Angela Walsh of Angela Walsh Productions Pty Ltd attended Strategic Partners Atlantic Film Festival, Halifax, Nova Scotia, from 13-22 September 2011.

Although I was thrilled to be invited, this was a trip I was reluctant to take because of timing and current workload. However, it turned out to be the best marketing trip I have had this year.

The structure of Strategic Partners was relaxed and the one-to-one meetings were thirty minutes long so when people did actually turn up on time there was room to have a general chat rather than a swift pitch. Also, when the meetings were clearly of little benefit to either party, they could be cut short and time could be better spent on preparing for the next meeting.

The buzz table sessions were very good. Like those at SPAA conference, they allow channels to state their programming needs and answer questions.

The panel sessions were all very interesting and I picked up a very important point when it came to transmedia elements: they must be project-relevant. The story is key so if the story doesn’t lend itself to a blog or a game or an interactive website, then don’t do it. Also important was making sure you target your audience; find out where they are online and how to get to them, just because you build it they will not come.

Although Strategic Partners was more aligned to feature production it also had many representatives from television and I found a few producers who were looking to co-produce on series, which was lucky for me.

It was a long way to travel for only a few days but it was well worth it.

Market Trends

A few of the Canadians I spoke to seem to think Australia is too far away for a co-production but I did get a sense that these same people were only interested in province-to-province co-productions of Canadian/US ventures because that’s what they were used to.  We have to stop thinking of ourselves as filmmakers and more as screen producers to encompass the changing face of the industry (considering all formats and delivery methods). Co-production is definitely a good way forward and is being embraced around the world.

Benefits

It looks like I have one definite deal out of this trip for my drama series Trace and one possible deal for my feature film The Arm.