The Rotterdam Lab is a networking opportunity for young producers on a massive scale – and much more besides. Geoffrey Macnab looks forward to the tenth anniversary event
67 young producers are due to arrive in Rotterdam this weekend with scripts in their back pockets to take part in the tenth anniversary edition of the Rotterdam Lab. They’ll spend five days learning how to survive and prosper in the hothouse atmosphere of a film market.
How do you approach a sales agent? How do you piece together an international co-production? How do you pitch? What is the secret of getting your film into a festival? What are the perils in the post-production process? These are some of the questions that will be addressed during the intensive five-day Lab. There will be panel sessions, speed dating sessions, coaching sessions, lunches, cocktails and even a special 10th-anniversary dinner on Saturday night.
In 2001, when the Lab was launched, there were less than 20 participants, chosen by four international partner organisations. A decade on, the Rotterdam Lab is as intrinsic a part of Rotterdam as the Hubert Bals Fund or the VPRO Tiger Awards competition. Rotterdam Lab co-ordinator Jacobine van der Vloed points out that the Lab was founded because of the festival’s “need to find emerging talent.”
Epic opportunity
Up-and-coming producers from all over the world will be in town this week for what is – at the very least – a networking opportunity on an epic scale. “The main idea behind this is to build up relationships not only for us [the festival] but also for them [the delegates]. It is to create an environment for people who haven’t been to a bigger festival and to make it easier for them,” Van der Vloed suggests.
Many young producers who’ve attended Rotterdam for the first time to take part in the Lab have subsequently returned, either with CineMart projects or with films in the main festival programme. The roll of honour includes Erik Hemmendorff (Sweden) of Platform Produktion who attended the Lab in 2006, returned a year later to present Ruben Ostlund’s Involuntary in CineMart and was then back in Rotterdam in 2009 for the film’s festival screening. Van der Vloed suggests that Hemmendorff was relatively shy when he first arrived in Rotterdam. “He is still shy, but he manages in his own way,” she suggests of the enterprising and successful young Swede.
Evolution
A Lab 'graduate' last year was Australian producer Paul Sullivan of Benchmark Films, who is back in Rotterdam to present CineMart project A Life Half Lived by Denie Pentecost. Meanwhile, delegates also strike up alliances with one another. Last year, Antoine Simkine of Les Films D’Antoine in France met Jean-Yves Roubin of FraKas Productions in Belgium. Now, they are working together on Hors Les Murs, directed by David Lambert. “That is how it evolves,” Van der Vloed reflects.
The Lab is truly international with 21 international partners, film agencies ranging from the Singapore Film Commission to Scottish Screen. The idea is that these agencies will fund the attendance of delegates from their territory. This year, reflecting IFFR’s emphasis on Africa, the festival’s Hubert Bals Fund has supported the participation in the Lab of three African filmmakers: Emily Wanja (Kenya), Alberto Manuel Sona Botelho (Angola) and Paul Lwanga Jr (Zambia). The mood among participants is collegiate. They generally create their own social networking page, and there will be Rotterdam Lab reunions at other festivals. Seasoned industry professionals with packed Rotterdam diaries have invariably been willing to make time for Lab sessions. After all, they are as keen as the festival itself to identify new talent. “They see it as a benefit,” Van der Vloed says. “It’s their future as well. These sales agents and producers need to have new projects in the future.”
Intimate
Representatives from sales outfits such as Fortissimo, Strand Releasing, the Coproduction Office and TrustNordisk will be passing on advice on sales and distribution. Financiers and even critics will be sharing their expertise. Eurimages Executive Director Roberto Olla will be making a presentation. The delegates will learn practical tips from in-depth case studies of “post-production management” on the film Altiplano. They will also get to grips with the complexities of Latin-American/European coproduction through a case study of Tiger competitor Agua fría de mar.
With close to 70 delegates from over 20 countries, the Lab is near to full capacity. “I’d say it is about the maximum,” Van der Vloed suggests. “67 is not intimate, but it is still possible to get to meet everybody. That’s what CineMart is about. It’s 800 people, but we try to create an informal and intimate atmosphere. And this is what we want to create with the Rotterdam Lab as well.”
More on the Rotterdam Lab.