Application deadline – 13th of October 2017
About European Short Pitch
European Short Pitch is an initiative aimed at promoting the European coproduction of short films. It combines a scriptwriting workshop in residency and a coproduction forum bringing together scriptwriters, directors and industry professionals from all over Europe.
Selected on the basis of their short film projects, 16 European talents gather to discuss, rewrite, and learn to promote their stories on a European level with the support of 4 tutors. They eventually pitch their projects in front of a panel of professionals: over 55 producers, financers, buyers, and distributors.
European Short Pitch aims to bring young European talents into the spotlight, give them a high-end promotion opportunity, and develop short film coproduction in Europe. This initiative is about enhancing economic viability and European visibility for short film projects.
From the previous editions (2007-2017), around 240 projects were presented that have resulted so far in the making of 96 short films- many of them having a very successful international career.
Who can apply?
European Short Pitch is open to creative teams developing international short film projects. It is therefore open to writers, directors, and producers.
Writer-directors developing a project on their own are very welcome to participate in the programme. Yet it is strongly advised to already have nationally a production company interested or attached to the project, especially at the time of the coproduction forum (22rd-25th March 2018).
The author(s) of the script has to be between 18 and 35 years of age on the closing date of the call for projects.
His/her nationality or country of residence should be one of the member countries of the Creative Europe Programme (European Union + Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Iceland, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia and Ukraine). European Short Pitch will also select up to 3 projects from non-member countries of the Creative Europe Programme where NISI MASA has a member organisation: Kosovo and Russia.
Applicants must confirm their availability for the different sessions. The working language of European Short Pitch is English; thus, a good knowledge of English is essential in order to participate.
Scriptwriting workshop, coproduction forum & on-line session
European Short Pitch is composed of a scriptwriting workshop in residency, a coproduction forum, and an on-line session in between.
The scriptwriting workshop in residency will take place from the 8th till the 14th of January 2018 in a European country (to be confirmed) – for past edition took place in Valletta, Malta. Participants will be in groups of four projects, with a tutor heading the process. For fivedays, they will work intensively on their projects, also giving feedback on other participants’ projects, alternating collective & group sessions, one-to-one sessions with the tutor, and a lecture on an initiation to pitching. One session with a guest producer will introduce participants to European short film coproduction.
The aim of this first session is to enhance the quality of the script and to prepare participants to promote their projects in an international context.
The on-line session (between the workshop – January 2018 and the forum – March 2018) represents an opportunity for participants to rewrite their scripts following the scriptwriting workshop, and to get up to two feedback sessions from their tutors. In parallel, participants will prepare materials for the Book of Projects, and suggest names of professionals they would like European Short Pitch to invite for the coproduction forum.
The aim of this second session is to have a final script ready for the coproduction forum.By the end of February 2018 (date to be confirmed), participants have to submit their final script, so that it can be made available – along with the Book of Projects – to invited professionals ten days prior to the coproduction forum.
The coproduction forum will take place from the 22nd till the 25th of March 2018 in Poznan, Poland as part of the Poznan Industry Days in the context of the Short Waves Festival in partnership with Ad Arte.Participants will have one day to prepare and rehearse their pitching with their tutors. The pitching, in the presence of invited professionals, will take place on the 24th of March, each project having 7 minutes – questions included. One-to-one meetings with professionals will follow.An award ceremony will close the whole event, with three prizes of 1 000 Euros each for the Best Pitches (based on the votes of invited professionals).
The aim of this third session is to create a platform of promotion for the projects selected, to encourage encounters and collaborations between film professionals and to initiate short film coproductions.
Participation fees
The participation fee for each project is 500 Euros. The fee covers the tutorship costs, the travel costs, the accommodation and subsistence for both on-location sessions. One person per project is covered by European Short Pitch. However, upon prior agreement, an extra person per project shall be admitted – he/she will have to cover his/her own travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.
How to apply?
Before the application deadline (13th of October 2017, midnight C.E.T.),applicants have to send a zip file (named after the title of the project) to europeanshortpitch@nisimasa.com, containing:
The completed application form;
The script in English (there’s no word-count limitation – however European Short Pitch is designed for short film projects of an estimated length inferior to 30 minutes);
The script in the original language (many languages being read and understood by our preselecting reading committee & jury, we may consider the original version as well);
CVs of the people involved creatively in the project (author/writer, director & producer);
A presentation of the production company attached (if applicable).
Applicants may present audiovisual works for consideration (either previous ones of the creative team or preparatory work made for the project presented). Only works available online will be considered (link to be provided in the application form).
The scripts must be entirely original; borrowing, in any way whatsoever, of any pre-existing work protected by copyright or any other legal protection, or violating the rights of third parties is not permitted.
Selection process
The projects will be selected in two steps.
From the 1st till the 27th of October 2017, a preselecting reading committee composed of 30 readers (NISI MASA members, scriptwriters, producers, participants of previous European Short Pitch editions, etc.) will consider all the applications. Each application will be processed by a minimum of three different readers. 40 projects will be preselected for the consideration of the jury.
From the 28th of October till the 22nd of November 2017, the jury will review the 40 projects preselected. The jury is composed of 10 people (scriptwriters, producers, participants of previous European Short Pitch editions, etc.) who will be announced on the website within the next few weeks. The jury will gather on the 23rd and 24thof November 2017 in Berlin, Germany, in parallel with the International Short Film Festival interfilm Berlin, and will decide upon the projects selected for European Short Pitch 2018.
Participants will be informed of their selection / non-selection on the 28th of November 2017, either viathe NISI MASA website (www.nisimasa.com) or by email.
The tutors
The tutors are experienced and well-connected film professionals, and have all regularly been working for European Short Pitch for several years – among other activities.There will be 4 tutors(names will be released within the next few weeks) in charge of the script development and pitching trainings. From our previous editions, among them have been:
- Marie Dubas (France) is a successful French short film producer and script editor, working on the side for TorinoFilmLab
- Nadja Dumouchel (France) is a script consultant working for Arte Creative and TorinoFilmLab.
- Vanja Kaludjercic (Croatia) is a programmer for both CPH:DOX and the Sarajevo Film Festival and the head of Industry for the les Arcs European Film Festival.
- Antonio Piazza (Italy) is a scriptwriter/director, script editor and ex-participant of European Short Pitch. His latest film Salvo won the two top Awards at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes in 2013.
- Razvan Radulescu (Romania) is a multi awarded scriptwriter and director (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,Boogie, Tuesday after Christmas, Child’s Pose etc.)
- Leonardo Stagliano (Italy) is a scriptwriter, script editor and tutor working for TorinoFilmLab and Scuola Holden. His latest film Yuri Esposito had its world première during the 2013 edition of the Venice Film Festival as part of the Biennale College.
- A guest producer, Jérôme Nunes (Films de Force Majeure), will also be present during the first session to introduce participants to European short film coproduction and its intricacies. Detailed biographies of the tutors will be available soon on www.nisimasa.com
The invited professionals
55 film professionals will be invited for the coproduction forum, chosen for their experience in European short film coproduction and according to the profiles of the selected projects. In some specific cases, participants will be offered to propose names of professionals to invite.
They will be mostly film producers (40 of them), the remaining 15being either distributors/sales agents, financers (representatives of film funds), or buyers (TV commissioning editors). The list of professionals invited for the previous editions are available on www.nisimasa.com (cf. ‘Book of Producers’).
The organizing team & NISI MASA
European Short Pitch is organised by NISI MASA – European Network of Young Cinema. Present in 31 countries, NISI MASA has been organising dozens of international film projects since 2001.
The 2018 edition of European Short Pitch will be managed by Wim Vanacker, Head of the Script Department, Jérôme Nunes, Manager of the Coproduction forum and Marija Fridinovaite, Project Coordinator.
