Musivision Films

The buzz of a festival like Cannes or Berlin  is electrically charged - a space where creatives and those solely into the business are ready to pitch, ditch or commit. Saying cheers to new deals and creating content.

This years Cannes seemed to have a less people ( a taxi driver guesstimated by his fares about 15% less than last year)  but the meetings were constant, the market was busy and solid exchanges were made. Besides the next film -the industry of conferences, film funds and financing, publicists and event management are as vital as the film productions themselves.  

Cannes  segued into The 16th Edition of the Israel Co-Pro marketheld in Tel Aviv where the who's who of broadcasters included the full ARTE team BBC'  CBC PBS and ITVS and of course all of Israel's TV stations. The international delegation were all ears as producers pitched their babies. It's comforting to know that even the more seasoned documentary producers have had leading commisioning editors totally reject their films in no uncertain terms "we've already done that - and I'll never watch your film"  That same loser film that should "never get made" becoming a mega succesful film (with Robert Redford embracing it - I will not say more)-eventually the same commissioning editor embraces the film which he rejected and refused to get involved. The art of the followup may not be with whom or why you think and may not be for the financing of the film but for support after it gets made.The same commissioning editor eventually aquired the film for his network. Moral: burning bridges and getting too literal about the words of an overburdened broadcaster is not always as bad as it seems at the time.  What is important is the followup. As a footnote it's amazing how many people invest in a plane ticket travel, registration fees and promo and all to simply leave a pile of business cards tucked away in a corner of their desk drawer is an expensive party without inviting any guests...so FOLLOW UP and don't give up.