Mitä minä IDFAsta sain. Paul-Anders Simma 01.12.08

Paul-Anders Simma pitchasi ainoana suomalaisena IDFAn rahoitusfoorumissa Amsterdamissa. Näin hän raportoi IDFAan ja yhteistuottajilleen tuloksista:

Dear Anne, Barbara, Yorinde and friends of the IDFA staff,
 
Many thanks for the opportunity to pitch our project “Frozen dreams” at THE FORUM in Amsterdam. Our 15 minutes of “fame” in front of the commissioning editors lead to four sales. We also had five other meetings which I hope will lead to sales or financing agreements in the coming two months. If all pieces fall in place, we will have a good chance to go into production during the first quarter of 2009.
 
Here is my conclusion from the pitch session:
 
1)      Trailer.
This was the most important element of the pitch. The first version we made was a disaster. I am very happy that our commissioning editor Iikka Vehkalahti and our French co-producer did not approve this version. The second version was better and it worked especially well with the North American and Japanese commissioning editors. What is good in this second trailer version is 95 % thanks to Iikkas input. When you have the 90 minute story with all details in your mind, it is extremely hard to make a short trailer. Iikka was brilliant in pointing out the most important elements of the trailer.
 
2)      Pitch.
Misuse of the short pitching time is the first pitfall to stumble in. Instead of drumming out the story and main conflict, I spoke too much about access to the story and to the main persons. The pitch could have been more effective if I had synchronised my pitch with Iikka some days before the Forum.  Now we only had a brief meeting some minute before the stage was ours. 
 
3)      Meetings.
The IDFA staff did a fantastic job in managing the herd of very wild commissioning editors. Only by using lassos they could be more effective? In two afternoons I had seventeen meetings with commisioning editors from all continents of our planet.  I don’t know of any other place than IDFA Forum that this could have been possible? The meetings that did not lead to sales, might have been the most important, since they often revealed weak details the project that we now can revamp before we go into production.
 
 
 
 
Ja yhteistuottajille ja rahoittajille Simma raportoi:

 
Personal conclusion.
Surprised by the Japanese and North American interest.
Curious to see if we manage to find a home for the project at ARTE?
 
 
 
The project was accepted by:
 
Tore Tomter, NRK, Norway
Stig Andersen, Norwegian Film Fund
Ingemar Persson Swedish Television,
Lorenzo Hendel., RAI, Italy.
 
 
 
 
 
Almost approved: (additional information requested).
 
Ryota Kotani., NHK, Japan,.
Tove Torbiörnsson, Swedish Film Institute
Cynthia Kane., USA, ITVS,
Laurent Sicouri, Plánete, France.
Cara Mertes, Sundance fund, USA.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Meeting summary in the order thy appeared.
 
 
 
 
 
TV Ontario, Naomi boxer.
Interested in TV rights for Ontario, Canada. Would like seeing more material. Suggest that the project is pitched at HOT DOCS, since this is an important film for Canada.
 
 
ZDF, Anne-Katherine Brinkman.
Works with theme evenings on ARTE Germany. Asks if there are films that could be included in a theme evening about Lapland.
Asks if there is a”block buster feature film” about the Sami’s. This is an important part in a theme evening and would give prime time access.
 
 
 
Plánete, France, Laurent Sicouri.
Did not see the pitch. Would like to see the trailer. Wonders what gives a film about Russia international appeal.
Likes main character and the” wild west” flavor of the story. Expects to be contacted by the French co-producer.
 
 
 
 
ITVS, Cynthia Kane. USA.
ITVS is a San Francisco based film fund with a TV-channel network. Says she likes the story very much. She wants an application for production grants.
Grants will be given earliest during the summer of 2009.
 
ARTE GEIE, Olaf Grunert, France.
Does not understand the story. Says that the old German dialect that is spoken in Russia must be sub-titled to modern German.
Proposes us to speak with Alex Szlat. Says that OMINETTI has very few slots a year. Hard sale.
 
 
ARTE France, Alex Szlat.
Likes the pitch. This is an ARTE story, but says that Pierette OMINETTI is the right person to contact.
 
RAI, Italy, Lorenzo Hendel.
Likes the story and wants to come to see the location in Arctic Russia. He has made films in Lapland and Greenland for RAI.
Says he will propose the project to his superior that R.A.I . buys Italian broadcasting rights. Wants to be updated on the development in the Arctic’s.
 
 
NRK, Tore Tomter, Norway.
This film must be done. Prepared to commission the film.
 
Norwegian Film Fund, Stig Anderssen.
Important film. Interested in the history of Russian reindeer herding collectives.
Asks many questions about the organization of reindeer herding in Russia vs. Norway.
Wants to have a production support application.
 
 
NHK, Japan, Ryota Kotani.
Wants to co-produce if the film is shoot in High Definition (preferably 1080P).
 
Has a slot called” Edge of the World”.
Wants a story based on the conflict of the two generation, with long steady shoots.
Talks a lot about use of colors and B/W, which I don’t understand. Kotani has very clear ideas on the form of the film. He wants it stylized and poetic.
I gave him a DVD of my old film from 1979 and also the trailer. He wants to see one more scene (March) with the old herder.
 
Important to follow up this lead. Who has experience in closing deals in Japan? Ryotas English is not very unclear and hard to understand.
We would need to find Japanese-speaking interpreter, or co-producer to handle this in a good way. Potential for misunderstanding him is overwhelming.
 
 
 
Swedish film institute, Tove Torbiörnsson.
Is positive to grant production support. Needs some more information.
 
 
Swedish TV, Ingmar Persson.
Wants to commission film, but is interested to discuss if the story still is the same after the Amsterdam presentation.
Says he will instruct his commissioning editor Axel Arnö to close a co-production deal.
 
.
NHK, Japan,Yukari Kawamura
Interested if the focuses more on the current affaires aspect of the film. UNLOS - Law of the sea, fight for oil and the global warming.
Did not like my”human interest” approach. She is producing a series called; “The world after 1998”.
 
Probably best to deal with Ryota at NHK?
 
 
 
Cara Mertes, Sundance fund, USA.
Likes the project. Says that the film title is very bad in English. Suggest a new title that includes”tundra”.
Ask for an application for production support. Says that Sundance Channel (that is not the same as the fund) might be interested in broadcasting the film.
Conclusion - title must be changed if we want to market the project in the English-speaking world.
 
 
Vebjørn Hagen, TV2 Norway (commercial channel).
Hard to sell ads to a film about people almost starving in Russia. Requests for projects with content from contemporary Norway.
 
 
Jutta Krug, WDR, Germany.
Never found her. Give her a call.
 
Danmarks Radio, Anne Koehne (Norwegian, married to a Dane).
Never meet her. Told to the IDFA staff that she was not interested. She was not present at the pitch.
Are there other commissioning editors that we know at DR or TV2 Denmark, since we have strong Danish content? (See articles from Jylllands-Posten).
 
Could also be someone working for DR-TV in Greenland?  Denmark is important for the EU Media program TV-distribution support application, since they have many languages in their territory; witch gives many points in the application process.
 
Taskovski Films, Irena Taskovski, U.K
London based World Sales agency with office also in Prague, specialized in independent films. Interested in world sales of the film.