Lowdown on SPAA Fringe Conference 2009

On Friday 16th and Saturday 17th October, Yvette and Nat from FTI's Production Support attended the annual SPAA Fringe conference, sponsored by Screen Australia, at the FOXTEL Television Centre in North Ryde. We were there to watch some informative seminars as well as to support Jules Duncan, the WA State Finalist for the SDA Pitching competition, as he pitched his project 'Cashed Up Bogans' to an industry panel and full house. 

SPAA Fringe is an interactive two-day seminar for emerging film, television and online content makers who are interested in building their community and career within the Australian screen industry. The event was comprised of workshops, roundtables, one-on-one sessions, panel discussions, film screenings and social networking events and also provided a unique opportunity for the emerging sector to network with and pitch to, like-minded content creators, established professionals in the screen industry and local and international financiers. 

People who were interested in similar projects or subjects could participate in a discussion thread on Fringe Facebook; while The Melting Pot, a social networking online portal where filmmakers could collaborate, network, find creative partners and discuss current and potential screen projects by posting an advertisement to other registered delegates calling for expressions of interest. There also was a Speed Dating event, where Writers, Directors and Producers could 'date' one another and see if they would like to 'hook up' for project collaboration (must have taken the idea from Production Support), a Screen Testing Workshop for directors and 1-0N-1's which enabled up and coming filmmakers the opportunity to get access to commissioning editors from Foxtel, ABC and SBS.

The keynote speaker for 2009 was Mia Bays, founder of film production company, Missing In Action Films (MIA), which has produced Oscar and BAFTA winning shorts. She spoke about what she has learnt of the different stages of the development, production and distribution process of a film through working on 45 features.

Other speakers were Kath Shelper, Producer of Samson & Delilah; the team behind the first Australian Muslim comedy series Salam Café; Dario Russo, creator of the hilarious viral Italian Spiderman; and filmmaker and new media auteur Nicholas Carlton the creator / writer / director of Australia's first social web series, OzGirl.
 
One of the seminars I found most interesting was 'The Cutting Edge Of Digital Distribution' by Fringe patron and digital media guru Peter Broderick which looked at the latest strategies for maximizing distribution. It was very interesting to hear Nicholas Carlton talk about the strategies and processes involved in the creation of the web series 'Oz Girl".

Also interesting was the 'Rapid Development Workshop: Multi Platform Content', in which all participants were put into groups, given a recent Australian feature (we were given "Kenny"), and then allowed time to brain storm and develop a hypothetical cross platform marketing strategy for the film. Our group decided the best way to market the film would be utilizing a ChatBot, Facebook, a 'Kenny' character web page, and potentially involving Kenny in a waste water recycling campaign. This was all very entertaining and interesting.

We also checked out 'Using The internet To Create Personal Audiences and Building A Social Media Campaign on A Budget' with Laurel Papworth, who is in the  top 5 of media bloggers in Australia. We were shown how to use the internet to create personal audiences and build a social media campaign on a budget. We learnt how to use low cost/open source ("free") tools to build out a campaign.
 
Basically the message was clear - BE ACTIVE.  The more content you have out there the more opportunity there is for people to notice. 

Now to the SDA pitching competition! Held at the end of the final day of the seminar, the room was packed and abuzz with a great energy. On the panel was Mia Bays and Michael Wrenn. All the state finalists were well prepared and we watched them each present their 3 minute pitch. There was a range of entertaining projects, from short docos on the history of chilli, the cult of the cat, cashed up bogans, to a feature script (drama) and some short comedy series on arranged marriages and living low in Tasmania. 

Unfortunately WA was not successful this time around, the winner was Wide Angle's (TAS) Elise Taylor who pitched as the loveable 'Darls', her project "Have A Crack", which was to teach us how to 'learn to live a successful low-lifestyle with some Tasmania pure-breds'. We congratulate Elise. 

Many thanks to ScreenWest for their involvement in the SDA Pitching Initiative, it was a great opportunity for Julian to get feedback on his project.

Next year will be WA's turn to steal the limelight we hope. Get 'cracking' WA!!