Monday, July 13, 2015

Cannes Film Festival 2015 - Internship with Odin's Eye Entertainment

I recently attended the 2015 Cannes Film Festival undertaking an internship with Odin's Eye Entertainment and as part of my internship, produced the following report on my experiences.

A good read for anyone considering attending the marketing the future:

Working with Odin’s Eye Entertainment at the Cannes Film Festival is a fantastic opportunity for any emerging producer who wants to gain a more in-depth knowledge of the international film market. Odin's Eye Entertainment is a vertically integrated media company encompassing international film and television sales, production, distribution and marketing. For the first time this year, they were attending the market both as a sales company and a production company, representing their debut feature film, The Legend of Ben Hall.

Having attended the Cannes Film Festival Market in 2013, I had a thorough understanding of the complicated and chaotic environment. I was able to perform my duties with Odin’s Eye more confidently and take advantage of my visit to develop new relationships with key stakeholders in the industry and attend networking events.

My role at the market was to assist in the day-to-day operations of the stall including coordinating the schedules of the Odin’s Eye team; liaising with the screening department; and providing support to the team.

One of my key responsibilities was analysing producers’ pitches before allocating them a meeting with one of our team. Having a sound understanding of Odin’s Eye’s slate, I learned quickly how to evaluate whether a project would be suitable for the company or not. I evaluated based on its financial and/or development status; the creative team attached and their filmmaking experience; and how strong the script was. I learnt how important it is for producers to understand where their film fits in to the wider market before approaching sales companies or distributors: you cannot just pitch your film to a sales agent to tick boxes. You need to do your research and make sure your film fits that company’s profile.

By completing the internship, I now have a solid understanding of what films sell both nationally and internationally; what phase of development/production they need to be in to be considered by a sales company; the dos and don’ts of pitching to prospective buyers; the importance of film festivals and the effect they can have on a film’s success commercially and critically; and what options there are for producers whose film doesn’t fit the typical commercial distribution model.

Odin’s Eye Founder Michael Favelle said:

ScreenWest has consistently put forward high quality emerging producers for our Cannes internship program and this year was no exception. Maya was an invaluable addition to our 2015 Cannes team and I'm sure we equally benefited from the experience. Maya will no doubt become a formidable producer in years to come and we hope to have the chance to bring her projects to the world as their sales agent and or distributor.

ScreenWest supported Maya to attend 2015 Cannes through the Travel Assistance - Skills Development & Exposure Fund.

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