the Parker Posey starrer Party Girl that unfortunately never found its box office audience in theatrical release. Also, President Ellen Little is credited with being among the first to see the great potential in Ian McKellen's screenplay about a much maligned heir to a throne inked first a few hundred years ago by the bard himself and forever carrying the moniker Richard III. Later this year, Overseas will handle its biggest U.S. theatrical launch to date, Matthew Broderick's directorial debut, Infinity, a film about the infancy of the atomic age in which Broderick also stars.

The Littles' whole purpose appears to be developing, producing and distributing movies they love, which is why first time producers, directors and writers love Overseas/First Look: the companies are out to foster dreams, not quash them. Case in point: Scott Silver and his Sundance screener johns. At Park City, Overseas/First Look acquired worldwide rights to the edgy drama about males bonding in the grey world of trick turning on Santa Monica Boulevard on a Christmas Eve. Silver spent most of the festival seeing as many movies as possible and occasionally telling the story of how he got his film made. He was never cocky, but it was obvious that he was determined to let nothing stop him from completing his film. Once he decided to go forward with the project, his vision became crystal clear and an impressive cast of David Arquette, Lukas Haas, Arliss Howard, Keith David, Elliott Gould and John C. McGinley got behind Silver's passion. Overseas not only saw the value of johns as a feature, but also the value in working with Silver as a new director. Robbie Little says he is very interested in maintaining his company's role of introducing new producers, writers and directors to the film world.

The person primarily responsible for snagging projects at the earliest stages for the companies is Maud Nadler, newly promoted Vice-President of Creative Affairs. She is responsible for developing and packaging projects from script to screen and will also be involved in acquiring completed films for international sales and domestic distribution. She is credited with working the laboring oar in packaging the upcoming romantic comedy, The Big Squeeze with Lara Flynn Boyle, as well as the AFM seller Drive with Mark Dacascos (The Island of Dr. Moreau ) and Kadeem Hardison (Panther, Vampire in Brooklyn ). Jeane Moy Joe ("J.J.") has been bumped up to Director, Creative Affairs, and will be responsible for development and acquisition of new titles exclusively for foreign distribution.

Robbie Little's Internet launch of Party Girl wasn't just a dataflash in the cyberpan. He's intent on taking the online world seriously, confident that the more accustomed film buyers and movie goers become to using the Internet to access information for their daily lives, the more productive the Internet will become. The extensive Overseas/First Look sites can be accessed at http://www.ofg.com and http://www.flp.com. Unlike some graphics-driven sites, the ofg.com and flp.com sites have just enough graphics to remain interesting without getting cumbersome and turning a 5-minute site visit into a 30-minute click-and-wait-I'll-never-come-back-here-again-delete-the-bookmark visit. Visitors can check out profiles on upcoming and current films, like Antonia's Line as well as visit the once (and always) famous Party Girl site and hear (via RealAudio) a greeting from the library workin'-bobaganoosh eatin'-fun loving party girl herself, Parker Posey. They can also select from sleek menu icons with offerings such as: current releases, which profiles stuff hitting theaters now; OFG library, profiling older titles; coming soon, which looks at projects in development; film markets, discussing films in production; and company profiles.

• AFM Main Page

• Hollywood Producers Network

• Hollywood Network