Production: the benefits of formal education
Pamela Wilson Endrina, coordinator for research programs at the Victoria University, told Miguel Gonzalez how the Professional Certificate in Executive Screen Production is helping producers develop their skills, particularly in the areas of budgeting, financing and fundraising.
Does Australia need more courses for producers?
Absolutely – there are very few producer focused courses to begin with and of these only a handful consider the business end of making product. Apart from our course I can only think of a few short courses offered by AFTRS and the Diploma offered by AFTRS at the Centre for Screen Business.
What does your course offer in those areas?
We look at what avenues are available in Australia and overseas to obtain financing for screen projects, the typical legals and budgets involved as well as sales, marketing and distribution. We also cover the nuts and bolts of putting together an investment funding package and how to pitch it at markets and to private investors.
How do you teach something that is as project-specific as budgeting and financing, what common rules can be taught that producers can then apply to their specific projects?
Across all international jurisdictions there are accepted templates for managing screen (TV and feature film) budgets and finance – we look at the generic categories and highlight some of the common problems which can occur for new players or those who have underestimated the task before them. Our emphasis is on teaching the students what options exist so that they can judge the appropriate avenues for their project.
What were your students’ major concerns/questions in these areas?
Many and varied – but mostly where to find the money and then how to convince the gatekeepers to part with it. There were also many questions addressed to understanding the producer offset and copyright issues.
Do producers tend to improvise their training in that area, learning on the job?
Yes, for the most part producers learn from wonderful and bitter experiences – whilst on the job learning is crucial for the role it is important that a set of national standards be established in the profession to ensure that all producers benefit from accumulated expertise.
Are there any funding methods that producers tend to overlook, or new financing sources that not everyone is looking at?
The situation for independent film internationally is pretty bad as many traditional investors ( such as bankers and real estate moguls) have gone to the wall. There is sort of an undefined international movement to find more viable funding models. There have been a few notable experiments with fund raising on the web (which haven’t done too well) and then there is what I call the incubator approach. The latter describes information hubs – groups of filmmakers who meet regularly with financial experts to discuss how to get their projects made – and physical hubs which consist of writers, actors and producers who work from one location and leverage their collective contacts. An example of the former is the Institute for International Film Financing (US – nationally) and an example of the latter is the Plug and Play Tech Center (Los Angeles).
What are the main skills the course covers, and how does the absence of those skills currently impact the industry?
- TV and feature budgets
- Packaging for market presentations and investors
- Pitching
- Creating business plans
- Distribution, sales, marketing
- Legals: IP and contracts
- Networking
The absence of the above knowledge means that many Australian producers, save a few, have to learn through experience without exposure necessarily to “best practice.” It leads to many emerging producers emphasising the creative aspect of their projects at the expense of the business side. This creates a perception in their audience, when they are pitching a project , that they are unprepared regarding its marketability – and in the worst case that they are ignorant of the fact that creating screen content is a business. Arguably the situation has deteriorated recently. The old AFC largely acted as an Executive Producer, now Screen Australia has passed that role back to producers with the creation of the producer offset and all the financing and legal structuring that that entails.
What have SPAA contributed in their consultation role?
SPAA established an advisory group of experienced producers jointly with Victoria University to inform course format and content and ensure it had critical industry input. I must, however, clarify that SPAA doesn’t officially endorse any producer course, including ours.
What are the main requirements to apply?
We are taking people from two groups – experienced professionals from industries allied to the screen industry such as marketing, law and accounting; and those within the industry. The main prerequisite is to provide evidence of skill-sets developed from either of those two areas via resume showing relevant experience.
What kind of people (background, experience, education, etc) participated in the first generation that graduated in October?
Emerging producers – those working in the industry as crew or in other positions and professionals from other industries ( accounting, public relations, IT).
What kind of recognition does the course have (official and within industry)?
This course is an industry based professional development course. The students receive the Professional Certificate in Executive Screen Production. One of the key areas of feedback from the Industry course advisory committee was the demand to include assessment. The course is assessed so students have to earn their certificate through set project work and tasks. Within the industry, it is hard to say what recognition the course has as we have just started but SPAA have supported us from inception. SPAA President Tony Ginnane was present to hand out certificates to our first class of completing students. In addition to this we have been able to attract high profile producers and entertainment professionals to lecture in the course including Robyn Kershaw, David Parker, Amanda Higgs, Shana Levine, Robert de Young, Alan Finney, Jenny Lalor and Shaun Miller.
Having dealt with a few producers on account of some resources in old film stocks, sure I think education is a real need.
But the better word would be Producership: taking on the role, whereas Production is an abstraction (widely seen as the bane of university study for busy people, and not relevant to Professional Certificate awards).
Sorry to be picky: How does a coordinator of RESEARCH come to be in charge of a Prof Cert course?
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