Edinburgh Film Festival part 1 - Introduction and industry events

This post is about industry events and insights but the first thing I want to say is... why weren't there more writers there?

I looked though the delegates and writers formed a very small slice of the pie. Yes this means that there was less drinking with writers to be had but it also meant that the Festival was SATURATED with producers and directors (ones who actually make movies) agency folk with a liberal sprinkling of journos. Not to mention sales agents and distributors. The place was heaving with movers and shakers and real bankable talent.

For instance had I been looking for someone to direct a great short there were DOZENS of short film makers there and you could talk to them right after their screening.

Being looked after

When I got there a lovely woman who was looking after delegates sat down with me for 20 minutes, listened to what I was trying to get out of the festival and took me through all the industry sessions, signed me up for the right ones and pointed out which delegates were in receptive moods for fresh writing talent. Nice!

On not doing writer workshops

I did about 7 workshops - only one was about writing (more about that later) the others were about things like international co-productions, UK Tax Credit Scheme, Regional funding, What a Sales Agent does, what the big three public funders are up to. Did any of those make me a better writer? Probably not, but the sales agent insight was excellent and made me see the commercial arm of film in quite a different way - and know I know how much it takes to launch a film at Cannes. Which is a lot.

Actually I really got how it all works on the sales and distribution end, just from these few talks. And the value of that is great. Now I know that an appropriate sales agent would be useful to have onboard well before you start shooting, because they can tell you more or less which markets it's going to sell into (really, they can) and if you know that in advance you can write to it if you want.

Condensed notes...

So my insights in note form from the various industry events run something like this:

Businessey stuff:

Only 20% of screened films from Edinburgh will get a distribution deal.

Sales agents and distributors will put money into films.

There is a fair degree of 'passion projects' sales agents will do despite being very commercially minded

Your reputation either goes up or down, it never stays where it is.

Co-productions are a pain in the bottom, the UK rules on co-pros are slightly crazy

Digital is causing mayhem, no one knows how to make it work

Pre-sales is drying up almost completely

Everyone loves film, this is not something you do to make lots of money

UK funders:

You are a little bit screwed if you aren't with a producer or director - all the good second order funding is based around project teams of one kind or another

Everyone is looking for that new voice

Everyone uses the word innovation a lot and knows it when they see.

First timers should be thinking in terms of writing for micro budgets under £250k - in this realm £5m is a big movie

New cinema fund sees about 300 project a year of which 10-12 are supported

Film4 will be doing about 8-10 films a year

Shorts are still the legitimate way into the funders hearts - but see above about innovation

And possibly the most interesting observation I have seen about the UK film industry in a while - again from the sales agent - kinda explains the nature, size and opportunites that exist in it.

She wrote up this list - these are the genres that sell, from best to worst:

Action

Romcom

Thriller

Sci fi

High-concept Horror

Comedy

Comedy Drama

Horror

Drama

Period Drama

She then asked us to identify which three types of movies the UK made best.... figured it out yet? Uh-huh, the bottom three...

The biggest thing of them all, the uber-note and insight...
EVERYONE talked about QUALITY; of ideas, or scripts, vision. Anything that is even remotely half-arsed or warmed-up will just fail. These people are not stupid, they are very very good at what they do, and they notice the good and throw away the bad immediately and don't look back.

No second drafts with notes on them about the third draft (true story) no scripts that are the wrong genre for the company or director etc etc etc. Your script must be excellent and it must be aimed at the right person at the right time.

Cheap as chips too...

So, to round off the industry program was excellent, and REALLY CHEAP. I managed not to pay :-) but 10 days (with industry and delegate screenings and bar etc) was just over £200. Unbelievable really. Some of these talks you really only need to hear once, but I am very very glad I went to the effort to go to so many apparently not so useful industry sessions.

The main thing I have learned is that film festivals are great places for writers to be.

Next installments: My festival strategy and how it worked out. My dinner with the Film Commission, my dinner with the Jury and the magical effects of fame...

Comments

Tue, 05/18/2010 - 17:12 — Patrick (not verified)

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