JONATHAN OLSBERG – A WORLD CLASS FILM CONSULTANT

Actually Jonathan Olsberg is not working very much with independent producers. He is mainly working for big organizations and film funds.
But despite that Jonathan is still a thrill to listen to if you’re an independent producer trying to know more about creating a successful film business.

We have had the pleasure of having Jonathan as a consultant when I did The Copenhagen Film Mentor program a couple of years back.
Jonathan and his colleagues at SPI has done a lot of research demystified the success factors of building a sustainable film business.
The conclusion we snapped up can be put down to a few bullet points:

• A successful film company has the ability to make successful content and share in revenues (read: produce good films and be a owner of the films)
• A successful film business diversify revenue streams across different activities with different risk parameters (read: have different income streams; for instance feature film production AND commercial production. Or maybe also be a distributor).
• Think outside your comfort zone; be a strong entrepreneurial leader (Read; don’t be afraid of thinking and acting outside the box).
• Have an international network –especially with bigger corporate media players (Read, the more successful you are, the more these players will want to know you)
• Get a consistent and reliable relationship to the public support bodies (Read; no way around it; soft money is almost free money: you’re crazy not to pick them up!)
• Have a lot of luck..!

The short interview here with Jonathan is meant as a quick introduction to him and his company SPI.
I strongly recommend that if you’re an independent producer or an independent production company, you have to go ahead and see if you can get to a course that Jonathan is a part of.
You’ll get very inspired by all knowledge you get and in the end you can use it as guidelines in turning your film production company into a sustainable and fruitful one…

Jonathan in short…
Jonathan Olsberg started out as a UK producer, sales agent and distributor. In 1992 he founded SPI – a consultant company that advises public and private film and media companies all over the world. They’re focussed on pushing their clients forward with the right growth strategies.
Read more about Jonathan and SPI on www.o-spi.com

TAKING A TIME OUT...

- but as Arnie so eloquently put it – “I’ll be back!”

With 9 projects lined up on our development slate – 5 of which could be ready to go before the cameras within a few months – the lack of financing and generally poor economic situation in the film industry means that I will be going on an extended leave from Zeitgeist Film.

Since first joining the company in 2002 as a script reader who hardly knew any Danish, I have read hundreds of scripts, met with a large number of exceptional writers and been involved in active development on more than 30 projects.

Some of them held fast and became a permanent entry on our slate, jostling for position with the others to see which film would be the next to be greenlit.

The problem comes when there are too few resources available and a minor hiccup in one production can cause a chain reaction right the way down the line.

Well, that hiccup (in the form of an investor who backed out of ‘Det grå guld’ (Grey Gold) at the last minute) happened a little over a year ago, and now we have a slate that is full to bursting point.

To take on and begin to develop any more projects would not only be unfair to the writers of those new projects, but also to the very patient and understanding writers and directors we have already attached to the projects on our slate.

Now that post-production on ‘Det grå guld’ is about to finish, Zeitgeist Film can go into production on 2 more films this year and then the momentum we had a few years ago will return.

In the meantime, I am taking an extended leave to go off and do some developing. I have created a website called scriptguyphil.com, which should be live within a couple of weeks. Developing scripts is what I do best and its what I enjoy the most.

Whilst I undertake the challenge of getting scriptguyphil.com up to speed, it will give Zeitgeist Film a chance to make some movies without me adding to the backlog, and then we can finally aim for our goal of making two films a year – every year!

Happy writing (and see you soon!)

FORTJENER DANMARK MERE AF FILMBRANCHEN I 2011..?

Så er vi kommet et par uger ind i 2011. Og her ved et årsskifte er der jo tradition for at tænke på det forgangne år, og på hvad der kan gøre bedre i det nye.

2010 var noget af et skæbne år for dansk film.
Det var året, at det for alvor gik op for det fleste, at dansk film var i krise, og at der skulle gøres noget. Helt op til midt december tegnede det til at dansk film igen ville få et sløjt år med under 20 % markedsandel.
Men puha KLOVN reddede os alle på målstregen - og kombineret med at det generelle biograftal faldt - nåede dansk film så op på 22 %. Bedre en forventet - men stadig et stykke fra de seneste års 25-30 % markedsandel.

Peter Ålbæk var da også ude i Politiken i forrige uge og sige, at ’vi godt kunne afblæse krisen i dansk film’. Og han gentager det nok nu hvor Susanne Bier lige har fået en ’Gloden Globe’.
Som etableret spiller i filmbranchen SKAL han selvfølgelig sige det.
Men i vores objektiv svarer det til, at man som diagnosticeret kræftpatient ønsker at holde op med sin behandling!

Der er stadig krise i dansk film. Punktum!
Men med det nye filmforlig er der mulighed for, at krisen kan overvindes. Men det afhænger af, at Det Danske Filminstitut lever op til det store ansvar det bliver at administrere det nye filmforlig, så de små, de nye og de mindre filmselskaber får den plads som innovation og nytænkning i enhver branche kræver.

I 2011 bliver det nemlig vigtigere end nogen sinde at HELE forretningen Danmark for alvor kommer til at skabe originale og innovative forretningskoncepter, som vi alle kan leve af i fremtiden.

Og et af de områder mange politikere er fokuseret på, når vi taler fremtidens erhverv i Danmark, er det der med en stort ord hedder ’Oplevelsesøkonomi’.
Gennem de sidste 10 år har der derfor været talt en del om de kreative industrier så som kunst, mode, reklame, musik – & film, fordi netop de industrier har det store potentiale til at blive det Danmark skal leve af i fremtiden.

Os der arbejder i de brancher har hele tiden været rygende enige om, at det både var en god ide og helt rigtigt set.

Men indtil nu har der ikke ligefrem været mange gode ’cases’ på det – det skal da lige være musikbranchens succeser som AQUA og ALFABEAT.

Men hvor bliver filmbranchens AQUA og ALFABEAT af?

Og er det overhovedet muligt at lave en god forretning ud af det at producere film i Danmark?
Nogen vil sige, at Lars von Trier & Zentropa da allerede er en god filmforretning, men uden at gå i detaljer her, så er de nok Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen i den sammenligning. International kunstnerisk anerkendt - men kommercielt er der ikke så meget at prale af - på globalt plan…

Men her i Zeitgeist Film tror vi på, det kan lade sig gøre at lave en AQUA i den danske filmbranche. Og vi glæder os til 2011, hvor vi for alvor vil prøve kræfter med et helt nyt film forretningskoncept.
Et koncept, som vi faktisk har arbejdet på de sidste par år, men som hele tiden har haft brug for at have tidsånden med sig – specielt DFI’s støtte muligheder.
Og nu har filmforliget skabt de muligheder. Så hvis Filminstituttet og den danske filmbranche vitterligt ønsker fornyelse og innovation, så er vi nogle i branchens udkant der ønsker at gå forrest. Men vi har brug for Filminstituttet og resten af branchens hjælp…

Tidsånden smager stadig af ’finanskrise’.
Men det er netop i ’nedgangstider’ at det nye og innovative skabes. Det er der, hvor gamle dogmer rives ned og traditionsbundne regler opløses.

Og Danmark fortjener da helt klart mere af filmbranchen!
Den danske filmbranche kan nemlig blive en god kommerciel forretning ud over at være en god kultur forretning.
Det nye filmforlig åbner op for en internationalisering; en bevidst eksport og de mange nye digitale muligheder vil gøre det muligt for os i filmbranchen at gøre dansk film til en god kommerciel forretning.

Men det kræver, at den danske filmbranche løfter i flok, så vi er mega spændte på hvilke initiativer Det Danske Filminstitut helt konkret vil gennemfører i forhold til det nye filmforlig.
Hvordan kommer markedsordningen til at se ud? Og hvordan bliver den administreret? Vil den tilgodese alt det der for alvor kan få os ud af krisen?

Her på bloggen vil vi ugentligt i 2011 helt åbent fortælle om VORES planer.

For selvfølgelig fortjener Danmark mere af filmbranchen – men lad os starte med at høre hvilke tanker DFI, politikerne og producentforeningen har….

BULLHEAD goes to Berlin!

Matthias Schoenaerts, Michaël R. Roskam, Nicolas Karakatsanis Photo: M. Vanden Abeele

In February of 2008 I read a script by Belgian writer Michaël Roskam called The Fields. I liked it a lot, and Michaël thought the feedback I gave him was useful enough that the production company, Savage Film, took me on as a script consultant.

The following two years proved challenging and enjoyable, and last year the film was shot.
Now called Rundskop (Bullhead) it will be released in Belgium on February 2nd, almost three years after my first involvement.

However, a couple of days ago, Michaël called to tell me that the film has been accepted onto the World Cinema section Panorama at the Berlin Film Festival.

Apart from being very happy for Michaël, I felt a sense of pride that the hard work that we did on the script is paying dividends.

And we needed to work very hard...

Rundskop (Bullhead) is a complex crime story set in the world of illegal growth hormones for cattle, but it is also a moving story about how a traumatic incident in their childhood has put two friends on opposite sides of the law.

The script contains a parallel structure as we follow the present day crime story intercutting with flashbacks from the boys’ childhood. Where and when to make those cuts was discussed, debated and argued about throughout the development process. These cuts were, of course, refined and adjusted in the cutting room, but if Michaël and I hadn’t spent many hours on this challenging problem at the script stage, the editing would have taken much longer and been a much tougher task that it already was. It is also more cost effective to do it at the script stage, which is something I wish more producers would take into consideration more often.

Despite having a clear main character, the script also has more than a dozen large supporting roles. As the film needed to be brought in at around the 2 hour mark, it was essential that all the supporting characters were clearly defined and multilayered as economically as possible – especially considering that some very important characters had such a limited screen time. We brainstormed them all working out how best to make these characters real and avoid cliché and stereotype.

All of the development work we did was via e-mail and most importantly Skype. There was many an evening where we would both sit in the dark in our respective houses in our respective countries talking about how to make the script better. In this digital age it means that people from all over the world can work together, whenever. I think this really helped in this case as Michaël and I worked well together and plan to do so again on Michaël’s next film.

What I am looking forward to now is, finally, at long last, meeting Michaël face to face in Berlin, and getting to see Rundskop on the big screen.

For the international trailer, go to:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZnPqAHd1_4

and for more information on the film, visit the production company’s website.

http://www.savagefilm.be/home/

Happy writing.

BOGSTAVELIGT TALT; GODT NYTÅR TIL HELE DEN DANSKE FILMBRANCHE…

2010 blev et omvæltende år på mange måder.
Dansk film erkendte sin krise, og der kom et filmforlig, der peger fremad mod bedre tider. 2011 bliver derfor et spændende år, hvor Det Danske Filminstitut skal implementere det nye forlig, der gør at den manglende nytænkning og innovation kan komme til livs.

Det glæder vi os til - her i det lille verdensfirma…

2010 har også været skelsættende år for os:
Vi startede året med at implementere den nye strategi vi havde lagt i slutningen af 2009, hvor et af de vigtigste punkter var at skabe vores egen identitet og positionere os som et lederemne i den danske filmbranche.

Vi viste branchen, at vi vitterligt ønsker at være en af dem, der går forrest, når det gælder innovation og nytænkning i filmbranchen ved at producere et ’white paper’ om branchens tilstand, der pegede på konkrete veje ud af krisen, og der er da også en del af vores tanker i det nye filmforlig.
Og det spor fortsætter vi ud af. Vores næste ’white paper’ der handler om hvordan man internationalisere dansk film, arbejder vi lige nu på og regner med at det lægges ud på zeitgeistfilm.dk omkring 1. februar.

Et andet vigtigt strategisk skridt var også at flytte fra ’mor’; Filmbyen og Zentropa. Den energi og lyst der i sin tid lå i Avedøre er mildt sagt ’way gone’.
Så i april flyttede vi ind hos Minerva Film i Baldersgade på Nørrebro, og det er vi rigtigt glade for. Her er vi havnet i et kommercielt tænkende filmmiljø, som passer til vores egne kommercielle ambitioner…

Et tredje vigtigt punkt for os i 2010 var at få gjort det første af vores engelsk sproget horror projekter TOMB så klar, at vi i 2011 kan producere den. Det er også lykkes. Lige nu er vi i dialog med både Det Danske Filminstitut og enkelte private investorer om TOMB finansiering. Og vi håber på, at vi i sensommeren 2011 kan gå i produktion.

Og sidst er det lykkes os at gøre vores seneste spillefilm DET GRÅ GULD så færdig at der nu skulle være biografpremiere på den i marts/april måned. Men det kommer vi til at blogge om i løbet af januar.

Så alt i alt har vi arbejdet hårdt i 2010, og vi forventer, at 2011 bliver det år, hvor vi for alvor vil starte på opgaver som – på længere sigt skal gøre at Zeitgeist film når sit mål; nemlig at blive en af de mest spændende skandinaviske filmselskaber…

Så bogstaveligt talt det bliver et godt nyt år i den danske filmbranche:-)

CREATIVE BUSINESS CUP - EN GOD DOMINOBRIK...

Dominobrikken er et godt billede på hvordan en kædereaktion starter – den første dominobrik skal tippes, så den rammer den næste - og så er showet i gang.

I disse uger afholdes en konkurrence om at have den bedste kreative forretningside.
Konkurrencen hedder ’Creative Business Cup’ og er kort fortalt en konkurrence på forretningsideer rettet mod kreative personer, partnerskaber og selskaber.
Vinderen af konkurrencen er den ide der bedst kombinerer kreativitet og forretning.

’Creative business Cup’ er en dominobrik. Det første skridt til at starte en kæde reaktion, hvor det ene kreative ide efter den anden vil bringe Danmark i front, når det gælder kreativ iværksætteri.

Konkurrencen er arrangeret af ’Center for Kultur og oplevelsesøkonomi’ og der var deadline i november måned. Over 50 kreative forretningsideer er blevet indsendt og en jury bestående af såvel forretningsfolk som kreative skal nu inden start januar komme frem til de 5 ideer der kommer i finalen.

Zeitgeist Film deltager i den konkurrence. Vi har sendt vores ’Horror slate’ forretnings projekt ind.
Kort fortalt er det den første af en række horror film, som vi vil producerer – på engelsk - til det internationale marked.
Vi vil i den kommende tid fortælle mere om vores horror slate - men her vil vi bare sige, at vi gælder os til at høre hvilke ideer der deltager i konkurrencen ud over os. For det er et fantastisk initiativ som ’Center for Kultur og Oplevelsesøkonomi’ har lavet.

Der er ingen tvivl om, at såfremt film branchen skal forny sig og skabe innovation, så skal filmselskaberne og deres skabere deltage i konkurrencer, hvor man ’tvinges’ til at tænke såvel kreativ som forretningsmæssigt.

’Creative Business Cup’ viser vejen frem – og vi er selvfølgelig super spændte på om vi kommer med i finalen med vores – synes vi selv; mega kommercielle film koncept.

Men vi må også indrømme, at vi faktisk er mere spændte på om, der er andre filmskabere der tænker lige som os og deltager i den spændende konkurrence.
Vi håber, der er mange – for alt andet vil være nedtrykkende for filmbranchen som helhed.

Du kan følge med på www.creativebusinesscup.dk – det gør vi i hvert fald.

Lad dominobrikkerne falde...

...

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

Still taken from “Field of Dreams” – Kevin Costner & Dwier Brown


Or how a change in your life affects your movie watching

(Warning – this blog post contains spoilers for Field of Dreams including the very end of the film!)

I first saw Field of Dreams, written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, in the cinema when it opened in 1989. It was a film that I liked a lot – the first hour absolutely flies by in a very hypnotic way. I bought the film when it came out on video and must have watched it a few times in the following years.

Cut to 2010 and my wife finds a DVD of the film in a bargain bucket and buys it – she’s never seen it and knows that I like the film. A few days later we settle down on the sofa, pop the film in the player and start watching. The first hour or so moves along in its usual hypnotic fashion and it is actually better than I remembered. Then the strangest thing happened,...

- I began to cry – a lot.

About 20 minutes from the end, tears formed in my eyes and my stomach tightened. Then, for the last ten minutes it is very hard to focus – I’ve reached the point when there’s no chance of hiding or controlling the emotions I’m feeling.

Now, I remember it being a moving ending, but it had never hit me this hard before. Until I remembered what the approaching final scene was – Ray (Kevin Costner) finally got to meet and play catch with his estranged father who had actually died a number of years before. To play catch with each other was the remedy for the emotional pain the men had been through.

In 2002, my own father died, and the reason the film hit me so hard is because this was the first time I had seen it since that major event in my life.

The simple act of a game of catch helped remind me of the good times we had, but also awoke certain longings in me, making me yearn for the opportunity to kick a football with him again.

Our daily lives and the people around us affect the way we watch movies, but they will also have a deep effect on how we make them.

An actor has to delve deep into a character to be able to mine and use all the emotion in order to help their performance.

As a writer, you need to delve deeply into ALL of your characters to mould them and shape them in a way that helps you say what you want to say. I’d suggest that this is practically impossible to do without utilizing your surroundings and the things that affect you in your day-to-day existence.

It is important to look at both the little things and the life-changing moments in life and how they offer a new perspective on your work. Try and recall the moments from your past that have provoked the strongest or most unusual emotional response. An ability to access these emotions is strong tool to have in your toolbox.

How does your daily life influence your work? Or has there been a major event in your past that has helped you take your writing in an unusual direction? Let us know.

There’s a little piece of you in all your characters after all, right?

Happy writing.

TILLYKKE TIL DANSK FILM...

Så kom filmforliget på plads..!

De politiske partier var alle helt enige om, hvad der skulle gøres - og set med vores briller - er det et fantastisk forlig, de har skabt...

Mange af de tanker og overvejelser vi skrev om i vores white paper, er indeholdt i forligsteksten. Ikke fordi det er vores formuleringer - men grundtankerne er der.

Så vi kan kun sige: 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED'...

Men ikke alt er fryd og gammen endnu!

For hvis Filminstituttet virkelig ønsker, at der også skal satses på de mindre selskaber og på noget af det nye, så kræver det, at Filminstituttet skal administere sig frem til det. Det sker ikke uden af DFI skal gå forrest...

Men det vil være en underdrivelse at sige, at vi er glade for det her forlig - vi er MEGA GLADE for det..!

Siden vi for to år siden besluttede, at vi ville ændre strategi og blive en stemme i filmbranchen, har et af vores langsigtede mål været at påvirke det her filmforlig på en sådan måde, at der ville komme støtteordninger vi i Zeitgeist Film kunne bruge..

Men vi har samlet alle vores kommentarer i forhold til forliget i endnu et paper - som du kan downloade her:-)

http://www.zeitgeistfilm.dk/kommentare-til-det-nye-film-forlig

THE INVISIBLE INFLUENCE

Matthias Schoenaerts, Michaël R. Roskam, Nicolas Karakatsanis
Photo: M. Vanden Abeele


Recently I had the pleasure of watching a film from Belgium called Rundskop (Bullhead). Apart from really enjoying the film, written and directed by Michaël Roskam, I was lucky enough to work as a script consultant on the project.

One of the things that I liked most about the film from a script perspective is that my influence on the final film is impossible to spot. The film is Michaël’s vision, it is his story – and that is exactly the way it should be.

If I had a motto it would read something like “helping you make your story better”.

My job as a script consultant is to help the writer find out what they want to say and then to make sure that they have all the options and ammunition to tell a story that helps them achieve their goal in the best possible way.

I ask questions rather than give answers. Naturally, I will always come up with suggestions and ideas about how to solve specific problems if that is what the writer wants, but in an ideal world I will use questions to prompt and probe the writer in a way that will get them to find the solutions based on what they want to say with the script. This is the most satisfactory outcome for all concerned and in my opinion it nearly always creates a better end result.

If I put my fingerprints all over the script, then the writer’s vision is being diluted, which defeats the whole objective of film as an art form. I know that I had some influence in the way that the script of Rundskop was formed, Michaël has said as much and the differences in the drafts from when I began on the project to the finished film are clear. However, it is Michaël that has done the hard work creatively, I have just been his guide – an invisible influence.

For a teaser trailer, go to:-

www.rundskop.be

and for more information on the film, visit the production company’s website.

www.savagefilm.be/home/


Happy writing.

DANSKE FILM SAVNER KVALITET SIGER DR.DK...

Ja - nu er det jo meget rart at blive hørt og citeret - men det med 'manden bag nyt filmselskab' er jo nok en underdrivelse -vi har jo været her i 12 år:-)

Citatet stammer fra en artikel fra DR.dk om vores mantra fra white paperet om den manglende kvalitet i dansk film. Det er taget fra et interview Per Juul Carlsen fra P1's Filmland lavede med mig i sidste uge. Du kan læse det her:

Danske film savner kvalitet: "Kulturministeriet skal lave et nyt filmforlig, der skal hjælpe dansk film ud af krisen. Men der mangler kvalitet, mener manden bag nyt filmselskab."

Og hvis du har lidt tid i overskud, vil jeg også anbefale at du går ind på dr.dk og downloader FILMLAND fra 22.Oktober som podcast.
Her vil du kunne høre en halv times tid omkring det kommende filmforlig - hele Carlsens interview, hvor jeg bl.a. udtaler mig om den manglende kvalitet i dansk film. Du kan finde det på www.dr.dk/podcast Her skal du downloade Filmland fra 22. Oktober ('Har vi også verdens bedste filmlov om lidt?')

Vi må krydse fingre for, at DFI og politikerne lytter til Filmland og vores argumenter - Filmforliget skulle efter sigende være på plads indenfor den næste uges tid...