Script&Pitch
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SCRIPT&PITCH INSIGHTS // // 3 // Index Foreword 5 Biographies 7 Le quattro volte - the journey of an Italian ‘maa-sterpiece’ 11 Matthieu Darras The Pixel Lab: Final Report 53 Rosie Lavan Writing and Directing Across Media 71 Christy Dena Innovation in storytelling and audience engagement 79 Brian Newman Script&Pitch Insights //3 2010/2011 Some notes on pitching & project presentation 87 Franz Rodenkirchen Edited by Valeria Richter, Denmark Published by TorinoFilmLab, Savina Neirotti, Italy More than words. Challenging the traditional written screenplay 93 Eva Novrup Redvall Design by Flarvet, Italy All rights reserved. Which role can the composer play in the creation of a movie? 107 No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever Kåre Bjerkø without written permission from the authors and/or TorinoFilmLab; except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or as a reference. To change, or not to change - is that the question? 113 Franz Rodenkirchen ©The lectures remain copyright of their individual authors. Storytelling and discomfort 125 Antoine Bataille www.torinofilmlab.it // Foreword Script&Pitch Workshops is now a fully integrated part of the TorinoFilmLab group and therefore Insights is changing its “colours” too in order to celebrate this natural step in its development. In 2010 TorinoFilmLab entered a collaborative partnership with London-based cross- media specialists Power to the Pixel, as we are convinced that the new digital op- portunities and challenges – in narration and distribution - faced not solely by inde- pendent films and filmmakers, but by all storytellers and media, are a natural part of what TFL is about: a passion for stories, for sharing and for spreading the works to the right audiences. The roads towards reaching and communicating with possible audiences multiply and diversify rapidly these years and we need to explore them from every angle. TFL Training - Script&Pitch introduced a new workshop this year: Writer’s Room, which takes part alongside the script development, yet creates a dif- ferent group dynamic as the participants and tutors develop one transmedia project in collaboration with its author. It has been a tremendously fruitful experience and we hope to present you with stories and insights about this in the next 2012 digital edition. We also introduced Audience Designers into the script development groups to urge the discussion about audience engagement and management for independ- ent filmmakers: what steps can we take to build and reach audiences, niche and wide, during the development and scriptwriting phases? This is a topic we will also keep in focus for 2012. We thank The Pixel Lab 2010 for letting us share their Final Report with you, and invite you to dive into any one of our nine contributions, journeying across the pages from Australia to the US, from Denmark across Germany to France, they present insights into scriptwriting, pitching, audience engagement, music and much more! In this edition we are particularly happy to give you a presentation of, and interviews about, one of the most successful TFL-supported projects: Le quattro volte by Michelangelo Frammartino, produced by Vivo film. Once again, we thank all our contributors for sharing their ideas and reflections with us. We always welcome suggestions from Alumni, participants, staff and our many guest tutors, so do not hesitate if you wish to contribute to the next book. Please enjoy the 3rd printed edition, which we proudly place in your hands! Valeria Richter - Editor & Project Development Manager Savina Neirotti - Director of TorinoFilmLab 4 5 SCRIPT & PITCH - INSIGHTS // 3 //Biographies Antoine Bataille Antoine Bataille is a freelance script editor based in Paris and specialized in feature films. He graduated in philosophy at UMB (Strasbourg) and film theory at Denis- Diderot University (Paris). His theoretic works find an echo among script editing, particularly through the questions of script analysis methodology as well as con- temporary narrative landscapes. Kåre Bjerkø Kåre Bjerkø (*1965) is a Danish composer, music producer, actor, songwriter and among other things also plays the organ. He has a very broad list of work behind him so far, and has written music for many plays, TV and films, among them the world’s first theatre-concert: Gasolin, and the films, Terribly Happy (US remake underway), for which he won a special-Bodil award and Little Soldier. He has often spoken about how film music can become an asset that supports the story development during the scriptwriting phase, instead of being one of the last elements added to the film. Matthieu Darras Matthieu Darras is the founder and director of NISI MASA, the European network of young cinema. He has been working as programmer for various film festivals (Alba, Bratislava, Cannes Critics’ Week, San Sebastian) and been writing for the film maga- zine Positif for over ten years. He scouts and selects projects for the TorinoFilmLab. Christy Dena Christy Dena is an experience designer, writer and director. She has worked on (dig- ital) Emmy nominated projects, consulted with filmmakers around the world, and is currently developing her own web-based audio comedy drama and web entertain- ment service. Her company site is at www.UniverseCreation101.com 6 7 SCRIPT & PITCH - INSIGHTS // 3 Rosie Lavan Rosie Lavan is a freelance journalist from London and the principal writer on Power to the Pixel’s The Pixel Report. A graduate of Oxford University, where she currently holds a postgraduate scholarship, she has worked for The Times and in the House of Lords, and in 2009 she was named a finalist in Vogue magazine’s Talent Contest for Young Writers. Brian Newman Brian Newman is the founder of Sub-Genre Media, helping filmmakers and organi- zations to distribute content and connect with audiences and achieve greater im- pact through innovative uses of new technology. Brian was most recently CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI), and has been the executive director of Renew Media and IMAGE Film & Video Center. He speaks regularly on new media, audience develop- ment and the future of the industry, and contributes to a blog on these subjects at Springboardmedia. Eva Novrup Redvall Eva Novrup Redvall is Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies at the University of Copenhagen. She holds a PhD on screenwriting as a creative process, focusing on collaborations between directors and screenwriters. Since 1999 she has served as a film critic and she organized the annual conference on academic screenwriting research in Copenhagen, 2010 and is currently working on a Postdoctoral project funded by The Danish Research Council on the screenwriting of Danish television drama series. Franz Rodenkirchen Franz Rodenkirchen (*1963) is an international Story Editor and Tutor. Franz has been working as a story editor on mostly international film projects for over 10 years, predominantly with writer-directors. He also gives workshops on alternative ap- proaches to script editing and is a tutor in various development programs. 8 9 SCRIPT & PITCH - INSIGHTS // 3 Le quattro volte - the journey of an Italian ‘maa-sterpiece’ // Matthieu Darras More than by its rules or its mission statement, a Film Lab develops its identity from the films it has supported. The luck of TorinoFilmLab was to host the ‘ideal project’, the one that exactly defines - and reinforces - the many ambitions of the initiative, from its first year of existence in 2008. What better film to express the dedication of TFL at accompanying emerging talents in the exploration of new cinematographic territories than Le quattro volte? A Lab is like a research centre that constantly aims to reinvent the ways of approaching and making cinema. The interviews following, given by the director Michelangelo Frammartino and the producer Marta Donzelli, clearly indicate that these considerations were at the core of the creative process that led to the making of Le quattro volte. In addition they indirectly reveal the importance for TFL not only to enhance the quality and viability of projects, but also to focus on people. What makes the difference for us is when participants view TFL as a community to which they belong and within which they can grow professionally. Le quattro volte was already a model in its production; it then became a success story following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2010. Sold to dozens of countries and awarded prizes in at least as many festivals (as detailed in the following pages), the ‘little film about goats’ was unanimously lauded by critics from all over the world (Jonathan Romney of the British film magazine Sight & Sound even humorously declared it a ‘maa-sterpiece’ – cf. “Press Selection”). This result is not as unexpected as it may seem at first. It is the consequence of an exceptionally humble attitude shown by both the director and producers, for whom the notion of risk has constantly been tied up with the ones of financial consistency and relation to the audience. The TorinoFilmLab very much recognises itself in Le quattro volte; we are very happy and proud for having somehow contributed to this Italian film adventure! 10 11 SCRIPT & PITCH - INSIGHTS // 3 LE Quattro volte - THE journey OF AN Italian ‘maa-sterpiece’ Interview Marta Donzelli the die was cast; we started to work For Michelangelo images always come with many filmmakers: some of them before words. We were immediately already established such as Jean-Louis captured and for us, especially for When did you found your production respects by chance. I cannot tell you Comolli, Daniele Vicari, Corso Salani, Gregorio, it was a “coup de Coeur”. We company, Vivo film? precisely what we had in mind in terms some younger and taking their first wanted to produce that film! Gregorio Paonessa and I founded Vivo of authors to work with, I can tell you steps, such as Chiara Malta, Susanna film in 2004.