Grant Bradley of Limelight International attended TIFF, in Toronto 8-12 September 2011

I found TIFF to be less valuable this year than previous years.  I did not attend in 2010 and the layout had changed from the former centre at Sutton Place, to the new Lighthouse centre and the Hilton Hotel.  As I had a lot of my time prep-scheduled there was little time to “explore” and I did not see a lot of company offices.  I understand they were there … but even now I don’t know where they were.  The large display areas had some value for identifying government agencies and bodies, but overall there seemed to be a lack of distributor/sales agent offices.  In 2012, I am more likely to plan only 3 days at TIFF, with a couple of days in New York, Vancouver, and Los Angeles.

Sue Clothier of Northern Pictures attended The World Congress of Scientific and Factual Producers 2011, in Paris 27 November - 3 December 2011 

The Congress is in relative terms a small focused market attracting quality producers and broadcasters who are regular Congress attendees.  The location of the Congress in France meant there was a good representation of European and based broadcasters who may not travel as frequently to the southern hemisphere.  This years Congress had a wide selection of hosted and interactive sessions as well as information sessions with key broadcasters.  The Congress could be described as a venue for premium stakeholders.  This year an additional 100 delegates attended over 2010.

Veronica Fury of Wild Fury Pty Ltd attended SPAA, in Sydney 13-16 November

SPAA is where Australia producers meet the market place. Not just broadcasters but commercial players too. Also key international players attend. It is the one stop shop for the Australian screen  industry and includes television, feature film, animation, documentary, TV commercial and interactive media production companies, as well as services and facilities providers, such as post-production, finance, distribution and legal companies.  I found I could have meetings about projects past present and future with all the key areas from completion bond to presale to funding body.

Ian Jones of The Creative Farm attended The Singapore Asia Television Forum, from 5-9 December 2011

I have been attending the Asia TV Forum every year since 2005, as well as both the MIP markets 2005 – 2007 respectively. While not as productive as MIP’s (nor as frenetic) the ATF is a good market for business and I was surprised that there are so few Australians going. I don’t think Austrade even had a presence this year. The market is now quite large and much more dynamic than in 2005 with very large contingencies from Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Germany and even much to our shock, Finland. There is a strong emphasis on animation and there tends to be more sellers than buyers but the big regional buyers like FOX, HBO, Viacom, MTV and all the in country broadcasters are there and easy to meet.  Because we are well established in the region the market tends (for us) to be a renewal of acquaintances and a “what’s new” discussion.

Our focus as a media producer is to move our properties off TV and onto the internet and gaming platforms which is a massive shift in the business, production and distribution models. As such a lot of our discussions in 2011 were around “why are we doing this and how does this affect how we can work together”.

The last minute agreement with FCCE NL just prior to the market that we would JV with them in Asia on their new crowd sourced feature film Entertainment Experience was a big development as this is a format that is creating a major impact in the Netherlands already and it sits perfectly into our internet based gaming strategy.  ATF is probably the only decent market to go to in Asia but it is worth going to and to be effective you need to be there each year.

Glenn Wilkinson of Reactive Vision attended SPAA, in Sydney 13-16 November

Thank you Screen Queensland for assisting with my participation at the 2011 SPAA Conference. I felt the overall conference was of a high standard this year, the social events and locations were an improvement on previous years.  The balance of seminar sessions across 360, Television, Feature and Kids provided useful information for development of projects moving forward into 2012. A wide range of local and international guests across a broad range of subjects provided interesting seminar and keynote addresses. 

The smartphone app was a new feature, potentially a useful tool although some fine tuning is still required.  The conference session recordings have improved turnaround time, ideal catch up method for missed sessions due to clashes or prior meeting engagements.  As always the opportunity to network and renew acquaintances helps maintain a visible presence in a market dominated by our southern counterparts. 

Veronica Fury of Wild Fury attended The World Congress of Scientific and Factual Producers 2011, in Paris 27 November - 3 December 2011 

WCSFP is still one of the most important international markets we attend. It is the key interface between factual producers and the market place. It is where key projects are pitched and discussed. It was a sell out with over 600 attendees. There is plenty of opportunity to meet broadcasters and potential co-production partners. I take it very seriously indeed.  Wild Fury seemed to have a strong presence at the market which was good.

As a moderator for some of the “Meet and Greet” sessions with broadcasters I get meet a broader range of broadcasters to follow up with at a later date. 

Mark Overett of New Holland Pictures attended SPAA, in Sydney 13-16 November

Many thanks Screen Queensland for helping facilitate my attendance at SPAA 2011. 

In general terms, I thought the conference was very good – with terrific speakers and strong attendance figures (very interesting to note the presence and participation of so many Aussie broadcasters).  

It is fair enough to say that I did not attend perhaps as many seminars as I would have liked – but on the other hand, this was due to the fact that I had a very full schedule of meetings on a broad slate of New Holland Pictures’ projects.

Of course knowing how true the adage is that “no-one in the film industry knows anything”, it is still re-assuring to hear the success stories of Producers such as Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech) and Nelson Woss (Red Dog).  Ahhh, maybe one day… 

Emma Gibbs from Stewart and Wall Entertainment attended SPAA, in Sydney 13-17 November

Della Churchill of Chilling Pictures attended Toronto Film Festival, Halifax Strategic Partners Conference, in Toronto 11-21 September

TIFF’s growing market is based around the three levels of foyer in the Hyatt hotel, various offices above and an array of café’s nearby.  Meetings tended to be less rushed than Cannes often going for an hour at a time and it was very easy (given a certain level of market awareness) to catch up with people and make extra meetings by simply hanging around the main stair area while waiting for your next meeting to appear. Attendance at a number of industry parties was another excellent way to forge those important personal relationships beyond the initial pitch and I had a few chance meetings at these that may prove to be game changers for my projects. 

From the first bear hug by conference organiser Jan Miller, I knew that Halifax would be a different experience to Toronto.  The organisers go out of their way to ensure that all you need think about is pondering the last session, meeting new people or pitching your projects to a well-targeted guest list.  With only 100 attendees, mostly staying in one hotel and having three meals a day together, it was quite conducive to making meaningful connections with like-minded people.  An interesting cross-section of international sales agents, broadcasters and producers ensured that each 30 minute 1-2-1 meeting had its own character.  The schedule and attendee book (with full contact details) is only given to you when you arrive, so you need to study up quickly on those meetings you don’t know.  You also need to target those who have not appeared as an organised meeting but may be interested in your projects.  Each individual schedule has plenty of spaces to fill up with side meetings but the bigger players get a full dance card very quickly.  I managed to have “meal meetings” most days to cover everyone I wanted to speak with but it can be odd to be pitching at a round table with a whole lot of others listening in – so I’d advise taking an empty table where possible.

Cathy Overett of New Holland Pictures attended AFM, Los Angeles, USA from 4-11 November 2011.