It seems like I’ve spent months traveling back and forth between Bristol and Exeter for insightful talks, stressful planning and the good company that went with it. When we started the Future Producer’s course, the delivery dates seemed so far away. But alas, with the weekend having just past, and Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival with it, my time is up.

Many lessons have been learned (especially the importance of getting events organized in time for publicity deadlines) while organizing our events, but despite any apparent disappointment, we can all be pleased with how well it all turned out. My comedy writing workshop was a success, and although only a few attended it, those who did no doubt left feeling that much knowledge had been imparted.

In particular I have enjoyed being involved on the inside of a festival, rather than just attending (the free tickets and coffee did help with that as well) and I feel that I may have been bitten by that bug. It’s no coincidence that I’ve just sent off half a dozen emails to different festivals, offering my support mere days after attending Encounters.

Now all I can do is wish the other groups well with their events, and look forward to hearing all about them.

While writing the above post, a few numbers popped into my head, and I felt that sharing them would be a nice way to sum up at least part of my experience. SO, please find below- Future Producers by Numbers:

1 hotel room

2 days spent in car (total traveling)

3 times getting lost while leaving Bristol

12 cans of kx energy drink consumed

14 lovely people who bought tickets for my event (and 10 who actually turned up)

20+ great new people who I very much hope to stay in touch with

Over 300 pound on travel and parking

0 Regrets

Best of luck everyone, and see you all soon

MD

Today we had our second tuesday session at the watershed, and it presented a good chance to see a little deeper into the interests and ideas that the other future producers have. We spent the whole session taking turns to pitch our own ideas for the projects to which we would like to be attached, and to explain a little about why we would be the right people to work within each of the briefs. Needless to say it was a long but insightful session.

It struck me how popular the Gothic Season was with everyone. Almost half of the group must have pitched towards that one strand, each person bringing their own unique ideas, and each idea having its own merits and pitfalls. It will be interesting to see how that group is narrowed down a little, and how the different sets of ideas form together into something a bit more cohesive and together.

I personally pitched towards the Fresh Flix strand, maintaining my belief that this is the area in which I could offer the most, not least because I would have been part of its target audience only two years ago. I felt the pitch itself went fairly well, I managed to draw confidence from our recent workshop, and think that I managed to come across reasonably convincingly. I usually consider going first to be a bad thing, but this time I think that it may have actually been a bit of a blessing in disguise, getting mine done while the audience was still fresh, and I still had the energy to deliver with some enthusiasm.

It’s a shame that living so far away means that I’m unable to stick around longer, it felt like an interesting set of discussions where just beginning to brew as I had to leave, but I’m looking forwards to getting stuck into the projects, and seeing just how far we can take them.

So it’s 10:30 pm, and I’ve just got back from Bristol. Today was the first of our proper tuesday sessions, and from my point of view, it seemed to start well.

After three very interesting presentations from Industry professional (and some much needed food), we set about reading through the briefs, and looking at the sort of things we will be asked to produce over the next couple of months.

Out of all the briefs that where made available to us, producing a workshop even for the Fresh Flix strand of Encounters stood out to me the most. Being a young(ish) film maker myself, I completely identify with the aspiring film makers that the strand is aimed at, and feel that I’d be well placed to help deliver a valuable event for them.

On my way home from the event I had a brief conversation with a parking meter, and although it was a little stroppy and decided to ditch me after a few texts, it was a nice conversation, and I look forward to chatting to it again. No, I’m not going mad- Check out Hello Lamp post at hellolamppost.co.uk to see what I’m talking about.

Back again in a week.

A weekend spent in Bristol usually suggests that your going to have a fairly good time, soaking up all the sights and culture that the city encompasses. Such a weekend can turn out to be even more interesting and worthwhile when spent with a group of young and aspiring producers at the Watershed.

Bristol has always been a bit of a mystery to me, having never really spent a huge amount of time there. Living in Devon, its an hour away from me up the motorway- Close enough to be accessible, but not a quick walk to the shops either, I’ve only ever taken the time to explore small parts of it when theres been a real reason for me to do so. I’ve always known it to be a hub of artistic and cultural energy in the south west, but a few brief glimpses of the harbour-side and Watershed was the limit of my experiences. I had the chance to change this however while taking part in the intensive opening weekend of Future Producers.

Over the space of two days, I found myself getting to know a varied and interesting group of strangers, working together to complete tasks and begin to discover our own unique strengths, interests and personalities while slowly but surely forming into a more cohesive group. By day we spent our time watching a series of short films, creating a programme to be screened, and developing our presentation skills through interesting and rewarding and insightful workshops and discussions. By night I had the chance to explore, delving a little more into the character of the city, seeing a few of the sights and experiencing the atmosphere (even a little involuntarily while trying to find my way to the M5).

By the time I got home on Sunday night I was thoroughly exhausted, but none the less enthused by the prospects that where laid out in front of me for the coming weeks. The opportunity to devise workshops and talks to support the film programme at Encounters is of particular interest to me, as is the chance to curate and develop the programme for Electric December.

I love film, and really enjoy being immersed in a more arts based atmosphere, having conversations and debates about anything from the pro’s and cons of London, to whether a visceral filmic experience based around eating disorders should be included in a programme for teens and young adults.

This weekend has left me enthused, and excited about the next few tuesdays that will be spent with this group, working further towards our goals. Even if my car might not be enjoying all the exercise.