Johanna's blog from Realscreen: Wednesday 3 February

by jbolhoven on 03-Feb-10 16:34

Wednesday 3 February

People braved the snow to attend the UK networking event held at the Henley Park Hotel. Approx. 70 people came along and the companies enjoyed an informal networking opportunity with US poduction companies, Cineflix, PBS International, C4i, and Silverdocs, among others. We were event treated to a couple of show tunes from Steve Humphries [Testimony Films] on the piano.



Tuesday was the busiest day in the UK meeting room which saw meetings with Wall to Wall, Animal Planet, BBC Worldwide and ITV Studios Global Entertainment. Overall companies have been very positive about the Summit with many considering a return visit next year. Check back later for more detailed feedback from the delegates.......



Today’s workshops include ‘21st Century Factual’, ‘Everything you always wanted to know from a Commissioning Editor but were afraid to ask’, and ‘Integrated Budgets, Schedules, Cash Flows and Actuals for Reality and Doc TV’.

Johanna's blog from Realscreen: Tuesday 2 February

by jbolhoven on 03-Feb-10 16:24

Tuesday 2 February
The Summit has kicked off to a great start and the 12th edition looks set to be the biggest in its history, with more speakers and registered delegates than ever before.

The  had a steady flow of traffic throughout the day as companies dipped in and out between workshop sessions (the most useful being reported as ‘Speed Pitching’ and ’30 minutes with....’) and their own one-to-one meetings.  Among those visiting the delegation on Monday were Animal Planet, National Geographic and Discovery, to name but a few.

As with previous summits, activity takes place in the ‘conference centre’ basement of the Renaissance Washington Hotel, although many one-to-one meeting s are conducted in the hotel lobby/bar/starbucks. The hosted meeting rooms (including ours) can be found on the first floor and on the ground is the delegate lounge, conference halls and exhibitors corridor. Companies enjoyed a further networking opportunity at the Opening Party and this sci-fi geek was delighted to spot Joe Pantoliano, aka Cypher in The Matrix, in the crowd.



Tuesday starts with a Keynote Interview with Abbie Raven, President & CEO of A&E Television Networks followed by more ‘speed pitching’ sessions, ‘Ethics in Non-Fiction Filmmaking’, ‘Producing Programming for the Global Market’, ‘Bringing in the Brands’, ‘3DTV’ and of course the UK networking event.  RSVP’s stand at 95 and include representatives from Nat Geo, Silverdocs, Cineflix, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, Science Channel, TVF International and Discovery.

Johanna's blog from Realscreen, Washington DC

by jbolhoven on 01-Feb-10 13:07

Sunday 31 January

The UK has landed...literally! When we arrived in Washington DC we were greeted with 4-inches of snow, but they’re not scared of the white stuff over here, the plane landed, applied the emergency brake and we came to an instant halt!

The weather doesn’t seem to have deterred delegates and the hotel has already started to fill up with companies keen to take advantage of early registration and meet key contacts at the pre-Summit welcome drinks, sponsored by the Discovery Channel. Over 1,300 delegates are expected to attend this year’s event and one delegate was even heard to say that the Summit has become more important than MIP  for factual and documentary producer - this is where you need to be!
We spent some time setting up the UK meeting room (room 12-14 on level two - come and say 'hello' if you are attending) which the UK delegation companies can use throughout the 3-day Summit. They are also represented in the January/February edition of the Realscreen magazine [with a full page ad], and feature on all associated signage and literature as one of the official delegations.

The Summit is set to be jam packed with sessions and one-to-one meetings. Day One (Monday 1 February) includes workshops on ‘Music and Media Licensing – Hitting the Right Notes’, ‘American Archives’, ‘Ask the Expert – Producers Legal Counsel’, ‘International Coproduction – Making it Work’ and ‘Speed Pitching’, to name but a few, and culminates in the Opening Night Party, sponsored by the History Channel.
Check back for regular updates as the week progresses...

Lord Davies' Visit to Bristol

by Emma_Chappel on 21-Jan-10 16:38

Lord Davies of Abersoch, the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Small Business, visited Bristol’s Paintworks on Thursday 21st as part of a UK-wide series of roadshows to engage with Britain’s diverse industry sectors and find out how they would like to see UK Trade & Investment help them move forward.
Bristol and the South West had been chosen to represent the Creative Industries, giving the Minister a chance to fulfill a long-held ambition to visit Aardman Animations!

A delayed started (Aardman clearly warranted a long, detailed tour!) meant the 100 + representatives of private and public sector helped themselves to locally produced sausages and cheese whilst they mingled. The Minister then swept in to network, speak and answer questions from the floor. It was a slick event. From Lord Davies’ charm, enthusiasm and good humour, you wouldn’t have thought Britain was the last major economy to emerge from the worst recession in 70 years, nor that Labour was facing the prospect of an end to its 12-year reign in government.

The upbeat Minister for Trade spoke about his commitment to improving skills, innovation, access to finance and opportunities for women in business. He then took a seat alongside Sir John Sorrell (UK Trade & Investment’s Business Ambassador) to answer questions. It was all a most civilised affair, during which Lord Davies’ committed to forming a South West regional trade mission for the Creative Industries (we all wrote that one down!) and reiterated an earlier voiced concern about a lack of confidence holding British business back.

It was a positive afternoon, with lots of rhetoric about investing in skills, women, business confidence and sustainable growth. Due to time constraints, many questions went unanswered, but the Minister was keen to be accessible and approachable. ‘Email me personally,’ was his advice on all aspects of international trade. He reports direct to both David Miliband and Peter Mandelson, so if he can’t answer your question himself, you can bet he knows a man who can.

iFeatures - Chris' blog

by chrismoll on 19-Jan-10 09:34

This is a hard entry to write.

Whilst we're now focussed on the panel interviews later this week, I’m painfully aware that for each one of the 26 projects/teams that are shortlisted, there are 20 more that we’re unable to take forward. That’s just the harsh maths that 550 submissions have presented us with !

As I’ve indicated in previous blogs, we’re hugely respectful of the effort that went into every submission and I hope that we've demonstrated that in how we've gone about the selection process.

Each proposal was read by two different script readers and all supporting materials were thoroughly appraised. In addition to being scored against the various criteria outlined in the guidelines, the readers provided a short written summary of their overall impressions.

All of this information was then collated, reviewed, reviewed again and a longlist of 80 projects drawn up. These received two more reads by the development teams within BBC Films and iFeatures before being discussed at a day-long submissions “summit”. From this, the 26 shortlist emerged.

It’s a shortlist that encompasses a wide range of voices, genres, talent, experience, benefits and risk. Whilst the quality of the ideas demands the most attention, it’s heartening that the gender split within the shortlisted teams has turned out to be almost exactly 50/50, with 15 of the projects having a female lead applicant. 40% of the team members come from Bristol, 20% from the broader South West and 40% from other cities/regions.

We’ll be publishing some more stats in the next few weeks as well as providing some more detailed observations on the submissions as a whole. Hopefully, this will help filmmakers to refine their pitches as they look to other opportunities.

Now I’m going to be cheeky and share part of an email that I received this morning. I hope it reflects the experience of so many of the people who bid into the scheme:

“….Although I naturally hate you a little bit after not getting short listed I just wanted to say that it has been good to develop my story and that it has got me involved with a producer I have wanted to work with for ages and who is staying on board.  So thanks for that.'

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