neWs MEDIA says funding in Europe doesn’t have to be a drama
D
R AMA funding is available from the Eu ropean Union’s MEDIA programme,
with the goal of strengthening the pan-European audiovisual sector, said Virve Indren, one of MEDIA’s programme co-ordi-
nators. She was speaking at the Drama Co-production Financing Opportunities event at the Producers’ Hub. She explained that funds for European audiovisual companies were split into Development and Broadcasting strands, with budgets of €9m ($12m) and €10.8m available respectively in each. Development support covered all activities before production, including rights acquisition, writing, casting, looking for partners, travel, festival and legal costs, for European audiovisual companies. Companies could apply for either single project (€10,000-60,000) or slate (€70,000-190,000) funding, depending on their capacity, with a premium paid for feature animation and relevant interactive projects. Once determined eligible, bids were passed to expert professionals, Europe-wide, to judge the merits of the project. “You must have a ¿nancing plan,
Formats in China can be beautiful DESPITE the problems of language, culture and censorship, a western company can break into the Chinese market with branded entertainment — provided it does the research and maintains the integrity of the artistic concept. Alexis de Gemini, CEO, director and producer, A2G Creations, told a Branded Entertainment conference that he took his Beauty Academy concept to China because no one was buying local formats in France. From Xue Xinran’s book The Good Women Of China, the former Big Brother and Popstars producer realised that there was a great interest Alexis de Gemini: capitalising on Chinese interest
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and it’s best to have a ‘Plan B’,” Indren advised. “It’s also important to have a vision of how your project will travel outside your national territory — and to look further than the normal places.” She added that MEDIA would ¿ nance up to 50% of development costs; it didn’t matter where the rest came from — producers’ own money, national funding or investors — but it had to be in place. As for TV broadcasting, this fund was intended for distribution support — production funding is not allowed. However, in reality many companies used the MEDIA money for gap ¿nancing. To qualify, a minimum of three broadcasters from different countries had to be on board, committing 50% of the production budget. Various eligibility criteria were applied to each application, including ¿nancing and international appeal. New EU members and smaller countries received special weighting. Finally, Indren advised applying early, to avoid mishaps: “The processes are long — it takes ¿ve months for a decision — and you cannot go into production before funding is received.” in learning about make-up in China, because the Cultural Revolution had destroyed the traditional knowledge that until then had been handed down from mother to daughter. Then it was necessary to make sure that the sponsor — French beauty products company Sephora — supported the format, not the other way around. “The DNA of Sephora was built into the programme, but each episode was not a 50-minute advert for the company,” he said. However, the requirements of the sponsor, properly handled, could enhance the programme. “To incorporate a partner company, Make Up For Ever, we hired a synchronised swimming group and ¿lmed an underwater ballet, which was ¿rst-class entertainment and took the show to another level.”