February 5, 2021

Hubert Bals Fund appoints interim manager (screendaily.com)

Veteran distribution executive Esther Bannenberg has spoken about her new role at International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF), which supports projects by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe.

Bannenberg will act as interim consultant on distribution and financing matters and will assist in developing and future-proofing the fund’s policy. Her appointment comes as Fay Breeman departs as manager of HBF after four years to take up a new role at regional talent hub The Machinerie in Utrecht.

Bannenberg has long experience in sales and distribution, having held positions at companies including Fortissimo Films, Lumiere and Cinemien. She also runs her own consultancy Toto Cinema, which she founded in 2006.

Alongside Jeske van der Slikke and Fraser White, Bannenberg will run the HBF at least until June when Rotterdam plans to hold the second part of its 50th edition. She will help the fund restructure its distribution activities and will be looking to further develop financing possibilities for the fund. 

Bannenberg couldn’t confirm whether she will be remain in the post beyond June. “It’s too early to tell,” she told Screen. “First, I am going to explore what can be done in terms of distribution and what can be done in terms of financing.”

By: Geoffrey Macnab

Continue Reading at screendaily.com

EAVE unveils five proposals to help film industry’s future (exclusive) (screendaily.com)

EAVE Think Tank started as a group of 20 professionals who gathered in January 2020 to brainstorm 30 potential solutions to boost innovation in the film industry and film funding. After the pandemic struck, a smaller group of nine professionals re-evaluated those 30 solutions and came up with a shortlist of five initiatives.

Then EAVE surveyed 150 professionals in its network and partners to comment on the ideas, offering pros and cons of each.

The five proposals are:

Integrate independent cinemas
Encourage more integrated model of the arthouse sector including production, distribution and exhibition within the same company.

Boost European talent
Suggest the creation of a pan-European talent agency that gives fundamental importance to talent management and career development; securing IP and spearheading early development and packaging of content; all working together in an integrated way.

By: Wendy Mitchell

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Concerns raised over Covid payouts for UK film and TV freelancers (screendaily.com)

UK trade union Bectu confirmed to Screen that while studios including Warner Bros and Netflix have paid crew in full during Covid-induced suspensions, “many other” productions have used the £350 figure.

Bectu also said that some productions are refusing to pay at all during suspensions, but insisting that crew remain under contract and cannot work other jobs.

Furthermore, one ‘Covid rider’ attached to a contract seen by Screen’s sister publication Broadcast, stipulated that contracts can be terminated “with immediate effect” if a production is affected by the pandemic.

The document spells out that if a crew member is personally affected by the virus then a maximum payment of £700 across two weeks is due and if the absence lasts longer than a fortnight, they can be considered “absent due to sickness” and have their contract terminated.

“During the last 12 months a large proportion [of productions] have suspended part of the crew or the entire production for 2 or 3 weeks. Because they are testing all the time, productions are hitting this problem on a regular basis,” said Bectu national secretary Spencer Macdonald.

By: Max Goldbart

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Opinion: Production boom ‘could keep going for years to come’ (if.com.au)

When COVID-19 hit and production came to a sudden halt on most film and TV sets around Australia, things looked grim for the Australian screen sector. But nearly a year down the track, the story is very different. There’s a boom in Australian screen production, and it could keep going for years to come.

For that we can thank first of all the thousands of Australians who work in the screen sector.

Rather than throwing in the towel when productions were halted and financing dried up, Aussie film and TV folk quickly worked out how to reposition and get started again.

Led by the Australian Film Television & Radio School (AFTRS) and Screen Australia, a group of industry professionals quickly developed guidelines for COVID-safe productions.

At the same time, industry leaders alerted the Morrison Government to a major threat: insurers would not provide cover against productions being halted if key cast members caught COVID. In turn, without insurance, screen financiers would not release cash to allow productions to commence.

By: Paul Fletcher

Continue Reading if.com.au

The owner of a sprawling former Marshall Field’s warehouse complex wants to bring a touch of Hollywood to the Northwest Side. (chicagotribune.com)

The owner of a sprawling former Marshall Field’s warehouse complex wants to bring a touch of Hollywood to the Northwest Side.

Knickpoint Ventures, which acquired the 22-acre property at 4000 W. Diversey Ave. in 2018, is in preliminary discussions with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration to create a film production campus that would create hundreds of jobs.

The film operation at The Fields would be a smaller version of the Cinespace Chicago Film Studios campus on the West Side, where TV shows and movies are filmed and produced. If the project moves forward, it could help the city expand film industry jobs at a time when the city faces a long economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

By: Ryan Ori

Continue Reading at chicagotribune.com