Sargent-Disc Attend Sargent-Disc BAFTA Filmmakers' Forum for Third Year Running

On Saturday 11^th July, the Sargent-Disc BAFTA Filmmakers' Forum - an annual networking and skills development event for new and emerging feature filmmakers - took over BAFTA HQ, 195 Piccadilly in London.

Members of the Sargent-Disc team attended the day-long event; proud to be the sponsors for the third year running. Sargent-Disc Director Laurence Sargent introduced the day, which featured masterclasses, panel discussions and one-to-one speed sessions providing first-time feature filmmakers with the opportunity to gauge how to progress in the industry.

Highlights of the day included:

Managing Production on Independent Films

A panel on the methods for Managing Production on Independent Films, chaired by Alison Small, CEO of The Production Guild, kicked off the day's events in The David Lean Room. Speakers including Terry Bamber (First AD, A Christmas Star), Christopher Granier-Deferre (Executive Producer, Une Recontre), Gisela Evert (Post Production Supervisor, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell), Clare Cahill (First AD, Art Ache), and Peter La Terriere (Completion Guarantor, European Film Bonds). They discussed the difficulties of indie film production; advising to, 'not be afraid to face your worst case scenario'.



(The Managing Production on Independent Film panel)

Photo Credit: BAFTA / Jonathan Birch

Green Your Film 

Laurence Sargent, along with Jeremy Mathieu (Sustainable Production Advisor, BBC) and Anna Ringuet (Eco Supervisor, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens) hosted the Greening Your Film boardroom session, powered by Albert+. The speakers pointed out three significant areas to observe when engaging in sustainable production - leadership, communication and responsibilities. Attitudinal change was a major topic of conversation, with the speakers suggesting methods of successfully incorporating eco-friendly processes or content into production. Subliminal messaging within the editorial content is effective, yet simple ideas such as reducing paper on production reduce a film's carbon footprint. Laurence Sargent spoke to this point, highlighting Sargent-Disc's 'Digital Production Office' which enables the approval of purchase orders (Digital Purchase Orders), processing payrolls (SD Online Payroll), production accounting (Vista Accounting) and script scheduling and budgeting (Movie Magic Scheduling & Budgeting) are simplified, and stress-free. The Digital Production Office provides a dramatic reduction in paper use, making your it much more eco-friendly.  

The Masterclass on Producing

Three-time BAFTA, Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning producer David Thompson, (director of Origin Pictures and former head of BBC Films) gave the Masterclass on Producing, reflecting on his process and craft in shepherding a story to the big screen, and looking at how to create the best environment for a screenwriter and director to work. A couple of key tips to come out of the discussion were:

• To have a chance of becoming a successful producer, one must acquire a multiplicity of skills across production, film finance and development
• Financing low budget features need above all a great idea and script, alongside good casting. Teaser reels can also be a big help too.

 (Gavin Humphries [Creative Skillset & Producer] speaks with David Thompson during the Producer Masterclass)

Photo Credit: BAFTA / Jonathan Birch

 Listen to the full podcast here. 

Creative Europe Co-Production Case Study

Creative Europe Desk UK also presented a boardroom session on securing European co-production funding. Christine Alderson of Ipso Facto Productions shared her wealth of past experiences, her top tips including; get to know your co-producers and think laterally. She also stressed the importance of recognising which content is a good match for funding schemes in different countries and the importance of not feeling compromised when the fund terms are not compatible.

 (Francesca Walker [Industry Relations Manager at Creative Europe Desk UK] discusses co-production case studies with Christine Alderson [Ipso Facto Productions])

Photo Credit: BAFTA / Jonathan Birch

Creative Keynote

The creative keynote speech with Lone Scherfig closed the day, with her recounting the journey she has taken to become the director she is today. Scherfig commented on the cultural differences she faced when working with actors from different countries, for example, the British are open to speaking up when they aren't content with the situation. She also spoke of the importance of the relationship between directors and their producers, and the difficulties that arise when expectations are high. To this day, the best actor she has ever worked with in her mind is Peter Sarsgaard and her favourite part of the filmmaking process is the writers' room. She confessed that her ambition has always superseded her talent, and that she has always lived by the philosophy that a director owes it to everyone to produce something worth watching due to the amount of trust endowed to them.

 (Briony Hanson [Director of Film at British Council] welcomes Lone Scherfig [An Education, One Day, Riot Club] to the stage of the Princess Anne Theatre)

Photo Credit: BAFTA / Jonathan Birch

Listen to the full podcast here.

The Shutterstock Wrap Party 

The Forum's wrap party, sponsored by Shutterstock and Grolsch, proved to be most effective in ending the day, which provided first-time filmmakers a unique platform to obtain advice from seasoned professionals and allow for potential working relationships to flourish. 

For more podcasts from the day, see the BAFTA Guru website here.