Ashwin Segkar of Boymongoose Media attended MIPTV, in Cannes, France from 1 - 4 April 2012

MIPTV was an excellent opportunity for us to establish relationships with key international broadcasters, distributors and financiers. We found the event to be a convenient way to gain access to decision makers that may otherwise have been difficult to connect with. The ability to present in person made it easier for us to convince acquisitions contacts of the suitability of our project and to gain useful insight into their programming requirements over the next 12 months and beyond.

In the event that acquisition contacts were not available, we found that other senior members of particular organisations, once convinced of the merits of the project, were then willing to make personal connections between us and the relevant acquisitions contact – often within a few days of the event. We have had good progress through that approach in key international territories.

The networking events at MIPTV (such as those organised by the Australian and Irish industry groups) were excellent opportunities to meet decision makers in a relaxed environment. We established important relationships at those events that are now helping to advance our project. Although we had a scheduled meeting plan, we found these informal events opened up additional opportunities to advance our project in key ways such as financing and distribution. This variety of negotiations has now given us more production options than we previously had available, ensuring we are now able to establish the best possible production arrangement for our animated series.

Wes Dening of WD Entertainment Group attended MIPTV, in Cannes, France from 1 - 4 April 2012

Attendees commented that the market seemed quieter than previous years although the meetings I had all were very productive and other attendees both buyers and sellers said they had secured some really good business.  Surprising from the start was the interest in a documentary feature offer for The Stafford Brothers. That has since blossomed and looks like it could become a reality with some development and strong packaging.  On a sales front it was important to meet with two key buys from the US from UKTV and also A&E UK where there was opportunity to present The Stafford Brothers Season 2 trailer in person. This is a key market to sell the show not just for financial reasons but because it’s simply a key market to continue to grow the brand and series.

Travel Girls received a surprisingly positive review and a lot of interest from distributors. The key being to secure a primary broadcaster. I feel like looking into official coproduction opportunities for season 2 may help to share costs of production and possibly increase access to funding from additional sources.  For Celebrity Babysitter, the key meeting was with the producers of the original series and also with the distributor of the program. Having invested in the series, it was worthwhile discussing production positives and negatives and work through the sale strategy with both the original producers and distributors.

Carlos Alperin of Galloping Films attended MIPTV, in Cannes, France from 31 March - 4 April 2012

I’ve been attending MIPTV and MIPCOM since 1994  and although MIPTV organisers don’t admit it, this year there were less attendees than previous ones. The financial crisis has affected many medium size companies and big ones don’t attend the market any longer. Everyone is talking about VOD but no business models have worked yet for producers and distributors.

At this market I was able to pitch my main projects to numerous acquisition managers and executives, and some of them were enthusiastic enough to request to evaluate the projects and scripts/treatments. I hope that the outcome of these meetings will be translate it into presales and distribution guarantees.

Cathy Overett of New Holland Pictures attended Berlinale, 9-16 February 2012, in Berlin, Germany

Berlinale was a fabulous experience for us. Iron Sky was the most talked about film of the festival and the second fastest selling ticket. There was a real buzz about the film which helped us significantly in meetings and networking and culminated with a North American sale to eOne.

Wayne Denning of Carbon Media attended KidScreen Children's Television Market, in New York City in February 2012

The KidScreen Summit 2012, which was held in New York, provided a great opportunity for Carbon Media to engage and network with the world’s top experts in the children’s television industry and use it to the springboard acquisition and production activities for the company’s children’s television series Letterbox, Go Lingo! And Handball Hero.

There were a number of marketing outcomes from attending:

• Successful one-on-one meetings with representatives from listed International and Australian producers and broadcasters and commitment to develop and present projects;

• Networking events with speakers sharing the newest content for the newest platforms and trends in digital media impacting of Children’s television production. I particularly enjoyed Splict Screens: How Social Media and Apps are Affecting Kidnets. It proved to be a primary market place for commisioning.

• Carbon Media meet with and is negotiating with experienced International Children’s television producer Diana Manson whilst at Kidscreen (she is based in New York). It is hoped Diana Manson will consult to Carbon Media on the establishment and marketing of Children’s Television slate.

Overall, Carbon Media was able to successfully fulfill our marketing objectives due to the unique and rewarding opportunity provided by Screen Queensland. It is hoped next year’s summit and the upcoming MIPCOM/ MIPJNR and KidScreen in Asia will build on the opportunities presented for Carbon Media in New York.

Norm Wilkinson of Visionquest Entertainment attended AIDC in Adelaide, and Belgium/UK Markets - travelling between 19 - 29 February 2012

 In short we came away from this trip with at least one 3D cinema transmedia co-production with Canada.  The interest of our Great Apres distributor in another 3D film package.  An MOU with a leading UK producer to work on a package of 4 or 5 short factual series.  Two possible packages of maybe 6 with both a UK channel and also a South African co-producer/distributor.  If i only get two of the dicussed options we will be in very good shape

Dean Gibson of Carbon Media attended AIDC, in Adelaide, 27 February - 1 March 2012

AIDC 2012 represented a great opportunity to see what the current world andAustralian factual trends are at the moment and what is being considered into 2013.  Everything trend seemed to point towards broadcasters looking to fill as much time of  their schedule with big character series – so not a great deal has changed since AIDC 2011.  A fresh opportunity lies with ABC3’s intention to commission and develop factual programmes and series. They always go into development and will be looking towards content incorporates sports and arts in the year ahead. Like adult factual, they too are looking for big characters and big stories.

Richard Stewart of MFP Media Management attended EFM, in Berlin, Germany 7-18 February 2012

The EFM in Berlin is an excellent market as it is compact with most companies very accessible and I had no difficulty getting meetings.  There was a generally good feeling with this market and presales were being closed and there was a great willingness to consider all types of projects.  I was able to conclude two co-production deals here with films that are completely financeable so I think it was an excellent market. I was also able to secure co-financing and sales for a new project with Tri-Coast Intl. I was able to discuss and market-test a number of new projects that our company may commission including Elvis Lives (working title), Clarence the Camel and Amichai, with very strong interest in all this material.  As stated elsewhere I was able to obtain a sales agency and financing commitment for Clarence.  There was very solid interest in the entire project line up at EFM with a total of 27 meetings.  I was also able to discuss co-productions with a number of companies the principal ones being FFP New Media - Germany, Daneille Raaphorst – Incredible Film and Mountain Road, Netherlands.  The FFP New Media contact has resulted in a quality television series co-pro proposal.

Larry Zetlin and Clare Thompson of Gulliver Media Australia Pty Ltd attended AIDC, in Adelaide, 27 February - 1 March 2012

Overall AIDC 2012 was productive in terms of meeting many commissioning editors within a week, attending useful sessions to learn of new trends and techniques and also to network. Because we focussed on meetings, there was less time to attend sessions, but I found the sessions I did attend to be not as fresh and inspiring as previous years. The attendance of the Chinese broadcasters and the session on digital media touchscreens were both of interest. Thanks again to Screen Queensland for the opportunity to attend.

Angela Walsh of Angela Walsh Productions Pty Ltd attended EFM, in Berlin, Germany 07-18 February 2012

This narrative summary is shorter than usual because this trip was mainly about networking for me. I was determined that I would meet with those I had met with last year at Berlin and other markets/events of 2011 to assure them that my projects were still alive if not actually active. Unfortunately, there were some job changes and company restructures so I could not see everyone I wanted to, even though I emailed and stalked when and where I could! But I did have three meetings that turned out to be extremely beneficial for three different projects.

The beneficial meetings could result in two co-productions and one sales offer. These relationships are all script-dependent and only one project has a fully developed script so I now have a lot of work to do but it’s achievable.

I may not have any solid deals in place yet (letter of interest pending) but I feel extremely positive about the contacts I made and the conversations I had.

I met some great directors and other creatives that could be suitable for projects now or in the future. Plus I am pleased that there is consistent interest in what I have on offer. Once I have directors attached to two of my projects, I am reasonably confident of securing deals.

This year’s EFM was truly beneficial. I learnt a lot more than I expected to and go into 2012 with a great deal more hope for the future than I left 2011 with.