Guest blogger film producer Steve Milnes, @StephenMilnes, describes taking a short film from Doncaster to the biggest film festival in the world.
There’s nothing quite like throwing yourself in at the deep end. Fight or flight, make or break, sink or swim.
Last week Cal Johnson, (Director), Martin Busby (Producer) and I took our Doncaster-based production company, Bodyswerve Productions, and our first short film, Cottonmouth, from South Yorkshire to the south of France; to Cannes and the biggest film festival in the world.
Cottonmouth is the supernatural story of a struggling comedian, down on his luck, in debt and losing faith in his dream, only to meet people who inspire him not to give up. Think King of Comedy meets The Full Monty, with less stripping and more corpses. Armed with promotional postcards, copies of the film and countless business cards, we set off to the mystical world of Cannes, not really knowing what to expect.
It was our first time and no amount of research can prepare a festival virgin. It’s so far removed from home; it’s a surreal experience. The sheer amount of people, the flagrant opulence of the place, French driving; they batter every sense.
One thing people don’t seem to realise, even some of those we met there, is that Cannes is not just about film premieres and competitions. That’s a relatively small part of it. The real action happens in places like the Short Film Corner where our film was showing, on yachts and at the stalls in the Palais Du Festivals and Riviera. This is where contacts are made, new talent is sought out and films are bought. The International Village – where we spent a lot of our time – offers chances to meet and ask questions of industry folk, even thrust DVDs of your film into their possession.
After four whirlwind days away from our day-jobs, diving into seminars, networking and Cottonmouth screenings, we’ve come away more informed and enthused.
We’re getting regular emails telling us who has accessed the film on the Short Film Corner database, we’ve gained contacts with other film-makers and potential collaborators in Yorkshire, heard positive news regarding support for new film-makers and we dished out DVDs to industry types left, right and centre.
Up next for Bodyswerve is the promotion of our latest short, Vacant, the Doncaster Little Film Festival in June, and we’ve got a documentary to shoot in New York in August, as well as the growing list of projects we’ve got for 2013, one of which is another visit to Cannes.
The seas are choppy for film-makers at the moment. Funding is not easy to find and new production companies face some of the toughest circumstances for a generation, but using the things we’ve learnt and the people we’ve met at Cannes, we’re building an ark that will keep us afloat in the deep waters.