© BROTHERHOOD by Francesco Montagner - EURODOC project 2018 - Produced by Katerina Traburova (Nutprodukce, CZ) coproduced by Nefertiti Film and Rai Cinema - LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL (Switzerland) 2021 - Cineasti del Presente Competition – Pardo d’Oro Award

The primary mission of EURODOC is the organization of a yearly training program for producers with a creative documentary project in the development stage. It is also open to professionals involved in the support of documentary film production. 

The yearly training is organized in 3 one-week residential sessions (in 3 different European countries), spread over one year. 

The intense nature of the working process contributes to fostering exchanges between participants and experts. It helps build the personal relations upon which is based the preparation work for co-productions and collaborations of all types and develops trans-national networks.

 

The main goals and objectives of the program are:

• To improve the development of documentary projects with international potential, their financing and management;
• To get a deep insight into the technological changes in the fields of development, production and distribution;
• To reinforce the international dimension of small and medium-sized companies;
• To encourage transnational cooperation and to provide a clear overview on the international film market situation;
• To set up a sustainable networking of skills and exchanges by bringing together the professionals and the decision makers of this sector;
• To take into account the specific needs of professionals in European countries with low audio-visual production capacity and to provide them with useful tools.

 

Throughout the 3 sessions, all of the fundamentals of production are covered, here are some key topics of the workshops:

• analysis of the artistic quality of the project
• reflecting on the director - producer relationship
• negotiations for rights clearance
• financing of the development stage
• transmission of different production and budgeting methods 
• identification of potential partners on an international level
• drafting of different co-production agreements 
• making of trailers
• pitching preparation
• overview on the management of a production company
• promotion and distribution (traditional and alternative) 
• insight on the documentary film market landscape
• individual meetings with some key figures of the documentary world (commissioning editors, programmers, distributors, curators, producers).

 

Methodology

• Group work: 2 groups of 12/13 producers with projects and 2/3 participants from documentary departments of TV channels and Funds are established – one English-speaking group and one French-speaking group.
• Local group: A 3rd group, composed in each session of producers from the host country, joins the program to attend an intensive version of the workshop.
• Expert assessment: in each session, experts hold individual meetings with the participants in order to analyze their projects: during the first session, the scripts are treated, during the second session the budget and the production strategy. During the last session, over 400 individual meetings are organized between the participants and the experts (around 20/25 between commissioning editors, distributors, sales agents, film funds representatives, festival programmers and curators, producers and filmmakers)
• Talks & Masterclasses: different topics – from the artistic to the financial development- are treated: documentary storytelling, author’s rights, financing schemes, production, co-production, pitching, company management, distribution, alternative distribution, sales, impact production etc.
• Case studies: screenings of creative documentaries (mostly produced by Eurodoc alumni) are organized, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker, producer(s) and main financiers of the film. During the discussion, the co-production process is analyzed in depth, as well as its artistic approach.