Mega Plus

Contents

Overall Methodology: MEGA PLUS includes innovative content and methods based on the demand of the industry and on the needs of young European professionals. The curriculum of the 14-week residential training has been designed in modules in order to allow participants acquire the key knowledge and skills that will launch their professional careers.

Structure: MEGA PLUS will tackle the main areas a young producer must be familiar with to enter the competitive and ever changing audiovisual industry.

The subjects covered include:

•Development, script analysis for producers, project packaging, pre-marketing and branding.

•Management of an audiovisual company.

•Digital media, television and feature film budgeting & production.

•Financing strategies and business planning of audiovisual projects.

•Marketing, distribution and exhibition of audiovisual content.

•Legal aspects and business affairs, completion bonds, loans and coproductions

•Digital media and new trends of the industry; opportunities and challenges. New exploitation windows, cross platform creation, branding, social networks, user generated content. Overview of the digital content markets: VOD, video games, mobile content, etc.

The residential training period will be composed of: lectures, evaluations, role plays, simulations, screenings, case studies, conferences, individual meetings and group work exercises. Classes will be on a six hour day, five day week schedule with occasional six day weeks.

Tutorial System

Each participant will be assigned a tutor at the beginning of the course. The tutor will be helping and counselling the participant throughout the programme to support him or her in the assimilation of the curriculum and putting together their project work to build a business plan. Each tutor will be backing up a limited group of participants (usually four or five) during the whole period of the course.

The tutorial system will be composed of various one-to-one sessions of the participants with their Tutor. These sessions are aimed to guide the participants during the whole course supporting them in their professional choices and giving professional guidance on the project work.

The tutors for MEGA PLUS 2010 will be:

-Alvaro Alonso, Jaleo Films, Spain.

-Lars Hermann, Andromeda Pictures and FilmFyn, Denmark.

-Philipp Kreuzer, Bavaria International, Germany.

-Alex Marshall, Warp Films, UK.

-Renate Roginas, Producer and Film Consultant, Germany.

The Project Based Approach

Applicants are invited to apply with a film or television project. Nevertheless, this is not a compulsory element of the selection process as, during the course, participants will have the opportunity to choose the kind of project they may want to develop (e.g. film, TV or digital media project).

Throughout the course participants will be facing choices. All of them will learn how to handle an audiovisual project: how to choose it, how to develop it, how to finance and produce it, how to package and distribute it. Each one of them will have to focus on an audiovisual project business plan exercise. Moreover, being aware of the market changes, we will promote business planning oriented to cross over the exploitation windows and embrace the entire chain of possible revenues sources offered by the audiovisual landscape.

The Business Plan will be produced over the first internship period and finalised and presented to a committee of evaluators during the Final Evaluation Week (December 2010). During the internship, participants will benefit from online website support from their allocated tutor.

Communication Skills: The Art of the Pitch

As a complementary instruction, we will also organise different “Art of the Pitch” sessions through the whole period of the lectures, with different tutors coming from European countries that will give their knowledge fit to each market /cultural environment. Pitching is a cultural issue, and we have to treat it with the right and proper attitude as to all the European integration issues, so it is going to be crucial to get experiences from different countries and industries, paying special attention to the new European Union countries.