The ABC’s of pitching
At each Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, the European Documentary Network helps directors refine and sell ideas

Money makes the world go round. Or, put in another way, money puts film in the can and pays the travel costs for on-location shoots. As abhorrent as this may seem to filmmakers who do not believe such factors such as funding have any place in art, the reality is that screenwriters and directors must sell their work in order to make a living. Yet while there are dozens of schools where directors, screenwriters, and camera operators can hone their craft, there are few places that teach aspiring directors where and how to raise money for their projects. Enter the European Documentary Network, a membership organization for those involved in documentary filmmaking, from inception to distribution.

EDN boosts ’southern’ docs
Headquartered in Copenhagen, the EDN was founded in 1996 as a "meeting point" for professionals who work in documentary film and television. A year later, EDN launched its pitching forums, "as a promotion for the development of documentary culture in southern Europe," says the EDN’s Anita Reher.

Pitching is a sort of reverse bidding process: instead of buyers vying for a product, the creator – in this case, a screenwriter or director – bids for a studio’s or a producer’s interest to secure the necessary funds to take a project from idea to screen. At the EDN pitching forum, independent producers have an opportunity to present their projects to a panel of commissioning editors representing European broadcasters.

"Often you have an idea in your head that you can’t translate into paper," says Valerie Kontakos, a documentary filmmaker who participated in the EDN pitching forum at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in 2003. "You have about 10 minutes to present your idea, and even show a clip if you have it, then answer questions. The [panel] either responds to it or they don’t. Really, what you’re doing is being a salesperson."

Intense tutoring
The EDN pitching forum includes a workshop where participants learn how to present their idea and even make a practice pitch to the workshop tutors. Many observers note the experience is particularly valuable for directors and producers with little or no exposure to the international documentary community. The atmosphere, says Kontakos, is very supportive.

"Participants come to the forum with their proposals and work through them in three groups with tutors who rotate among the groups, discussing issues like artistic quality, production and financing plans, and visual approach," says Amalia Zepou, a documentary filmmaker and EDN liaison in Greece who participated in pitching forums in 2000 and 2001. "You have three days to deepen your idea and learn how to present it before a panel in seven minutes. It’s a very concentrated experience."

The workshops are intensive, which is why space is limited. Forums are held in several cities, with Balkan participation greater at the Thessaloniki forum and Spanish participation higher at the Lisbon event.

"There were 41 participants who took part in the Thessaloniki pitching forum," says Reher. "The six tutors who worked with [them] were experienced international producers and filmmakers."

Long-term results

The EDN pitching forum has not only been successful in helping documentary filmmakers learn how to present their ideas, but also in obtaining money to develop their projects. Yet despite the focus on obtaining funding, some industry representatives have criticized the forums as providing encouragement for the director or producer rather than on guiding the documentary industry towards more commercial projects.
"Approximately 25 percent obtained financing on the spot, the rest were all developed further, and some went on to obtain financing later," says Reher.

She points to Bulgarian director Adela Peeva who "pitched her project Divorce Albanian Style for the first time at the Thessaloniki pitching forum and has now been fully financed."
Kontakos, who has been shooting a documentary on the Greek national baseball team for the past year, says she only made one sale – to Finland – through the forum but also left with several leads to follow up.
"The pitching forum was good for me because it helped me focus on what I need to do to get money," she adds.

Participants say that it’s impossible to judge how effective a single forum is in helping them obtain financing for a project since contacts made through the EDN workshops may lead to deals later. Some participants have even been disappointed because they had assumed the forum was simply about obtaining funds. Zepou, an assistant tutor, says the workshop’s success shouldn’t be judged solely on how many projects found money through the forum.

"The pitching forum has a more direct impact on people who follow the three-day workshop. It teaches them how to put an idea down on paper and helps producers and directors in Greece see their productions a new, more universal way and how to present ideas in way that would be interesting to a wider audience and not just audiences within Greece," she says. "I feel that it will be years before the workshop’s true impact will be felt."

January 23 deadline
This year’s pitching sessions will be held March 17-21, 2004. For more information contact Anita Reher, tel:+45 33131122, fax:+(45) 33131144, e-mail: anita@edn.dk

Diane Shugart

www.edn.dk
European Documentary Network