European Short Pitch 2016 - 10th edition

Call for short film projects

Application deadline – 30th of September 2015

European Short Pitch is an initiative aimed at promoting the European coproduction of short films. It combines a scriptwriting workshop in residency and a coproduction forum bringing together scriptwriters, directors and industry professionals from all over Europe.

Selected on the basis of their short film projects, 20 European talents gather to discuss, rewrite, and learn to promote their stories on a European level with the support of 5 tutors. They eventually pitch their projects in front of a panel of 55 producers, financiers, buyers, and distributors.

European Short Pitch aims to bring young European talents into the spotlight, give them a high-end promotion opportunity, and develop short film coproduction in Europe. This initiative is about enhanced economic viability and European visibility for short film projects.

From the previous editions (2007-2015), around 200 projects were presented that have resulted so far in the making of 75 short films – many of them having a very successful international career.

Who can apply?

European Short Pitch is open to creative teams developing international short film projects. It is therefore open to writers, directors, and producers.

Writer-directors developing a project on their own are very welcome to participate in the programme. Yet it is strongly advised to already have nationally a production company interested or attached to the project, especially at the time of the coproduction forum (2nd -6th March 2016).

The author(s) of the script has to be between 18 and 35 years of age on the closing date of the call for projects (30th of September 2015). His/her nationality or country of residence should be one of the member countries of the Creative Europe Programme (European Union + Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Iceland, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway and Turkey). European Short Pitch will also select up to 3 projects from non-member countries of the Creative Europe Programme where NISI MASA has a member organisation: Kosovo, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.

Applicants must confirm their availability for the different sessions. The working language of European Short Pitch is English; thus, a good knowledge of English is essential in order to participate.

Scriptwriting workshop, coproduction forum & on-line session

European Short Pitch is composed of a scriptwriting workshop in residency, a coproduction forum, and an on-line session in between.

The scriptwriting workshop in residency will take place from the 11th till the 17th of January 2016 in Vilnius, Lithuania, in partnership with the Lithuanian Film Centre. Participants will be in groups of four projects, with a tutor heading the process. For five days, they will work intensively on their projects, also giving feedback on other participants’ projects, alternating collective &  group sessions, one to one sessions with the tutor, and a lecture on an initiation to pitching. One session with a guest producer will introduce participants to European short film coproduction.

The aim of this first session is to enhance the quality of the script and to prepare participants to promote their projects in an international context.

The on-line session (from 18th of January till 22nd of February 2016) represents an opportunity for participants to rewrite their scripts following the scriptwriting workshop, and to get up to two feedback sessions from their tutors. In parallel, participants will prepare materials for the Book of Projects, and suggest names of professionals they would like European Short Pitch to invite for the coproduction forum.

The aim of this second session is to have a final script ready for the coproduction forum. On the 22nd of February 2016 at the latest, participants have to submit their final script, so that it can be made available – along with the Book of Projects – to invited professionals ten days prior to the coproduction forum.

The coproduction forum will take place from the 2nd till the 6th of March 2016 in Luxembourg as part of Luxembourg City Film Festival in partnership with LARS. Participants will have one day to prepare and rehearse their pitching with their tutors. The pitching, in the presence of invited professionals, will take place on the 4th of March, in two sessions of two hours each, each project having 7 minutes – questions included. One-to-one meetings (25 minutes long) with professionals will start in the afternoon of the 4th, and will continue the morning after. On the evening of the 4th an award ceremony will take place, with three prizes of 1000 Euros each for the Best Pitches (based on the votes of invited professionals) and for the second year in a row, two in kind post-production awards offered by Espera Productions, one for 3500€ and one for 7500€, will be handed out by a jury headed by the representatives of the Luxembourgish postproduction house, Espera Productions.

The aim of this third session is to create a platform of promotion for the projects selected, to encourage encounters and collaborations between film professionals and to initiate short film coproductions.

Participation fees

The participation fee for each project is 500 Euros. The fee covers the tutorship costs, the travel costs, the accommodation and subsistence for both on-location sessions. One person per project is covered by European Short Pitch. However, upon prior agreement, an extra person per project shall be admitted – he/she will have to cover his/her own travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.

How to apply?

Before the application deadline (30th of September 2015, midnight C.E.T.), applicants have to send a zip file (named after the title of the project) to europeanshortpitch@nisimasa.com and aleksandra@nisimasa.com containing:

– The completed Application Form;

– The script in English (there’s no word-count limitation – however European Short Pitch is designed for short film projects of an estimated length inferior to 30 minutes);

– The script in the original language (many languages being read and understood by our preselecting reading committee & jury, we may consider the original version as well);

– CVs of the people involved creatively in the project (author/writer, director & producer);

– A presentation of the production company attached (if applicable).

Applicants may present audiovisual works for consideration (either previous ones of the creative team or preparatory work made for the project presented). Only works available online will be considered (link to be provided in the application form).

The scripts must be entirely original; borrowing, in any way whatsoever, of any pre-existing work protected by copyright or any other legal protection, or violating the rights of third parties is not permitted.

Read more:

http://www.nisimasa.com/esp-call-2016/