Cannes 2023: what you should know before you go

As I'm writing this, the countdown for Cannes 2023 is on. People are making their plans, hoping to make the connections that will push their project forward. If you are thinking of attending, take a few moments to work out what you want to achieve and how to actually achieve it. 

A few things to remember and a few things to do:

• Remember that the Cannes festival is mostly a trade fair for producers, distributors and financiers. Scriptwriters do attend, but not much is done for them. The exception is the French organisation Maison des Scénaristes (Writers' House) which organises interviews, get-togethers and offers a place to meet. All languages are welcome.
• Set your priorities: do you want to meet producers, find co-producers, meet talent or announce an upcoming movie or career change?
• Are you looking for local contacts or do you want to reach out to other countries? Most European movies are international co-productions. This expands your possibilities.
• Draw up a list of people you want to reach out to. You'll find most of them in the Film Market database and/or Cinando.
• Work that pitch until you can give 3-, 5 and 7 minute versions comfortably. Practice on everyone you know. 
• Start sending those e-mails, and personalise them.
• Check if your country is hosting a pavilion and if you can register there (handy for meetings).
• If you manage to get a meeting, keep it short and punchy - these people are busy and appreciate people that get to the point. 
• Remember that it is extremely unlikely that you will get a firm commitment at Cannes. What you are aiming to achieve is the permission to get back to the producers or directors after Cannes. 
• Fill every free moment by attending interviews, workshops, presentations, etc. It's tempting, but skip actual screenings. They take a lot of time and it's unlikely that you will meet the right people there. Plus, you can catch them at home later anyway.
• Don't give up! If things are going badly, you'll have time to moan later at home. Go check another reception or happy hour on the German pavilion - just don't drink too much.

Further resources: 

• Should I pay to access the Cannes Film Market?
• The Cannes Starter Guide (full e-book)

Tales from the script

I just came across this tasty trailer on Twitter (don't forget to follow Cannes or Bust for movie and music biz news). Shane Black ("Lethal Weapon"), John Carpenter ("Halloween"), Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption"), William Goldman ("The Princess Bride"), Paul Schrader ("Taxi Driver"), and dozens of other Hollywood screenwriters share hilarious anecdotes and penetrating insights in Peter Hansons "Tales from the Script," which is billed as "the most comprehensive documentary ever made about screenwriting". By analyzing their triumphs and recalling their failures, the participants explain how successful writers develop the skills necessary for toughing out careers in one of the world's most competitive industries.

I don't know when it will be released, nor where.

Slumdog Millionaire: the writer's review

If you haven't seen "Slumdog Millionaire" yet, I can but join the people recommending that you do so. It is very much the film of the season, matching only "Gomorra" in terms of intensity and scope.

The film is based on Vikas Swarup's book "Q&A", adapted by Simon Beaufoy (the writer of "The Full Monty"). As The Script Factory points out, the movie is an absolute masterclass in the use of the flashback. Trevor Johnston has posted a review of the movie on their site. But do yourself a favour, only read the review after seeing the movie.

Meanwhile, the shooting script has been published with notes from Danny Boyle and an intro from Beaufoy. The book is interesting as there are some minor differences between the script and the final edit.

UK's Screenwriter Magazine becomes 12 Point.com

Screenwriter Magazine, perhaps the leading screenwriting magazine in Europe (with France's la Gazette des Scénaristes) is entering the digital age as TwelvePoint.com. From July 1, the magazine has become an online site and is (alas) no longer being printed. The new site will include the articles produced by Screenwriter, as well as all the bells and whistles you would expect of a website. This includes tips and an "ask the agent" section for subscribers as well as the inevitable forum.

If you move fast, you can pick up a free 10-day subscription. Check the site here.

European cinema on the rise in Europe

We're so used to bad news generally, that I suppose this counts as good news. According to figures released by Europe's Audiovisual Observatory, the share of European films in European cinemas last year was 28.8%, up by 0.2% This is against a background of slightly falling attendance of 1.3%.

The rise comes from a greater number of films produced in Europe, 921 against 911 last year. Increased production in France, Spain and Italy contributed significantly to overall growth. "With a total of 133 entirely national films (+6) and 52 majority co-productions (+15), France registered the second highest production level of the past five years, up 21 films from the previous year. Spanish production levels hit a record high, increasing 9% to 115 entirely national films (+6) and 30 majority co-productions (+6). Continuing its upward trend Italy counted a total of 109 ‘national’ films split into 93 national (+3) and 16 majority co-productions (+4). In contrast, production figures declined strongly in Hungary and Sweden, falling by -18 and -16 respectively. However in both cases this represents a return to more normal levels against a background of exceptional production activity in 2006," according o the Observatory.

It's interesting as the distribution situation in Spain and Italy is very difficult. So I just have to conclude that it's very difficult to stop film production!

The top 5 European films last year were: "Harry Potter", "la Môme", "Taxi 4", "Hot Fuzz" and "El Orfanato". Get the full press release on the Observatory site.

This article is quoted on Carnival of Cinema.

European writers create manifesto

While the American writers' kettle has come to the boil in the form of the WGA strike, European writers are continuing their own struggle for broader acceptance and understanding of their work. The Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe (FSE) has created an online manifesto that contains the most important of their demands. They range from the very basic - that writers be more fully recognised as the author of the work and that festivals and institutions actually name the writers in their programs - to the touchy issue of "possessory credit" (producers or directors taking undue shares of the writing credits) and "fair payment for every form of exploitation". The latter refers notably to the growing online download services.

The FSE represents the writing guilds of the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and other countries. Find out more about it on the FSE website.

No movie downloads from here yet

I had thought of offering movie downloads from the site, which is an exciting development on the web. The theory is that we can break the distribution bottleneck and allow anyone anywhere to download material. But the dispute in the US between representatives of the producers and writers turned up a little detail that bothers me: the writers are getting paid peanut shells for DVDs and downloads!

Unlike the rest of the world, where writers retain authors' rights and therefore benefit to a modest degree in the use of a work (notably through the sale of DVDs and now downloads), this is not quite the case for the US. And the writers are rightly questioning this. So until they come to some sort of agreement, I don't feel comfortable promoting downloads of movies. Shame, as it is the way to go.

10th screenwriters fest in France

The 10th screenwriters festival will be held in Bourges, France between March 28 and April 1. Guest of honour this year is Nicole Garcia, and a special event will celebrate music in film. Yet traditionally one of the most interesting aspects of the festival is the criée des scénaristes - writers' auction - which gives writers 10 minutes to pitch their projects. It's a hairy undertaking but a great experience. Another regular is the short film writing marathon.

The festival also features workshops, seminars and readings. For full details, visit ScenarioauLongCourt.com.
Nicole Garcia sur Amazon FR

European cinema attendance and local films on the rise

Provisional figures from the European Audiovisual Observatory show that cinema attendance has grown over the past year, with local cinema finding more audiences. Total admissions in the 25 member states of the European Union rose by around 4% in relation to the preceding year, with 17 out of the 20 countries for which data is available registering a positive change. In major markets, Germany and France saw increases of over 7%. Spain and the UK were down somewhat. The most impressive gains were in Lithuania (+98%) while Estonia (+40.2%) and Latvia (+22.7%) also showed impressive increases. Double-digit growth was registered in Austria (+10.6%), the Czech Republic (+21.4%), Finland (+11.5%) and Slovenia (+10.8%), whilst preliminary results in the Slovak Republic (+ 54.3%) are the best since 1998.

The market share of local films also brought good news. France leads the way with 45%, only slightly less than the figure for US films (45.8%). Germany had the highest national market share since analyses began in 1991. Other countries reporting improved market shares for domestic films included Finland, where local films accounted for 23% of admissions, up from 15% in 2005 and the best result since 1999. Three out of sixteen domestic titles released during the year claimed a place in the annual Top 10, led by Aleksi Mäkelä's ski jump champion biopic "Matti - Hell is for Heroes" (photo). Domestic films also figured in the Top 10 in Estonia, where the success of two children's titles, animation "Lotte from Gadgetville" (an Estonian-Latvian co-production) and comedy "Ruudi" (an Estonian-Finnish-German co-production), brought national market share to just over 9%. In Slovenia the 10% market share registered is the highest since records began. Other Central and Eastern European countries registering improved national market shares included the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

Writers' site covers Italian screenwriting

I must admit that I don't follow the writing scene in Italy that much any more, mea culpa. Yet Italy still has a strong tradition of screenwriting, where the writer is recognised as playing an entirely dfferent role to the director (unlike France and Belgium). So directors often actively seek out writers with which to work.

To keep in touch, I recommend spending some time on the Italian screenwriters' site Sceneggiatori.com. It acts as a good source of information concerning writers' groups, workshops, articles, competitions and relevant screenwriting news in Italian. It also features a catalogue of available scripts and a busy messageboard (with a section in English just dying for some input).

Oscar Moore competition: "none merit the prize"

The Oscar Moore Foundation organises one of Europe's most respected screenwriting competitions. One of its particularities is to set a theme each year, 2006 being comedy. In a surprise announcement, however, chairwoman Anne Marie Flynn said in a statement: "This year, though a number of scripts were deemed notable either for the quality of writing or originality of premise, it was our final opinion that none reached the requisite quality to merit the prize."

This must be a crunching disappointment to the people that sent them in. It's also an embarassment for the Foundation itself (the awards night, set for April 20, will now be a quiz night). But it must be said that the Foundation is making a hard but ultimately commendable decision to maintain some sort of quality control. It is widely recognised that many scripts in Europe are being rushed into production without having had adequate development. If a Foundation devoted to high levels of writing allows its standards to slip, who will respect them?

One issue the Foundation might want to take on board, however, is the visibility of the Oscar Moore competition. Despite its association with Screen International, the competition is simply not well enough known. Also as the submissions are in English, there are literally thousands of scripts out there that don't qualify. Comedy is particularly strong right now in France, Germany and perhaps Spain. Would the writers have to patch together a translation to enter? That's hardly the ideal solution.

We'll post the announcement of next year's theme when we receive it.

Belgian online mag celebrates 100th issue

Ten years ago, the magazine Cinergie was struggling as a print magazine. It decided to dump paper and focus on providing an online news mag with interviews and comments on the Belgian scene. Ten years later, they are still going strong (75,000 visitors a month) and are planning to start showing short movies online starting with Marie-Laure Guisset's award-winning "Home Sweet Gnome".

In an interview for their partner publication Cineuropa, editorJean-Michel Vlaeminckx says, "In a way, we are like Belgian cinema: a maximum of ideas with a minimum of money." The Belgian Touch - low-key, off-beat movies done on shoestring budgets - has generated considerable press over the past few years. Yet Vlaeminckx echoes Screenplay Europe's wish for a broader impact for creativity. "You know, when incredible films like 'L'Avventura', 'la Dolce vita', 'Breathless', 'Monika' appeared and changed the cinema landscape… Those actors were popular and had a real audience, and they revolutionized cinema. But because of audiovisual formatting, and the fact that the rotation of films in theatres is quicker and quicker (mega profits need to be made in a very short lapse of time) and television has become the forced partner of cinema [and] is imposing its consensual norms, European cinema has lost some of its vitality."

To read the full interview (in English, French, Italian or Spanish), visit Cineuropa. For the 100th issue of Cinergie (in French), click here. This month's featured movie is Fiona Gordon and Dominque Abel's "Iceberg".

Screenplay Europe in your language

For a site that welcomes script news from across the continent, Screenplay Europe is surprisingly mono-lingual. We have to make a choice. Running even a smallish site like this takes considerable time. If we had to translate every item, we would write less. For a quick translation of our news items, we have added a link on the menu on the right (scroll down).

If you have comments about any of the items, feel free to make them in English, French, Italian or Dutch.

UK Writer and Gazette des Scénaristes become pen pals

In a spirit that Screenplay Europe has been trying to promote for a year now, two of Europe's foremost scriptwriting magazines are sharing articles. The remarkable "Gazette des scénaristes" and "UK Writer" are published by the French and British writers' unions respectively. The latest issue of the Gazette, which deals with love, sex and how to represent them on screen, comes with an article from UK Writer. Cross-pollination of this kind is all too rare, despite the fact that France is a major co-producer with most of the other European cinemas.

Although distribution of the Gazette could best be described as "confidentiel" even in France, it can now be ordered from the writers house Dixit.

The Writers Guild
Union Guilde des Scénaristes
To order the Gazette.

Italian screenwriters' site revamped

Sceneggiatori.com, Italy's foremost website for scriptwriters, has been revamped in a clean, new PHP style. The site has been the best source of Italian screenwriting news for some time, with a lively message board (including a section in English), a section on writing contests, writing articles, some feature and short scripts and links. It's always interesting, of course, to get writers' opinions on Italian cinema - and the news isn't always that good. Italian cinema has been going through a very rough time recently. Concerning scriptwriting, it might come as no surprise that one of the main complaints is a lack of awareness about the craft - that and the lack of development. Sound familiar? Drop by here: http://www.sceneggiatori.com

In further Italian-related news, the Capalbio International Short Film festival will be kicking off July 6-10 in Rome. The festival this year will feature the Premio Mini Award, a section for video clips and a new award for animated shorts. Details will be announced on June 30 when you can find them on the Capalbio website.

TASTE: Developing scripts for European audiences

It is widely recognised that not enough European movies get distributed outside their home country. So a number of bodies have come together to creat TASTE, a programme specifically about developing scripts for European audiences. "TASTE offers a close look at the development process of European films that have been successful in recent years. Screenwriters and producers of films such as "Good Bye Lenin!", "Italian for beginners", "Le goût des autres" and "My Life Without Me" will be present to explain the first development stages of their films."

The TASTE seminar takes place from the 15 to 17th of July 2005 in Valencia. Registration deadline is 30th of May. Before you ask, the programme costs €500 and Valencia can be reached by low-cost airlines. For more information and applications, visit Taste.

"Goodbye Lenin" on Amazon UK

"Italian for Beginners" (REGION 1) (NTSC)

"Le goût des autres/The Taste of Others" on Amazon FR

Celtx writing software: new beta update

There are alternatives to the ubiquitous Final Draft. In Canada, Greyfirst has been developing a clean, new tool called Celtx. As well as doing all the usual things a scriptwriting tool should do, Celtx is very focussed on the collaborative side. It enables writers to post scripts to a server for downloading, sharing and re-writing by their partners. It is available in a number of languages (the latest being Finnish, with German in the works). The new update is beta version 0.8.8 - "so we're getting closer to a 1.0 release," says Stephen Pick. For the many writers that are struggling with formatting MS Word and are hesitating before paying for professional scriptwriting software, it's worth noting that Celtx is free and comes in PC and Mac versions. Click the logo or click on Celtx.

Danny Boyle and John Crowley offer writers chance to write new feature films

This is something that is close to the heart of Screenplay Europe. Directors Danny "Trainspotting" Boyle and John "Intermission" Crowley (one of our favourites) are looking to find scripts from writers with agent representation or who are members of the Writers Guild of Great Britain. The UK Film Council’s Development Fund is behind the idea, which aims to "bring together teams with a unified creative and market vision from the outset, so that the resulting projects stand in particularly strong position further down the line – and with a good chance of actually getting made". I-ree!

Rather us than detailing the whys, hows and wherefores, visit the UK Film Council's site.

John Crowley on Amazon UK
Danny Boyle on Amazon UK
Danny Boyle on Amazon US

Cinecittà News Bites: Reports from Italy

The legendary Cinecittà studios outside Rome have become a spokesman for Italian cinema over the years. In addition to running a good bilingual news service from their site, they also now produce filmed news reports in English called Cinecittà New Bites. Issue n° 5 covers the impact of the Pope's death on cinema attendance (bad), Italy's presence at the recent Monte Carlo festival and Italians films in the UK (both good). To check it out, visit Cinecittà News Bites.

Réservoir Scripts: Last call for Cannes

To break through some of the barriers between writers, producers and directors, a bunch of scriptwriters from six countries have come together to present 100 projects as a magazine called "Réservoir Scripts" at Cannes.

The projects consist of: a short pitch, a synopsis and an extract. All this on two A4 pages (font Courier New 12). There is still some room for anyone that can get us material by the end of this week (March 18).

This a non-commercial venture, in that the writers have nothing to pay. Submissions by invitation only to the e-mail address below. The site is currently in French, but we can guide you through the process of posting and participating.

Reservoir Scripts features writers from France (largely), Belgium, English and French-speaking Canada, the US and Ireland.

Email: writestuff(AT)chello.be French-speakers can request invitations directly from the site.