FRAMED #03 – It's in the Can(nes) - Festivals, Funding & Distribution

The leaves are turning, the air's becoming crisper, the coffee's getting stronger....it must be festival season in Melbourne! With the Cannes, St Kilda and Melbourne Film Festivals just around the corner, join us for FRAMED #03 as our panel of distinguished speakers discuss the following:

- Funding agencies, initiatives and film festivals
- What festivals look for when selecting a film as opposed to what funders look for
- How best to market your film at a festival [ie putting together a press kit]
- Preparation for attending a major festival
- What type of travel assistance is available from government film agencies
- First hand festival experiences from around the world
- Distribution & exhibition

Speakers include:

James Hewison, newly appointed Theatrical Distribution Manager, Madman
Tait Brady, Feature Film Evaluation Manager, FFC Australia
Megan Gardiner, Professional Development Officer, Film Victoria
Andrew Apostola, Artistic Director, Portable Film Festival
Richard Wolstencroft, Artistic Director, Melbourne Underground Film Festival
Peter George, Producer, Captive Films (facilitator) When: Thursday 24 April 2008, 12.30 - 2.00pm

Where: The NAB Theatrette @ The National Bank Building, Ground Floor, 800 Bourke St Extension (cnr Harbour Esplanade) Docklands (Enter via the main revolving doors at Bourke St entrance)

Framed speakersMeghan Lew (Film Victoria)Filmmaker Paul Andersen Ian Dixon & Ryan Howard (OC member) Speaker: Andrew Apostola
(Portable Film Festival)

Seminar Notes

The Evolution of Film Distribution: slouching towards a digital Bethlehem
by: Anne Richey

Screen Hub
Friday 2 May, 2008

If one pencil does not a Rembrandt make, one iPod on a train is not the death of cinema as we know it. Anne Richey scoops up the proverbial range of views at an Open Channel outing.

Is film a dying art form, rapidly being replaced by online short form content? Tait Brady, Andrew Apostola, James Hewison, Megan Gardiner and Richard Wolstencroft discuss the changes occurring in distribution and media consumption at Open Channel’s Framed event ‘It’s in the Can(nes)’.

James Hewison, former CEO of the AFI and newly appointed to the role of Madman Films Theatrical Distribution Manager, noted that his new employer is in the unusual situation of not owning any cinemas. He believes this is fortunate, since cinema releases are likely to become increasingly volatile in the current media climate.

He refers to a Variety article - linked here - about the death of theatrical distribution and how alternate distribution methods should be explored and developed, particularly in the context of Australia film. Although there is a small appetite for Australian content in the cinema at the moment, in Madman’s DVD distribution arm, their highest grossing DVD is Kenny and in fifth place is Ten Canoes.

Richard Wolstencroft, the Artistic Director of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, believes that Australia needs to focus on more low budget, genre oriented material, citing the examples of Wolf Creek, Saw and Gabriel which is selling very well in DVD rentals.

The Portable Film Festival has been running for a little over two years and challenges the audience to explore different methods of viewing content and story. Andrew Apostola, the Portable Film Festival’s Artistic Director, believes that telling stories through the medium of film is outdated, and that creators should look seriously at series and short form media. He concedes that cinema will still happen, but that most films will be watched on DVD.

In defence of film, it was suggested that most people don’t want to watch Lawrence of Arabia on an iPod.

James Hewison was also unwilling to agree with Andrew’s viewpoint, recalling that film’s deathknell has been sounding ever since the introduction of sound and then colour and then video, and it ain’t dead yet.

Megan Gardiner, Film Victoria, suggested that it’s possibly just a case of one form being dominant over another at a given point in time.

It seems then that reports of film’s death may be premature. There’s just one small problem to sort out first – piracy. Andrew Apostola believes that one method of combating the problem would be to release films on all formats at once, rather than delaying releases via country and then via formats. As in the case of Steven Soderberg’s film Bubble all formats should released simultaneously, although making free downloads available may not be appropriate for all products.

Ultimately, distributors and financiers are looking for risk minimisation, and given that not all films are destined for the cinema, different methods must be investigated.

James Hewison gave the example of a group of filmmakers, who, when asked what they would like for their film, all say theatrical distribution. However, when this is further discussed, it transpires that only about 50% believe theatrical to be the only way forward.

The other 50% are easily converted to the idea of running a campaign, followed by an opening night party, and then making the product available online. At least that way people get to see it. Andrew Apostola calls this Cannes versus Youtube. How many would you have see your film? 1500 at Cannes or 1.5 million online?

(With a ticket to Cannes in my pocket, and my press accreditation safely confirmed, I probably can't answer that question.)

James noted that just because everyone has a pencil doesn’t make them Rembrandt. A proliferation of online content doesn’t necessarily improve the quality. Richard Wolstencroft made an amendment to this statement – there isn’t a greater percentage of quality product, but democratisation creates quality.

Tait Brady, Melbourne’s FFC Feature Film Evaluation Manager, referring to Robert Connolly’s white paper, Embracing Innovation: a new methodology for feature film production in Australia, described how the rebate favours big budget films over the low, it favours experienced practitioners over the inexperienced, and will have an inflationary effect of movie making costs as the budget sizes increase. New practitioners are the ones who need the new agency the most and must therefore be active in helping to form the policies of Screen Australia, which will be officially instituted on the 1st of July this year.

He believes it’s likely that that the current agencies will continue business as usual until at least the end of the year as a board of management is yet to be appointed, and once this is completed, there are staff to be hired and industry consultation to take place. He hopes that the new agency will focus on streamlining the bureaucracy, investing a larger percentage of budget into films, focus on emerging and indigenous filmmakers, and find better ways of developing scripts. For the moment, all of the cards are up in the air

Whatever decisions are made to keep up with modern technologies, filmmakers must remain open to new forms of distribution. In the online world as well as in traditional distribution, it is ultimately the audience who will decide on its popularity, but the film must be made available, somewhere, somehow, for people to see the film in the first place.

Anne Richey
Anne Richey is a screenwriter and Screen Hub's television specialist.

FRAMED #02 – DIRECTING ACTORS / MAKING SCRIPTS WORK

FRAMED #02 examines the creative dynamic between directors, writers and actors. If you're a director, writer or producer you'll gain a sound understanding of the importance of one of film’s most valuable relationships – that of the director and the actor. You'll gain an insight into the workshop & rehearsal process, script development, interpretation of the material and conveying your vision on set.

When: Thursday 27 March 2008, 12.30 – 2.00pm
Where: The NAB Theatrette @ The National Bank Building, Ground Floor, 800 Bourke St (cnr Harbour Esplanade) Docklands

Speakers:
Alkinos Tsilimidos, Director (Em 4 Jay, Tom White)
Matthew Newton, Actor (Stupid, Stupid Man, The Bet, My Mother Frank)
Marc Gracie, Director (The Craic, Take Away, You and Your Stupid Mate, Shock Jock, Full Frontal, The Adventures of Lano and Woodley)

Chris Corbett, Scriptwriter (City Homicide, Stingers, Blue Heelers, The Secret Life of Us, McLeods Daughters, All Saints)

Alkinos Tsilimidos


Ian Dixon with attendees

Matthew Newton

Chris Corbett chatting with audience member after the seminar


Film Critic Tom Ryan with daughter Maddie

OC Member Sophie Kesoglidis with
Rachel Singleton (OC Membership Officer)

ALKINOS TSILIMIDOS, DIRECTOR
Alkinos has been described as one of Australia’s most important contemporary film directors. He has a reputation for being an actor’s director and is renowned for his uncompromising approach to stories of social relevance.

He graduated from Swinburne School of Film and Television (now VCA) in 1988. His début feature film Everynight…Everynight (1994) won international critical acclaim. It was awarded Best First Film (Prix D’Montreal) at the Montreal World Film Festival and was in Official Selection at the Venice International Film Festival. His second feature Silent Partner (2001) was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the AFI and Film Critics Awards and was in Official Selection at the Toronto, Montreal, Newport, US Arts Comedy, Athens, Singapore and Bangkok International Film Festivals.

In 2004, Tom White was released to extensive critical acclaim. It received thirty-one Australian feature film award nominations, Colin Friels winning the FCCA and the IF AWARD for Best Actor. Tom White was invited to participate at many international events including Montreal, Hof, and Pusan International Film Festivals.

Em 4 Jay (2006), his fourth feature, participated at Melbourne, Brisbane, Athens, Mostra De Valencia – Spain, Newport Beach – US, Titanic - Hungary and New Zealand International Film Festivals. Variety said: “Authenticity makes EM 4 JAY a Down Under low budget TRIUMPH.” Alkinos is currently working on his fifth feature, Rambles.

MATTHEW NEWTON, ACTOR
Matthew Newton has worked extensively on television including the series Stupid Stupid Man, The Surgeon, All Saints, Farscape, Water Rats, Grass Roots, Good Guys Bad Guys, Chuck Finn, The Flying Doctors, and the critically-acclaimed mini-series Changi, for which he was nominated for the Silver Logie.

As a singer he has performed on Carols by Candlelight, Studio A with Simon Burke, and ABBA Mania, and put himself through drama school working the Sydney jazz scene. Since making his film debut in Looking for Alibrandi, his feature credits include The Bet, Bitter and Twisted, Blurred, My Mother Frank, Queen of the Damned, and The Great Raid. In 2006, his directing debut Right Here Right Now won Best Film at the Rebelfest International Film Festival in Toronto, and he has just completed principal photography on his second feature. Matthew graduated from NIDA in 1998.

Matthew is currently appearing in MTC’s Rock n’ Roll written by Tom Stoppard, having made his debut for the Company last year in The History Boys. His other theatre roles include Tony in Boy Gets Girl, Marcello in The White Devil, and Mosca in Volpone for Sydney Theatre Company, as well as Lucas in Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor at the Ensemble Theatre. He has worked with some of Australia's leading directors including Robyn Nevin, Gale Edwards, Rowan Woods, Adam Cook, Marion Potts, and Kate Woods, and in 2000 toured with The White Devil for its New York season.

MARC GRACIE, DIRECTOR
Marc Gracie has been working in the entertainment industry for over 15 years and has created more than 100 hours of film and TV production. Marc started out in 1985, directing Australia's highest box office-grossing non-musical stage show Wogs Out of Work. Feature film credits include the box office hit The Craic starring Jimeoin; Take Away featuring Vince Colosimo, Stephen Curry and Rose Byrne; and You and Your Stupid Mate featuring Angus Sampson. His recent TV credits include Shock Jock, Jimeoin's Tea Towel Tour of Ireland, Full Frontal, The Adventures of Lano and Woodley and Comic Relief 1 & 2.

CHRIS CORBETT, SCREENWRITER
Chris Corbett has written episodes of Stingers, Blue Heelers, The Secret Life of Us, McLeods Daughters, All Saints and City Homicide. He also worked as a script editor on Stingers and Blue Heelers and as Story Editor on Stingers. Prior to working in television he served as Dramaturg at the Melbourne Theatre Company, directed shows for the Five Dollar Theatre Company , the Melbourne Theatre Company and performed in major festivals across Australia, New Zealand and Europe with the group Strange Fruit. He currently teaches at RMIT’s Professional Screenwriting Course and writes and produces the YouTube comedy show Tinytown.

Tinytown is a wry yet hard-hitting comedy exploring the complicated lives of two twelve year old cops. Episode 2 features a guest appearance by John Wood.

Episode 2

Episode 1

IAN DIXON (Facilitator)
Ian Dixon has worked as a professional actor for over twenty years (he took over from Guy Pearce to play the lead role in Grease). He graduated from VCA School of Film and Television in 1998 and went on to direct TV for SBS, as well as receiving director training on Blue Heelers and Neighbours for which he went on to direct full episodes. Ian directed the SBS film Wee Jimmy and most recently produced, directed, wrote and edited his first feature film Crushed due to be screened in April/May. Ian was Assistant to the Artistic Director of the Australia Korea Foundation and has worked as teacher and lecturer at tertiary institutions, notably the University of Melbourne, Monash University, Victorian College of the Arts and OPEN CHANNEL. He recently completed his PhD on the films of John Cassavetes through the University of Melbourne at VCA. Ian is in high demand as a tutor, and currently tutors at OPEN CHANNEL, Homesglen TAFE, SAE and Swinburne.

FRAMED #01 – WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION

Five prominent women working in film and television discuss new challenges, new opportunities and new directions in 2008 for emerging filmmakers. FRAMED #01 will present a comprehensive overview, from project development and distribution platforms, to support networks for those trying to navigate their way through the industry.

When: Thursday 28 February 2008, 12.30 – 2.00pm
Where: The NAB Theatrette, 800 Bourke St, (cnr
Harbour Esplanade), Docklands, which is on the City Circle tram line.

Guest speakers include:

Megan Harding, Executive Producer, ABC TV
Lizzette Atkins, Producer, Lawrence Johnston's NIGHT
Helen Mariampolski, Freelance TV Producer
Gracie Otto, independent filmmaker
Carmela Baranowska, Producer, How Afghanistan was Lost (MeetMarket, AIDC)

Seminar Notes

Introduction & Notes by Sue Marriott

Each month the FRAMED seminar series strives to shed some light on current issues affecting the screen industry. And I'm pleased to welcome today's speakers who are are 5 women from film, documentary making, and television, all of whom are carving out successful careers in the industry.

At the recent Australian International Documentary Conference, Peter Greenaway stated that “The online environment is creating a change to the whole way we look at the world and how we distribute films.” A question I'd like to put to the panel is: In light of some of the issues discussed at the AIDC, such as digital distribution and the whole online environment, what are your views on the future of the film & TV industries, not only in Australia, but internationally?

“Basically cinema is dead - a new technology has come along and created its own vocabulary” (Peter Greenaway, AIDC)

“The old adage of ‘content is everything' has been replaced by ‘everything is content'. Content is consumed in such a variety of different ways that content creators need to adapt…The market's number one desire is video content on demand” (AIDC)

What are audiences watching and where they will be in 2012 when we go digital and Australia will shut-down analogue broadcasting services?

• Marketing & distribution – how are these changing in light of the online environment?
• Production climate changes since the introduction of the producer’s offset deal?
• What do you like/find challenging about making documentaries?
• Recycling and repurposing film footage
• Creative Commons: a rights management system that provides a potential answer to incompatibility between the traditional broadcast licensing model and the new forms of digital distribution
• Unlocking the story in Documentary material
• There is a renewed sense of history on TV screens around the world. Audiences everywhere have shown an appetite for well-made history documentaries, and governments have dumped a lot of money into programs that help shape a shared sense of national history. That was the view of the session“The Future of History”, presented on the first day of this year's Australian International Documentary Conference

Links

ABC documentary programming - information about Submitting a Proposal, Funding, How to Find a Production Company:
more info

For Arts, Entertainment & Comedy programming queries email:
brunskill.richard@abc.net.au

AIDC 2008 day 2: The Producer Offset; The Practicalities:
more info

Film Finance Corporation Australia - Producer Offset:
more info

French Film Funding System
The French system for financing films is unique in Europe. Major TV channels (TF1, M6, France 2 and France 3) must allocate 3.2% of their turnover to cinema (including at least 2.5% to French films).For each of them, this represents 20 to 30 films and 30 to 50 million Euros. They must broadcast a minimum of 50% of French films. Canal+, a very popular pay-channel, must devote 20% of its turnover to buy the rights of films (12% European minimum, including 9% French minimum). On each cinema ticket, a 11% tax is allocated to the " Fonds de Soutien ", which is open to foreign films provided they are co-produced with a French producer. The result of this policy is that with more than 160 films/year, the French film industry is third in the world after the USA (500) and India (800) and the success does not go only to "typically so French" movies. French industry is clearly the strongest in Europe (France produces 22% of European films and has the largest market-share of nationally-produced films in Europe). (Excerpt from download pdf )

Sigrid Thornton on the Australian film and television industry:
more info

THE PANEL

Sue Marriott, President, WIFT (Vic) & Vice President, MEAA (Vic), Facilitator
Sue Marriott currently works as a freelance film production and events management consultant and lecturer in arts management. She was an Industrial Organiser for 16 years with the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) and a recent Film Victoria Board Member until 2004. Sue is currently President of Women in Film & Television (WIFT) Victoria and a Vice-President of the MEAA, Victorian Branch. As a lecturer at Melbourne University for the last two years, Sue taught Industrial Relations and Arts Management for Post-Graduate Diploma students. She has a recent broadcast screen credit as Production/Location Management Consultant for the documentary “Endangered”. Sue knows and has worked or consulted with, nearly every established producer/production company in Victoria and many interstate.

Megan Harding, Executive Producer, ABC TV
Megan Harding is an Executive Producer in ABC TV's Arts, Entertainment and Comedy department, currently overseeing the Artscape series. Since joining the ABC in 2005 she has also been involved with Rage and its 20th Anniversary, The Glass House, The Sideshow and other arts series. She has also worked at Channel 7 and on a number of Australian feature films. As an Executive Producer in ABC TV’s Arts, Entertainment and Comedy department, Megan is currently overseeing Artscape (previously Tuesday at 10), Double the Fist – Series 2, Review with Myles Barlow and a number of other short run comedy series. Since joining the ABC in 2005 she has also been involved with Rage and its 20th Anniversary, The Glass House, The Sideshow and other arts series. After graduating from Australian Film, Television and Radio School in 1996 Megan produced the multi award winning short drama In Search of Mike. Her television credits include the eight part comedy series Double the Fist, winner of the 2004 AFI Award for Best Comedy produced for the ABC, Cooking with Frank and Bruce Petty’s The Mad Century for SBS Independent. She is also the producer for the doco Death of a Cook, the prequel to Robert Gibson’s 1996 film Video Fool for Love. She has also worked at Channel 7 and on a number of Australian feature films.

Lizzette Atkins, Producer
Lizzette Atkins worked in distribution, acquisitions and exhibition (including Newvision Films and Dendy Films) for over 15 years gaining extensive knowledge in marketing, distribution and the overseas market place. In 1999 she formed her independent production company LIZZETTE ATKINS PRODUCTIONS attracting early success with the films The Way Back which won the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival 2003 and Best Australian Film Flickerfest; Blow, winner of the Gold Plague Chicago Film Festival 2002 and the London Film Festival and The Last Pecheniuk, winner CRA Award, Sydney Film Festival 2001 and winner National Geographic Best Documentary 2002. Towards the end of 2002, she formed a new company CIRCE FILMS with Producer Beth Frey. In 2004/2005 their documentaries Passport to Parenthood, Undercover Angels: Sex, Spies and Surveillance, and AFI award winning Vietnam Nurses which included an interactive component, screened on national television. Their multi award winning TV drama Stranded premiered at the Melbourne and London Film Festivals and went on to win 3 AFI awards. Circe’s 2 x 52 minute documentary series Do Not Resuscitate with Davor Dirlic screened on SBS in November 2006. The feature Night with director Lawrence Johnston has recently been released. Circe Films have a slate of feature films and several documentaries in development including the feature projects, Kid Snowball with writer John Brumpton and director Matthew Saville, and The Serpent with writer/director Ben Hackworth.

Helen Mariampolski, Freelance TV Producer
In a career that spans over 24 years as a producer, writer and director, Helen Mariampolski has successfully produced and developed long-running and high-rating TV series and solo projects. She has worked in the management and creative areas of television production as Executive Producer and has wide experience in entertainment, lifestyle, arts, reality, business, documentary, how-to, variety, talk and children’s production – in both studio and location formats. Helen has also worked in the corporate and marketing arenas. As Series Producer for Sunday Arts, Helen created a product that within a few months became the premier arts program for the ABC. In 2005, she co-wrote and co-produced Eating History, a lively documentary that recreated Auguste Escoffier’s famous 1895 Red Dinner. As Executive Producer at Disney Entertainment during the 90s, Helen was responsible for the company’s total production output, which at one stage involved five concurrent programs including Healthy Wealthy & Wise, Creative Living and A Cook’s Journey - all top rating programs on Network TEN. This position demanded superior management, creative and technical expertise, and totalled over 300 hours of TV product. Helen has travelled Australia and the world producing, writing and directing TV travel and cultural features and hour-long specials.

Gracie Otto, Filmmaker
Gracie Otto is part of the Otto family of actors - father Barry and sister Miranda - so it was inevitable that she would be attracted to the medium of film. However, most of her work to date has been behind the camera. Gracie graduated from the Sydney Film School in July 2006 having completed an Advanced Diploma in Film. After graduating she lived in Paris for six months but returned to Australia earlier this year. Although Gracie is only twenty years old, she has directed four short films, all of which have been acclaimed. La Meme Nuit, which stars her father Barry Otto and Matthew Newton, has screened at Sydney’s Flickerfest International Film Festival, St Kilda Film Festival in Melbourne, nationally with the St Kilda Touring FF, and will screen at the US Palm Springs International Short FF in August. Tango Trois, her 2005 thesis film, screened at the St Kilda FF, Berlin Interfilm FF, Byron Bay FF, the Australia-Japan Student Film Festival (won Best Film) and the ECU European Independent Film Festival in Paris. Her other films are Broken Beat (2005) a gay love story filmed in black and white, which was selected in the Spirit on Screen Top 10 Film Awards in NZ and awarded Best Cinematography, Best Production and Best Sound Design at the SFS screenings; and Kill Blondes (2004), her first film made in her final year of school, which received a perfect score from the HSC examiners and was the only film selected in the statewide Young Writers Showcase. Gracie has recently edited a feature film and is currently putting the finishing touches to the screenplay of her first feature Rue de Tournon which she hopes to develop later this year.

Carmela Baranowska, Producer
Carmela Baranowska has been working in South East Asia for the last fifteen years, mainly in conflict and post-conflict areas. She studied at the University of Melbourne and documentary filmmaking at the VCA School of Film and TV. Her 2004 film about Afghanistan, Taliban Country was recognised with a Walkley Award and broadcast on SBS TV, RTBF, and WDR. Her other credits include Party to Independence and Lives on the Edge broadcast on SBS TV and Al Jazeera English. She was the first Australian to win the Rory Peck Award for her film The Law of Violence that covered the 1999 UN referendum and violent backlash in East Timor. She is currently post-producing Welcome to Independence, a feature length documentary about the first years of East Timor’s independence through the eyes of a 13 year old and her large, Dili based family. She is also developing "How Afghanistan Was Lost" with journalist John Martinkus and this was recently pitched at the AIDC's Meetmarket to international broadcasters. In December 2007-January 2008 Carmela spent a month filming in West Papua (Indonesia) where foreign journalists have been banned since 2003.