Spent the day at the Mia Bays Sales, Marketing & Distribution Workshop put on by my mate Saskia at the London Film School (the old alma mater). Highlights were:
Meeting and swapping cards with the Head of Programming for the London Film Festival, Michael Hayden. Did the 30 second pitch: “Tokyo Cowboys is permanent lost in translation…for real: an intimate look into the lives of 5 western men living long term in the wild, wild East.”
Learning that you can ask smaller festivals for something called a “screening fee,” which is essentially a box office percentage. According to Mia, not all festivals have a screening fee policy, but a lot of the smaller ones do.
And…learning that “The Lives of Others” was rejected by all major festivals, yet it was in the top ten grossing films of 9 of the top 10 territories. (This is to make me feel better in the event of a worst case scenario.)
Another session tomorrow with a Sales Agent, top Booker in the U.K., and a distributor. Must print out some more TC meishi.
Photo thanks to Tokyo Mango.
