Big studios nearly struck out in Oscars’ Best Picture category

HOLLYWOOD — Almoꦕst all of this year’s crop of best picture nominees were financed not by big studios, but by independent companies, says Nick Meyer, who represents Amazon-backed “Manchester by the Sea” internationally and Jeff B🎃ridges’ “Hell or High Water.”

Meyer, the CEO of Si♐erra Affinity, a film producer, financier and distributor, says a host of moviemakers this year already sold their foreign rights to finance their prod🃏uctions.

He points out that only one best picture nominee — Fox’s “Hidden Figures” — was wholly f🌳inanced by a big studio.

The great inf🌃lux of cash from China “has made the competition for projects more rigorous,” Meyer confirms, but adds that personal relationships count for just as much toward getting on board with quality projects.