Rather than a deterrent, the credit crisis was the incentive behind Danielle Guirguis' new production outfit, Cielo Film, she tells Nick Cunningham
The current financial climate may deter most fledgling producers from a future in independent film production, but not so Danielle Guirguis, who is in Rotterdam banging the drum for her new Amsterdam-based outfit Cielo Film. “Maybe the credit crunch is actually my incentive to start the company right now,” she says. “But basically it has to do with me personally. I have been working with other producers for six years, and I really feel that now is the time to do my own thing.”
Guirguis is developing three commercial arthouse, or “smarthouse”, projects at the moment that span romcom and social drama genres. “I love smart and intelligent romantic comedies and, after the local success of Alles is liefde [Love Is All, 2007] you can see that there is a Dutch audience for them,” she points out. Guirguis is also looking to package a drama set in Amsterdam's disadvantaged Bijlmer neighbourhood.
In town ostensibly to identify potential international co-production partners, Guirguis is also keen to work with fellow Dutch producers to earn the credits that will qualify her for Netherlands Film Fund production support. In her first year, she will supplement her income by offering her services as a freelance marketing consultant. “It is hard to start as a producer in this country if you want to pay your rent,” she stresses. “But I see a gap in the Dutch production market where there are few new producers coming through. The major producers in Holland are the same ones that were producing ten years ago.”
It was with two of these established producers that Guirguis cut her industry teeth. “San Fu Maltha [Fu Works] picked me up from the University of Amsterdam, where I was studying communication sciences,” she comments. “Back then he was still involved in distribution with A-Film and, even though I worked for his company as a marketing and PR assistant, I was given the opportunity to learn about the broad spectrum of film. That was my film school. Later, I was asked by Hans de Weers [Eyeworks] to be his assistant, where I was able to pick up my own projects and eventually become head of international co-productions and marketing.”
Guirguis intends to apply this marketing savvy in identifying audiences for her future productions. “There are many potential opportunities to address your audience in non-traditional ways,” she explains. “Of course, you want to do a theatrical release, but there are many other new distribution platforms, such as social networking and the internet, and very wide audiences out there that can be captured in more creative ways.”