EUROPEAN TRAINING BUSINESS COURSES Higher learning Geoffrey Macnab profiles a selection of the leading European business courses and institutions


ACE, FRANCE The lowdown Based in Paris, ACE (Ateliers du Cinéma Européen) is a long-term training programme through project development. It aims to use the know-how and the contacts of the senior members of the ACE network — an informal organisation with some 183 members spread across 35 countries — to help newcomers develop their talent and business. Some see it as a natural place for producers who have passed through EAVE (see below) to attend. The ACE training programme is one


year long. Each participant must have a project suitable for a co-production which will be developed over the year. When they finish the course, producers can choose to remain members of the ACE network to share information and co- produce projects with other members. Ed Guiney of Ireland’s Element


Pictures, producer of The Guard, attended both ACE and EAVE. “With both, you make professional connections that last a lifetime,” he says. “Particularly with ACE, there is — to use that well-worn phrase — an old boys and girls’ network. All the time, you run into people who’ve been to ACE. If you want to know anything about anyone you might have dealings with, you can either contact ACE directly or some producer you know in that country and they’ll give you the rundown on people you may be talking to, whether producers, distributors, financiers or broadcasters. It is generally very collegiate and very honest.” Alumni include Martin Hagemann, Nicole Gerhards, Ed Guiney, Luc Déry. Fees New participants pay $7,500 (€5,500) for the first year, which


includes accommodation, subsistence, remote follow-up and individual consultancy. ACE network membership fees are $950 (€700) per year. Requirements Entrants must have produced at least one feature-length fiction film which has been theatrically released in the producer’s own country. They must also have a fiction feature project suitable for an EU co-production in the early stages of development. Participants 16 Registration deadline June 20, 2011 www.ace-producers.com


ATELIER LUDWIGSBURG-PARIS, GERMANY/FRANCE The lowdown Atelier Ludwigsburg- Paris, jointly organised by La Fémis in Paris and the Filmakademie Baden- Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, is a one-year programme training young European producers and distributors. The curriculum includes


development, financing, production, distribution and marketing for the European film market. The course begins in the autumn in Ludwigsburg then moves to Paris early in the new year before taking in the Berlin film festival and a two-week session with the UK’s National Film and Television School. Participants then return to Ludwigsburg for a session in March before four weeks of practical work experience with a European distribution company. Then they head to La Fémis for a session in May. Industry guests giving lectures or


workshops include producer Jan Harlan, European Film Market director Beki Probst and Geoff Gilmore, chief creative officer of Tribeca Enterprises. Alumni include Fabien Westerhoff, director of sales and distribution, HanWay Films; Olimpia Pont Chafer, sales, Co-Production Office. Fees $2,065 (€1,500) Requirements Applicants must be under 30 years old, have a university degree and good knowledge of French or German. Participants 18


n 6 Screen International European Training Special 2011


Registration deadline May 2011 www.atelier-ludwigsburg-paris.com


BINGER FILMLAB – COMPANY!, NETHERLANDS The lowdown Amsterdam-based training institute Binger Filmlab has launched an innovative initiative aimed at helping Dutch producers strengthen their production companies. Company! is a project-based programme, in this case looking at the company as the project. With key professionals from


around the world, the programme encourages participants to discover their personality as producers. It gives in-depth attention to business models, new strategies for distribution, marketing and branding, pitching, working with writers and directors, organisation, management, international financing, rights, negotiation and talent development. Company! takes place over one year


with 11 three-day workshops at Binger Filmlab on a semi-monthly basis. Binger also offers a range of annual


programmes, including labs for producers, directors and writers. Fees $4,130 (€3,000) Requirements Company! is aimed at Dutch producers with substantial producing experience, who preferably own a company or are starting one. The programme is open to producers working in fiction films, documentaries, short films, television and animation. www.binger.nl


connected by participant work and long-distance tutoring between workshops. It is aimed at independent


producers, sales agents and distributors and their personnel, as well as representatives from media agencies, festivals and markets, lawyers, consultants and trainers. Founded in 1988, the philosophy is to help producers learn through developing projects. Fifty producers are selected each


year. They are then split into four working groups, each led by an experienced European producer; 60% of the course takes place within the group. “It’s a friendly and protective environment,” is how one insider characterises it. There are also plenary sessions dealing with all aspects of co-production, marketing, financing, legal affairs and so on. The workshop is one of the


core activities at EAVE, which is a professional training, project development and networking organisation for audiovisual producers. “Our philosophy is very much


EAVE EUROPEAN PRODUCERS WORKSHOP, LUXEMBOURG The lowdown This Luxembourg-based outfit offers a 12-month programme of three one-week residential workshops


learning through developing projects,” says EAVE chief executive Kristina Trapp. “The projects are, of course, very important but at the very forefront are the producers whose skills we want to develop.” Alumni include Josef Aichholzer, producer of The Counterfeiters, Bernadette Thomas (Poisson Rouge), Polly Leys (Hillbilly Films). Fees Registration: $207 (€150). EU participants $3,790 (€2,750) with project; $2,410 (€1,750) without. Participants from non-EU countries $5,511 (€4,000) with project; $3,445 (€2,500) without. Requirements Producers must be working in fiction and documentary, be already established in their own country and wish to work in the wider European industry. Registration deadline September 30, 2011


www.eave.org »


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