PRO lectures
What is the right time to start developing your film PR strategy? How important are first impressions? How to engage talent after the shooting is over? What does your film poster and tagline communicate to the audiences? How to prepare for the festival circuit? Who do you need to contact and motivate in order to get your film to a wider audience? What is the real impact of festival success? Can individual production companies play active roles in the shaping of the industry? What can producers learn from each other? These are just some of the questions we will tackle through a series of lectures by major international experts in film production, distribution and marketing.
Charles McDonald started his career with Theo Cowan in 1978. He then founded Judy Tarlo Associates with Judy Tarlo, before establishing Stone Hallinan McDonald in 1986, in partnership with Connie Stone and Tim Hallinan, handling film accounts and IBM’s European-wide T.V. sponsorship drive. He formed McDonald & Rutter in January 1994 with Jonathan Rutter, specialising in all aspects of film-orientated PR work – production, international, corporate and UK distribution – as well as television and theatre work. McDonald & Rutter was incorporated into Premier PR in 2006. Charles McDonald is one of the world’s leading international PR experts and has given talks on Film PR at the likes of the National Film & TV School, European Film College, Berlinale… He has represented films globally by P. Almodovar, M. Leigh, K. Loach, M. Winterbottom, D. Cronenberg, S. Coppola, W. Wenders, S. Frears and A. Arnold, positioning them at Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Venice, the Academy Awards, BAFTA’s and Golden Globes.
Unit Publicity and Festival Positioning – Wednesday July 23, 11:00, Pula Chamber of Commerce.
Nik Powell set up Virgin Records together with Richard Branson in 1970. In 1982 he went into partnership with Stephen Woolley, proprietor of the Scala Cinema. Together they formed Palace Video, followed by Palace Pictures, and then Palace Productions, the biggest production, distribution and sales force in the UK. Nik Powell has produced 44 films of outstanding British directors such as Neil Jordan, Stephan Elliott, Shane Meadows, Terence Davis, etc., his most successful film being The Crying Game (dir. Neil Jordan, 1992) which was nominated for six Academy Awards, including the one for Best Film. Other notable awards include Cannes Best Actor for Bob Hoskins for Mona Lisa (dir. N. Jordan, 1986) and a Golden Globe for Little Voice (dir. N. Jordan, 1998). He is a director of the National Film and Television School, a Chairman of BAFTA Film, a member of the BAFTA Board of Trustees, and a Member of the US Academy AMPAS. He was a Vice Chairman of the Board of the European Film Academy for the last decade.
“A to Z of Story” – Monday, July 21, 12:00, Kino Valli
30 Lessons in Film Production – Monday, July 21, 16:00, Circolo.
Dolby, Warner, Fox, Universal, Sony, Columbia Tri-Star… name any major US company and Ray Gillon has worked with them! Not only as a sound engineer, but all over the world as a sound re-recordist. Ray studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at London’s Kingston University. After a brief stint in the music industry, his career quickly swerved into audio-visual projects. He designed the PA at Arsenal football stadium and was the design and commissioning engineer for the world’s 10th biggest cruise liner. He was soon employed by Dolby Laboratories as a film sound consultant where he also developed the dubbing aspect of film. This meant running all over the world picking up postproduction skills and languages, which Ray now speaks 18! In 1993 he started his own company G-Minor which specializes in film post production, sound recording and editing, and is best known for foreign language versioning of films in up to 37 languages. Ray has worked with directors of the likes of Werner Herzog, Mike Figgis, Pedro Almodovar, Alex de la Iglesia, Spike Jonze, Guillermo del Toro, Bigas Luna.
Film Sound – Wednesday, July 23, 16:00, Pula Chamber of Commerce
With 30 years of international experience on over 650 feature films 200+ trailers and posters, working from Cannes and London, John Durie focuses on film marketing (both fiction features and feature-length documentaries) and corporate marketing for film related clients. Established in 1993 Strategic Film Marketing specialises in working with film producers – assisting them in marketing their films with their local theatrical distributor or sales agent. This includes assessment of film projects, securing international sales agents for producers, production of film posters and trailers, production notes, and digital film marketing. SFM also works closely with Film Institutes including developing producer marketing support programmes plus research and strategic analysis of their current and future support schemes. Durie has worked with a variety of directors – Joel and Ethan Coen, Tarantino, Lynch, Almodovar, Mike Leigh, plus many high quality directors throughout Europe.
Film Marketing and Distribution 1 – Thursday, July 24, 17:00, Pula Chamber of Commerce.
Film Marketing and Distribution 2 – Friday, July 25, 16:00, Pula Chamber of Commerce.
Darko Tuskan, as a representative of the Australian trade union Equity – Media & Entertainment Art Alliance (MEAA), will give a lecture on safety to film workers in all sectors of the film industry. In Australia and beyond Tuskan is particularly well known and respected as a senior technical adviser in the field of safety at work in the film industry, carried out according to the standards of the Safety Code and the regulated legal act, working with Occupational Health and Safety and the Film Industry Safety Code, in the Industry framework and the film industry safe work practice directed towards a safer mode of film industry standards. Tuškan is a creative and versatile action director and stunt coordinator with more than 25 years of experience in film industry. He also lectures at Australian film academies. Some of the better known projects he has worked on are: Matrix trilogy, Mission Impossible 2, The Thin Red Line, Iron Sky and many others. As an Australian of Croatian origin he works on national and international projects, and as a 25 year member of the MEAA he is currently serving as the branch Chairman of the National Stunt Grading Committee.
Health and Safety lecture – Sunday, July 20, 15:00, Circolo.
