Film Junction: Market Mentors Scheme Begins

The Film Agency for Wales and Creative Skillset has announced the 12 successful applicants from across the UK selected for the Film Junction: Market Mentors scheme.
Led by international film industry executive, consultant and author Angus Finney, the focus of the programme will be on developing film content with a view to its UK and international market and exploitation across various digital platforms, including soundtrack, broadcasting, games and web content.
Finney said: "Market Mentors offers both producers and distributors an up-close, much needed forum for dialogue. All too often the two sectors remain stubbornly apart, but we hope that this programme will bear at least further understanding, and in some cases new alliances."
The selected participants are Nicky Bentham (Neon Films), Kristian Brodie (Rapid Eye Films), Brendan Byrne (Hotshot), Alastair Clark (Wellington Films), Rachel Connors (Black Milk), Catrin Cooper (Elfin Productions), Jane Dauncey (Machine Productions), John Giwa-Amu (Red and Black Films), Emily Leo (Wig Wam Films), Ivana Mackinnon (Stray Bear Productions), Anthony Smith (Tornado Films), and Jonathan Taylor (Dan Films).
Ivana Mackinnon said: "This is a great chance to focus on my company's slate as a whole, and to interrogate the current opportunities and challenges of distribution. It's extremely exciting to be mentored by Kate Gardiner, Head of Fox Searchlight UK, and I'm looking forward to gaining some valuable perspective across the projects I am currently developing."
The scheme will run from 22nd November for six months and pairs the applicants with established distribution executives Ed Fletcher (Soda Pictures), Kate Gardiner (Twentieth Century Fox, UK), Nick Manzi (Lionsgate), David Shear (Revolver Entertainment), Julia Short (The Works) and Robert Walak (Momentum Pictures) as mentors.
The Film Junction: Market Mentors programme is funded by the Creative Skillset Film Skills Fund as part of ‘A Bigger Future 2’, the UK film skills strategy and is the first time that they have supported a distributor mentored producer programme.
Dan Simmons, Head of Film at Creative Skillset said: "We are delighted to be supporting Film Junction 2 which is the first programme we have supported that provides mentoring for emerging Producers by leading Distributors. With the film industry urging Producers and Distributors to work ever more closely together, this is a scheme which will permit mutual understanding of need between two related but different film sectors, which we hope will, for example, enable better deal-making skills for Producers as well as enable professional relationships which could extend beyond the structured training. We look forward to observing the differences this programme will make for both Producers and Distributors alike."
The programme is also sponsored by Wiggin Media Law Firm, Swansea Metropolitan University’s Creative Industries Research and Innovation Centre and Skillset Media Academy Wales.
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