ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years, 9 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Networking events are foul things, I can't bear them!

I think aging has advantages - frankly the value of the 'grey dog' experience, less likely to get ruffled, less likely to be talked down to, more likely to get seen and get considered responses. At 18 if you get through the door of a finance company, are they going to talk seriously about your £3M project? Especially when they look you up on Facebook and see your Ibiza pics. Now try at 40, 50 when you've got some miles under your belt and know better than to put your personal life online, I'll bet you'll at least get a proper hearing.

11 years, 9 months ago - David Graham Scott

You certainly have great insight to the issue Nicholas and I've noticed the ageism issue for some time. Terms like 'young talent' have been bandied about for too long and it's obviously to the exclusion of what could be called 'old talent'. I'm over 40 and would be excluded from any scheme (and there are many) that is designed to promote young filmmakers. While there is some logic to the process of supporting filmmakers there is far too much emphasis on the under-25s.
I applaud you for your well thought out response there!

11 years, 9 months ago - Marlom Tander

Us old guys are expected to know enough about how the world works to go our own way.

But the thing I think that a lot of wannabes forget is that it's a film INDUSTRY.

If someone is going to pay for your film to be made, that will only happen if your project fits their aims, be it bums on cinema seats, ratings on TV, great material about a subject they have been mandated to commission, whatever.

It's not a producers/commissioners job to find you, it's up to you to work out which one of them NEEDS your project. And hope that of the 35 people who did the same research last month, yours is the best fit.

I would guess that anyone in a position to commission anything serious who stuck their head up and said "pitch me, slots every 15 mins" would :-

a) Have every hour of every day full of pitches.
b) Have loads of people complaining that they can't get to see him for 6 months, and that 15 mins is too short for them to explain their idea anyway.

As to networking events. They are horrible. The good news, if you don't want to go - your target probably isn't there anyway as they have already got 34 proposals from people who did their homework and went to them direct.

11 years, 9 months ago - Nicholas Hughes

The UK film and TV industry is full of prejudices and divisions along lines that aren't always racially based...although it can be that as well.

Despite the proliferation of liberal ideas and left-wing (or at least left of centre) politics the way people in the industry seek to promote or exclude others is many varied. Yes, there are schemes, quotas and moves to make the industry more inclusive of women, racial minorities and disabilities but producers and general movers and shakers do have this tendency to surround themselves or promote people who are like themselves...or remind them of their younger selves.

The biggest -ism is, I think, ageism. I hear producers talking of film, or comedy or production as a "young man's game" (and to make it worse, it's a MAN'S game as well as being youthful). There are all kinds of training schemes or film funding schemes for under 25's, but I can't think of one for, say, over 40s or 50s.

It's a very competitive industry and I'm not convinced that it's a very inclusive one. The industry is designed to keep people out, because of all the people trying to get in. It can't accommodate them all so that's why there are all these barriers to deter people and it cruelly and arbitrarily finds ways to "cut out the dead wood" as many in the industry put it. Talent has little to do with it: It's how tenacious you hold on, whilst gathering useful contacts, that matters.

There are many noble and high minded schemes to attract and give a good start to women and ethnic minorities, but once that bit's done it's everyone for themselves and it's often the stage after film school, after that first couple of short films, where people with talent often find trouble keeping going. You'd think networking events were the way forwards.

However, these things can be extremely daunting. Not only do you have situations like the one you described, but the British reserved character plus the ambition and insecurity of people in the industry can make attending a network event where you don't know anyone a painful experience. A lot like to attend with some kind of entourage and stay within their group. Others do that thing of listening to you whilst scanning the room for potentially more useful people once they work out you're not the one to give them a career boost. Directors, as a breed, are very wary of other directors: They're all looking to land the same limited number of jobs and funds so you're the competition.

What to do to make networking events better? Break down the barriers, take away the pressure of having to make THE contact on the night and get people to enjoy the night, no matter who they are and who they know.