Calling all Scottish Shooters,

Early Bird Booking for Partnerships 2.0 closes at 5pm, Wednesday 10 September 2008.

The Forum, which is being is being hosted by the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, will explore how to develop audiences for the arts, film and the wider creative industries by maximising (Web 2.0) technology and new partnerships.

Chaired by Scottish broadcaster and journalist Muriel Gray, international keynote speakers include Zurich-based Gerd Leonhard, one of the world’s leading media futurists, and Brian Newman, CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute in New York. Pat Kane, lead singer with Scottish band Hue and Cry, will lead a seminar on a musician’s quest to find a business model in this age of networks. Further participants - just confirmed - include Richard Hadley, Audiences Europe Network, Hannah McGill, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Roberta Doyle, National Theatre of Scotland.

The Forum will attract a wide audience of professionals, united by their passion for audiences and audience development.

For booking information, please visit www.scottisharts.org.uk or contact forum08@scottisharts.org.uk.

Making Your Media Matter is a conference taking place in Washington, DC February 7-8, 2008 for established and aspiring filmmakers, non-profit communications leaders, funders and students looking to learn and share cutting-edge practices for creating media that matters.

Join filmmakers, distributors, outreach specialists and an impressive cast of media pioneers for a rich day of panels, discussions, networking and keynote speakers on the latest tools and trends in creating and distributing social issue media.

And check out podcasts and Power Point take away points from last year’s Making Your Documentary Matter conference.

Here’s some more useful information from The Media Conference held in London earlier this year. This panel discusses how to work with non-profits, NGOs etc to create sustainable impact with your film.

Key Points

• The filmmaker should form strategic partnerships with relevant NGO’s early on in a film’s production to devise a long-term strategy of how best to maximise the film’s campaigning potential and resulting impact.
• Any broadcast dates or film festival screenings should be identified as key strategic moments for rallying around the issues covered in the film.
• NGO partners can use films to campaign by hosting informal screening parties – in café’s, town halls, anywhere with a TV - where the relevant issues can be discussed afterwards and, if the tools are provided, people can immediately take action.
• Similarly, documentary films are an effective way of reaching a young audience and can be packaged as an educational resource and distributed amongst schools.
• Celebrity endorsement is often a necessary evil to get press attention but should not be relied up on as a long-term strategy