Getting a Jump on Sundance

The start of the Sundance Film Festival is still 10 days off, but you wouldn’t know it in Hollywood these days. Makers of lesser-known independent films, wanting to ensure that their movies get seen, are offering advance screenings beginning this week in Los Angeles. Makers of films already believed to be “hot,” meanwhile, are fending off screening requests from distributors, preferring to unveil their wares during the festival in Park City, Utah.

“You try to see the movies before you get there. If you can’t do that, you try to read the scripts. The trick becomes trying to meet all the filmmakers before Sundance so you’ll recognize them when you’re there,” said Lindsay Law, president of Fox Searchlight Pictures, who says there are many “sneaky ways” to find out what’s worth seeing. “Whatever friends you have who might have seen one, you call. Do you know a sound mixer? People who do post-production see the films first.”

Already, Law and his competitors at Fine Line, Gramercy Pictures, Miramax, October Films and Sony Pictures Classics are plotting out when to see--and possibly bid on--the best of the 103 feature films showing at Sundance. And they’ve discovered a glitch: “The Misadventures of Margaret,” a comedy starring Parker Posey that is on everybody’s must-see list, is premiering Jan. 18, the same night as the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, when most top film executives must be back in Los Angeles.

“Several key buyers will not be at that screening, so there’s intense pressure on that film and its producers to show it to all of us beforehand,” said Law, who admitted that the producers are probably smart to hold out. “There’s something called festival fever, where you have an audience that’s predisposed to love movies. If you have a strong film, you’re in the catbird seat.”

ABC Hoping ‘Practice’ Makes Perfect

Having traditionally struggled Monday nights once Al, Frank and Dan have begun their annual sabbatical, ABC will try to discover again this week if there’s life after “Monday Night Football.” The network rolls out an eclectic lineup tonight consisting of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” the newsmagazine “20/20” and “The Practice,” pitting that second-year drama from producer David E. Kelley against “Brooklyn South”--a CBS series produced by Steven Bochco, who gave Kelley his first TV job on “L.A. Law.” It also means Kelley’s two critically lauded legal series (the other being Fox’s “Ally McBeal”) will air back to back Mondays on different networks. ABC currently ranks third in prime time even with football regularly winning Mondays, so any major slippage there will only add to the network’s ratings woes. Moreover, ABC has already made a leap of faith by renewing “The Practice” for next season--a decision based largely on creative merit, given the program’s modest ratings thus far on Saturdays. CBS, meanwhile, hopes disenfranchised football viewers will call an audible and change the dial. The network’s radio ads say, “ ‘Monday Night Football’ is over. We have what you need. ‘Brooklyn South.’ ”

--Compiled by Times staff writers and contributors

Morning Report will continue Tuesday through Saturday.