Dear Film Producers, we’re with you.

Recalibrate

• Use the time to take stock of the new ways you can streamline your processes
• Test out new tools and platforms! Invest resources in educating yourself on how to improve your next films and processes.
• Check old distribution deals, sales contracts — if licenses expired, look for new avenues to exploit ready-made content or renew deals.
• If you’re in pre-production, adapt your financial plans — who will invest and how much everything will cost. Everyone appreciates an honest, business approach tackling challenges head-on. Realistically, the social distancing will take another one year and a half, check drafts of guidelines about on-set work put in place around the world in the below section.
• People are more open for discussions so engaging with the exec producer you’ve always wanted to work with could be possible;
• Reach out to streamers, VOD platforms, studios yourself — they all do Instagram Live and engage with content makers and audiences these days, reaching out could be fruitful.
• Build social communities — invest time in social media and create a fan base around your previous projects and the upcoming ones. There’s no better time to do it than now when everyone is home, online.
• Use the time to create new relationships, a lot of powerhouse companies are putting their network to work.
• Fast-forward any good animation projects you might have.
• If you’re developing a film/ media platform, take this time to perfect your product and validate features.

How global film sets are planning to go back into production

Toplines: Hobby Film projects a decrease in productivity of 10%; choose your crew wisely, as the number might be limited to 50 people on set; Hollywood estimates that the check-up process is expected to add up to an hour and a half to each person’s arrival time; pandemic insurance plans are still in talks.

• Guidelines on set in Norway and Denmark drafted by Hobby Films. The guidelines are not government-approved but have a great approach on indie filmmaking
• Film London CEO Adrian Wootton is leading the UK’s Inward Investment Recovery Group, which is oriented toward high-end film and TV drama, about how they can safely get back to work once Covid-19 restrictions ease. There are also groups for exhibition and distribution (led by the CEA and FDA), domestic broadcasters (led by PACT chief executive John McVay) and independent film (led by BFI CEO Ben Roberts). These guidelines are expected to be rolled out in the next couple of weeks and the following months.
• Australia’s “Neighbours” production will resume with a nurse on set but also with serious restrictions, including no physical contact between actors including kissing, holding hands or intimate scenes; More here.
• Hollywood — Hollywood’s approach includes a health questionnaire, a temperature check and hygiene training (sneeze into the crook of your elbow), and health professionals will be hovering to check for fever or symptoms, with those who exhibit them subject to quarantine. This process is expected to add up to an hour and a half to each person’s arrival time. According to Deadline, insurers are unlikely to cover productions for COVID-19 cases when business resumes, according to multiple sources. Most likely, everyone on a film or TV production will be required to sign a rider, “You acknowledge you are going into a high-density area, and while we will do our best effort to protect you, nothing is failsafe and if you contract COVID-19, we are not liable,” said a source involved drawing up these guidelines. “There is no other way we can think of to address this. If you don’t want to sign, don’t take the job.”

Future of films in online festivals

• A fascinating online panel about “film festivals under Corona-times” that took place on Sunday, April 26 as part of Switzerland’s Visions du Reel festival. Topics covered: What will happen to films scheduled for release in 2020, how Cannes Directors’ Fortnight will give accolades to some films opening in autumn and more initiatives around distribution. More in Screen.
• We Are One: A Global Film Festival will kick off on YouTube on May 29. Its lineup of films, shorts, documentaries, music, comedy, and masterclasses has energised the industry. Films premiering in 2020 will not be screened. High calibre festivals participating include Tribeca, Berlin, New York, San Sebastian, Karlovy Vary, London, Locarno, Guadalajara, Macao, Jerusalem, Mumbai, Marrakech, Sarajevo, Sydney, Tokyo and the Annecy animation fest. Enjoy!

Media consumption is growing steadily and since early March we are seeing a 40% increase in daytime viewing. As the BFI CEO Ben Roberts candidly put it yesterday in a webinar with Screen, not only the big streamers are benefiting from the change, but the online. “Inverted disruptive release pattern is not a concession of defeat — you should take control of those models.”

What we have been up to

• Honoured to have been selected one in ten deep tech companies to present at TechInvest — by Mayor of London and UKBAA.
• Co-founder Irina Albita is virtually masterclassing in Austria, check her out.
• Co-founder Maria Tanjala participated in an all-female founders podcast brought to you by Alex Stolz, founder Future of Film, former BFI Head of Distribution, Erwin M. Schmidt founder of The FilmTech Office Office and Manu Guddait, Berlinale EFM Horizon. Listen to the talk between ScriptBook, usheru and FilmChain here.

Not least, lockdown birthdays can be sweet, and we are glad to celebrate our Lead Software Engineer Evangelos Barakos with a special cake — love from FilmChain team.