EVERY CLOUD GOES TO MIPTV
A MURDER mystery series set in 1920s Melbourne snared strong interest from international distributors at this year’s MipTV in France.
Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox of Byron Bay-based Every Cloud Productions traveled to Cannes in April to present the project, The Phryne Fisher Murder Mystery Series.
“The main focus of our trip was to present our 13 x 1hr television series to the market,” Fiona said.
“We used MipTV as an opportunity to introduce our new company Every Cloud to the international market place and get a sense of what types of projects the various International distributors were interested in.“
Fiona and Deb, the team behind East of Everything series 1 & 2, also used the market as an opportunity to monitor how Indigo Film And Television were going with sales for East of Everything 1 & 2 and to build on contacts made from attending Mipcom in 2007.
Fiona said there was an overall focus in the market on transmedia and format programs at this year’s Mip TV.
Given tight schedules, she advised anyone considering attending MipTV to set up as many meetings as possible before attending the market.
Tim Phillips at Screen Australia provided Every Cloud Productions with the details of many of the distributors he thought might be interested in Phryne.
“We tried to schedule as many meetings within the first few days of the market as many of the major players leave the market early and you are more likely to have spontaneous meetings towards the end of the market,” Fiona said.
“The reality is everyone is there to work, so it is still worthwhile to follow up leads while you are there because people will squeeze you in if they can.
“We started the process of contacting various sales agents 5 weeks out from the market. Via email we introduced the company, the most market ready project and ourselves. “
Every Cloud Productions prepared supporting materials to take to the marketplace which included: Internationally tailored concept document; draft preliminary finance plan; overview production and delivery dates; internationally skewed casting ideas with photos and an internationally tailored glossy flyer.
Fiona said having the support of a domestic broadcaster was crucial to giving any market ready project credibility.
“We would also suggest that before the market it is a good idea to get online and view the various distributors’ catalogs. It is very useful in meetings to be able to link your project to something in their catalog as it gives them an immediate picture of were they might place your show in the market,” Fiona said.
“We also found the advice and contacts from established producers invaluable. The Screen Australia stand and drinks and various hosted dinners provided good networking opportunities to exchange market place information with fellow Australian Producers. “
Since returning from MipTV, Every Cloud productions has followed up each of its meetings via email and has forwarded scripts, casting lists and the project’s bible.
“We now have offers on the table and the start, we hope, of many good and potential ongoing relationships.”
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