16 producers were selected for the ACE Animation Special, of whom 13 eventually participated in what became a 4-day online version of the workshop (18th – 21st March 2020).

Focusing primarily on the creative and financial aspects of animation production, the ACE Animation Special also offered sessions on the development process, co-producing, international distribution, audiences and business strategies. The workshop included sessions on the different approaches needed for animated TV series as well as offering the producers a chance to work on their projects.

Besides the solid and active partnership with Gareth Lee from Screen Skills Ireland and Maurice Galway and John Rice of Animation Dingle, the ACE Animation Special was generously sponsored and supported by partners Screen Ireland, BAI, Animation Skillnet, IDA, Animation Ireland and Unreal Engine.

Having been forced to cancel the physical event 5 days before it was due to start, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the ACE management redesigned the workshop into an online compatible version to be ready to begin on Wednesday the 18^th of March. Converting a programme to be held online held many challenges but also opportunities. For example, the timing of the sessions was challenging for the two Canadian participants, however ACE recorded each of the sessions so that nothing would be missed. Also, the length of the sessions was shortened as staying engaged with a session on screen is more difficult than in person.

The ACE management succeeded in maintaining most of the sessions that were initially planned and only four consultants were unable to attend due to work engagements brought on by the crisis. Interviews, case studies, plenary sessions, group sessions and one-to-one meetings were all integrated. Due to the fact of it being held online, it was possible to invite additional consultants, such as producers Pavel Strnad and Roman Paul, who did a case study on “Alois Nabel” and “Waltz with Bashir” respectively.

All sessions were moderated by ACE members Lisa Marie Russo and Martin Pope, the latter conducting many of the session himself as an established animation producer.

The first day concentrated on choosing material and featured an interview with Aardman Studios founder Peter Lord. The second day revolved around animatics, world and story development with input from Jam Media head of development Chris Dicker. The third concentrated on the physical production of animation with sessions by producer Simon Quinn and an interview with Cartoon Network’s Sarah Fell. The fourth and final day was specifically about financing and distribution including sessions by GFM Films’ Michael Ryan and Jean Baptiste Babin of Backup Media.

The week following the workshop, ACE held one-to-one meetings between the producers and consultants online. Producers were matched with four different consultants in order to speak about their projects or ask questions relating to the workshop’s sessions.

Although many were initially sceptical about the possibility of holding the workshop online, the participating producers all expressed themselves to be extremely pleased by how well it worked and how much they learnt from it. Go to the testimonials page of the ACE website for some quotes from the participants.

Due to the recent measures put in place internationally to combat the spread of Covid-19, ACE Producers will be holding the ACE Animation Special online from Wednesday the 18th of March until Saturday the 21st of March 2020.

Due to take place in Dingle, Ireland this week, a devised timetable and online system have been set up in order to hold a revised version of the workshop online. This has been made possible thanks to the invaluable help of ACE’s vice-president Martin Pope (Magic Light Pictures) as well as the programme’s incredibly supportive consultants and enthusiastic participants.

In light of all recent developments regarding Covid-19 and the decision of the World Health Organisation to declare a pandemic, ACE Producers is very sad to announce that the upcoming ACE workshops can no longer take place as planned. This will effect the ACE Animation Special 1, the ACE 29 Business Prospects Workshop and the ACE Annual Reunion 2020.

ACE director Jacobine van der Vloed says “Due to the rapid changes we feel an obligation to cancel the events as they would gather people from so many different territories, some of which have already implemented quarantine upon arrival back home.
We also consider that as a European organisation we have a social responsibility towards all the other citizens in Europe and we should show solidarity.”

ACE is in close contact with its Network members, partners, consultants and workshop participants to attempt to devise new ways of delivering the trainings and/or new time frames for these events.

We would like to give sincere thanks, for their continued support and collaboration, to our Annual Reunion Partner (Screen Scotland), our partners of the Animation Special (Screen Skills Ireland, Animation Dingle, Screen Ireland, BAI, Animation Skillnet, Unreal Engine, IDA,  Animation Ireland and Creative Europe Desk Ireland), our Business Prospects Workshop Partners (IFFR Pro, Creative Europe Desk NL, Copper en Co and Eye Filmmuseum), and of course our main sponsors, Creative Europe MEDIA and the Netherlands Film Fund.

ACE Producers is pleased to announce the sixteen producers that have been selected for the first edition of the ACE Animation Special that will take place during Animation Dingle in Ireland this coming March.

The selected participants are all producers who want to diversify their activities to include, and/or deepen their knowledge of, developing and producing long form/feature film animation production for an international audience (cinema, broadcast or streaming). Producers were selected either with or without an animation project in the early stages of development, though each runs a company focusing its sights on animation. Eleven countries are represented in the selection: Austria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.

“Animation was high on my list”, ACE director and head of studies, Jacobine van der Vloed said, “I’m thrilled to have established a partnership with Screen Skills Ireland and Animation Dingle and to be bringing such a great group of international producers to Ireland to discover the global potential of their animation projects.” The group consists of experienced producers from both inside and outside the ACE Network.

In close collaboration with Screen Skills Ireland and Animation Dingle and support from other key Irish partners – Screen Ireland, BAI, Animation Skillnet, IDA and Animation Ireland, Creative Europe Desk Ireland – the 5-day workshop will be held from March 17th to 22nd in Dingle, Ireland.

Focusing primarily on the creative and financial aspects of animation production, the ACE Animation Special will offer sessions on story development and the creative dynamics of animation production, the financing scheme in an international context, discovering the marketing potential and finding an (international) audience as well as budget, financing and production planning. The workshop will give the producers a chance to network with their peers and dive deeper into the different aspects of animation production.

Jonathan Clarke – Ireland – Distillery Films
“Sullivan Sails” series by Carol Freeman

Jérôme Dopffer – France – Les Productions Balthazar
“Diotime and the Lions” feature by Santi Minasi

Fabian Driehorst – Germany – Fabian&Fred
Attending without a project

Stephen Fagan – Ireland – Studio Meala
“Queen Méabh” feature by Elle Power

Kristine Knudsen – Norway – Den siste skilling
“Checkmate” feature, director tbc

Vladimir Lhotak – Czech Republic – Hausboot
“Golem” feature by Jiří Barta

Galilé Marion Gauvin – Canada – Productions l’unité centrale
Attending without a project

Rebecca Mark-Lawson – UK – Tyke Films
“Half Nelson” feature by Alice Nelson

Heather Millard – Iceland – Compass Films
“Ormhildur the Brave” series by Thorey Mjallhvit

Catryn Ramasut – United Kingdom – ie ie productions
“Candylion” feature, director tbc

Arash T. Riahi – Austria – Golden Girls Film
“Micromeo” feature by Jean Claude Carriere & Virgil Widrich

Nancy Florence Savard – Canada – 10th Ave Productions
Attending without a project

Marleen Slot – The Netherlands – Viking Film
Attending without a project

The first edition of the ACE Animation Special took place online, you can read our report here.

A previous version of this post also included Sinisa Juricic (Croatia – Nukleus film), Patrice Nezan (France – Les Contes Modernes) and Denis Vaslin (The Netherlands – Volya Films) as participants. Unfortunately, they had to withdraw from the workshop.

The inaugural edition of the ACE Series Special is starting on Monday the 4th of November 2019 and will run until Saturday the 9th of November 2019.

The workshop will be held in Brussels in collaboration with VAF (the Flanders Audiovisual Fund) and supported by Flow Postproduction, Casa Kafka Pictures and Creative Europe MEDIA Desk Flanders, with notable thanks to the recent support of CFAP.

16 experienced producers have been selected to attend the 6-day workshop, representing eleven different countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland.

Focusing primarily on the creative and financial aspects of TV series production, the ACE Series Special will also offer sessions on distribution, audiences, international approaches and business strategies, with a two-day course in the use of story development tools for TV drama.

The workshop will revolve around group sessions, interactive plenary sessions and one to one meetings conducted by or held with eminent professionals from the TV and wider audiovisual industries: Florentijn Bos (Flow Postproduction), Jules Debrock (Flow Postproduction), Jonas Dornbach (Komplizen Film), Paolo Finotto (Flow Postproduction), Dariusz Jablonski (Apple Film), Denis Leroy (Banijay Studios), Marc Lorber (Lionsgate),  Isabelle Molhant  (Casa Kafka), Emmanuel Oberg (Screenplay Unlimited), Richard Pommerat (Wild Bunch TV), Tatjana Samopjan (Fractal Volcano), Antoine Simkine (Les Films d’Antoine), Gregory Strouk (Wild Bunch TV), Elly Vervloet (VRT), Christian Vesper (Fremantle), Fleur Winters (Lemming Film) and Michele Zatta (RAI Fiction). The group sessions of the workshop will be moderated by Aleksi Bardy (Helsinki Filmi) and Laura Gragg (Freelance).

On Thursday the 7th of November, an open afternoon will be held at the VAF, welcoming Belgian and Dutch producers to participate in sessions on international production and broadcasting.

For more information on the Series Special please contact: series@ace-producers.com

ACE Producers is broadening its perspective with a workshop that focuses primarily on animation production. In close collaboration with Screen Skills Ireland and Animation Dingle and support from other key Irish partners – Screen Ireland, BAI, Animation Skillnet, IDA and Animation Ireland – the 4-day workshop will be held from the 18th to the 22nd March 2020. The ACE Animation Special is a hands-on workshop for experienced producers who want to diversify their activities to include, and/or deepen their knowledge of, developing and producing long form/feature film animation production for an international audience (cinema, broadcast or streaming).

ACE Producers’ director Jacobine van der Vloed sees the new workshop as a valuable addition to the programmes that ACE has to offer: “With this initiative we will be enabling producers within our network and beyond to strengthen their skills in the animation field. Through our collaboration with the Animation Dingle festival, Screen Skill Ireland and other partners, we are offering an opportunity to broaden producers’ networks and understanding of animated content.”

Gareth Lee, manager at Screen Skills Ireland, added, “Screen Skills Ireland is delighted to team up with ACE Producers, Animation Dingle, and other key partners to offer this fantastic skills development opportunity. By providing producers with the required skills and knowledge to diversify into animation, this workshop will make an important contribution to the health of the animation industry in Ireland and abroad, as well as support the production of exciting, new animated content.”

Maurice Galway, founder and festival director of Animation Dingle is thrilled to welcome ACE Producers to Dingle: “I know this rich area will offer much inspiration to their work here on the peninsula.”

16 producers will be selected for the workshop, preferably with a long form/feature length animation project at concept stage. Focusing primarily on the creative and financial aspects of animation production, the ACE Animation Special will also offer sessions on the development process, co-producing, international distribution, audiences and business strategies. The workshop will also include one or more sessions on the different approaches needed for animated TV series as well as offering the producers a chance to work on their projects, have meetings with animation experts and network with their peers.

Visit the ACE Animation Special page for further information and details on how to apply.

ACE Producers is pleased to announce the eighteen producers selected to participate in the 28th ACE Session (2019/2020) with their projects in development.

Daniel Baur – K5 Film – Germany
ACE Project: “Bad Company” by Robert Schwentke

Artemio Benki – Sirena Film – Czech Republic
ACE Project: “Cyclopath” by Karim Ouelhaj

Miha Černec – Staragara – Slovenia
ACE Project: “The Bullet and the Bell” by Jan Cvitkovič

Per Damgaard Hansen – Masterplan Pictures – Denmark
ACE Project: “Tove” by Trine Piil

Clément Duboin – Good Fortune Films – France
ACE Project: “Grand Ciel” by Akihiro Hata

Laura Fernandez – Filmax – Spain
ACE Project: “A Present for Annie” Director TBD

Felize Frappier – Max Films Media – Canada
ACE Project: “The Dictator’s Son” by Mathieu Denis

Viola Fügen – Match Factory Productions – Germany
ACE Project: “Brothers” by Türker Süer

Danielle Guirguis – Smarthouse Films – The Netherlands
ACE Project: “The Green-Eyed Monster” by Marleen Jonkman

Alexandra Hoesdorff – Deal Productions – Luxembourg
ACE Project: “The Golden Hour” by Heidi Greensmith

Kurban Kassam – Raucous Pictures – United Kingdom
ACE Project: “The Parcel” by Umesh Kulkarni

Lasha Khalvashi – Studio Artizm – Georgia
ACE Project: “Fishing” by Tinatin Kajrishvili

Jesper Kurlandsky – Fasad – Sweden
ACE Project: “Barry” by Agnieszka Lukasiak

Sarah Marks – Savage Film – Belgium
ACE Project: “Elephants” by Nathalie Teirlinck

Elina Pohjola – Citizen Jane Productions – Finland
ACE Project: “The Squirrel” by Markus Lehmusruusu

Lukas Trimonis – iN_SCRiPT – Lithuania
ACE Project: “Funny and Sad Life of George” by Egle Vertelyte

Ingmar Trost – Sutor Kolonko – Germany
ACE Project: “Beautiful Souls” by Tom Schreiber

Vincent Wang – House on Fire – France
ACE Project: “Entrelacs” by Nicolas Sarkissian

The selected producers will attend three workshops with a project in development. Fifteen different territories are represented in the selection: Belgium, Czech Republic, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. ACE is pleased to welcome producers from both Georgia and Lithuania to the Network for the first time.

The selection committee was made up of members of the ACE board, ACE consultants, president Antoine Simkine and director and head of studies  Jacobine van der Vloed. According to Jacobine van der Vloed “The experience level of applicants this year was unprecedented, making for very spirited discussions. By coming from fifteen different countries and with the wide variety of expertise they each have within the industry, we are confident that the
selected eighteen producers will learn a great amount from each other”.

Four events make up the core of the training. The first workshop, dedicated to content development will take place mid-October in Helsinki, thanks to the
support of Aalto University. The Content Development Workshop includes plenary sessions and individual meetings, analysing the concepts, dramaturgy
and target audiences of producers’ projects.

In November the second workshop, which offers the producers advice on possible financing strategies for their projects, takes place in Prague, with the support of the Czech Film Fund and the Czech Audiovisual Producers Association. This week-long workshop is made up of interactive sessions exploring international financing opportunities and strategies through detailed analysis of the producers’ finance plans, with input provided by high-grade professionals from across the industry. The sessions offer a uniquely open exchange of experience and ideas which sheds light on the evolution of co-production practices, of public and private funding schemes, and of the global marketplace in the digital age.

The third workshop will look at the producers’ business strategies, providing them with models of sustainable company management and ways to build businesses that have real value. This Business Prospects Workshop takes place in Amsterdam with the kind support of the Netherlands Film Fund and is immediately followed by the ACE Annual Reunion, were the new producers will be officially welcomed into the ACE Network.

The Annual Reunion 2020 will be held in Edinburgh, with the support of Screen Scotland. It will be the first time that an ACE Workshop or Annual Reunion has been held in the UK since the association’s inception in 1993.

ACE Producers is supported by Creative Europe MEDIA, The Netherlands Film Fund, The Czech Film Fund, Aalto University, Procirep, Téléfilm Canada, German Films, Screen Ireland, Focal, Rai Cinema, the Czech Audiovisual Producers’ Association, Audiovisual Producers Finland and the Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

Taking place from the 5th to the 7th of October in Helsinki and Espoo ACE Producers has selected 19 upcoming producers at relatively early stages in their careers from the Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Estonia to take part in the ACE Nordic Focus Training Days 2019. Two production students from Aalto University will also attend.

Scheduled over two-and-a-half days, the workshop is provided with the help of ACE producers and consultants who have notably strong track-records in international project financing and distribution, and who will share their knowledge and international expertise with the participants.

“The Essentials of Agreement Management, Rights Management and Waterfalls” will include plenary sessions, group meetings, case-studies and interactive workshops. These will offer guidance through the main international agreements and explore topics such as rights clearance, budgeting and recoupment schedules.

The Nordic Focus Training Days are supported by Aalto University, Audiovisual Producers Finland and the Nordisk Film and TV Fond.

 

Training Days in Helsinki and Espoo 2019 Participants

 

Eleonore Anselme – Hummelfilm – Norway

Tiina Butter – Butterworks – Finland

Marte Hansen – mahafilm – Norway

Eliza Jones – Grand Slam Film – Sweden

Elin Kamlert – Kamlert Film – Sweden

Andreas Kask – NAFTA – Estonia

Oda Kruse – Kruse Film – Norway

Paria Eskandari – AAMU Film Company – Finland

Ann Lundberg – Anagram Sweden – Sweden

Mette Matthiessen – Freelance – Denmark

Heather Millard – Compass Films – Iceland

Julie Carla Mortensen – Freelance – Denmark

Veronica Natvig – Storm Films – Norway

Marianne Ostrat – Alexandra Film – Estonia

Nicholas Sando – Filmbin – Norway

Malin Söderlund – Unlimited Stories – Sweden

Giulia Triolo – Snowglobe – Denmark

Frida Wallman – Unlimited Stories – Sweden

Markus Waltå – Grand Slam Film – Sweden

Taking place from the 28th to the 30th of June at FAMU – Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague – ACE Producers has selected 19 upcoming producers at relatively early stages in their careers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland to take part in the first ACE Training Days.

Scheduled over two-and-a-half days, the workshop is provided with the help of ACE producers and consultants who have notably strong track-records in international project financing and distribution, and who will share their knowledge and international expertise with the participants.

“The Essentials of Reaching an Audience – From the Development Process to the Release of a Film” will include plenary sessions, group meetings, a case study and an interactive workshop. These will explore packaging projects for funds and partners, VOD business models, rights and windows and finding the right communication strategy.

The Prague Training Days are supported by the Czech Film Fund and the Audiovisual Producers Association (APA).

 

Training Days in Prague 2019 Participants

 

Radka Babincová – Bright Sight Pictures – Slovakia

Martin Barták – GoodieBaddie – Czech Republic

Lukasz Bluszcz – Vision House – Poland

Kateřina Buzková – Darq Studio – Czech Republic

Anna Fam – Freelance – Poland

Marta Gmosińska – Lava Films – Poland

Jan Hubáček – Gnomon – Czech Republic

Ludka Kierczak – Kosmonaut – Czech Republic/Poland

Jakub Košťá – Bionaut – Czech Republic

Petr Kratochvíl – Bedna Films – Czech Republic

Steve Reverand – The Lab Studios – Czech Republic

Anna Rózalska – Match&Spark – Poland

Krystof Safer – Bull Film – Czech Republic

Andrea Shaffer –  Mindset Pictures – Czech Republic

Hana Šilarová – Frame Films – Czech Republic

Barbora Šonková – Dawson Productions – Czech Republic

Marian Varga – Protos Productions – Slovakia

Aneta Zagórska – Krakow Film Klaster – Poland

Klára Zaloudkovà – Background Films – Czech Republic