Format and Content

The main focus of the MAIA workshops is to support emerging producers and help them to develop their projects. There are three workshops per year (the first is on creative development; the third on marketing and distribution). It is not obligatory to do them all; you can apply for just one.

The days consisted of plenary sessions and exercises. After this, there were time slots where you could book an appointment with one of the tutors. During the workshop, there was the MEDIA supported Art Film Fest, where we all got accreditations for. Two evenings, there were screenings of films we would talk about the day after.

The programme

Monday – The movie value chain (Alessandra Priante) + group work (we had to split up in four groups: two groups had to construct an imaginary production company, the third one was a creative team, the fourth group was a distributor… then the different groups had to talk/negotiate with each other).

Tuesday – The Legal aspects of Coproducing (Sophie Borowsky)

Wednesday – The Financial aspects of coproducing (Linda Beath)

Thursday – Microbudgetting (Mia Bays) + open lecture (Danny Krautz)

Friday – Marketing and Sales (Mia Bays) + case studies (Dariusz Jablonski)

There were also presentations on MEDIA (by Rickard Olsson) and on the Slovakian film industry (by Vladimir Stric, head of the Slovakian MEDIA Desk).

At the same time of this MAIA workshop, there was also the MIDPOINT workshop, which is a script development training programme for graduating students and recent graduates. There was an exchange: we went to their venue for the open lecture by Danny Krautz and they came to ours for a presentation by Linda Beath.

The trainers

There is a core of MAIA trainers/organisers who follow up the projects during the year. These are Rickard Olsson, Alejandro de la Fuente and Graziella Bildesheim. The trainers invited for this workshop were Alessandra Priante, Sophie Borowsky, Linda Beath and Mia Bays, added with Dariusz Jablonski for his case study and Vladimir Stric.

The participants

The target group of the MAIA workshops are emerging producers. This doesn’t only mean young professionals with a minimum of experience, it also means, for example, experienced directors who want to start up a project in their own production structure. In Trencin, the group (of about 20 people) consisted for the largest part of young people (-30 years old).

It is a project based workshop and different kinds of professionals are allowed to participate: producers, directors, writers or pairs – in Trencin there was even an actor who was (minimally) involved with the development of his film. However, the programme of this workshop was mostly focused on (aspiring) producers.

Didactic material

We received a file with a description of the projects of all the participants + bios of the experts. The presentations of the experts were e-mailed afterwards or given on paper during the lecture.

Author of report: Bert Lesaffer (MEDIA Desk Belgium – Flemish Community)