Producers applying to ACE’s Annual Programme of Executive Education must:
- Be an owner, partner or associate of an independent production company based in a European Union or Creative Europe Programme country. There are also three spaces open for producers from non-EU countries;
- Have been the delegate producer (i.e. the principal responsible producer) of at least one theatrically-released feature film;
- Have a fiction feature film project in development which is designed to attract international finance and distribution – ideally in the form of a first draft screenplay or long treatment;
- Be available and make a commitment to attend a selection interview during the first week of September, the Content Development Workshop (October), the Financing Strategies Workshop (November), the Business Prospects Workshop and the Annual Reunion (both in April).
Membership of the ACE Network is designed for producers with a much higher level of experience than regular training programmes. Although the minimum eligibility requirement is to have produced one feature film, in practice ACE welcomes an increasing number of producers with more extensive credits.
Producers with very substantial experience (more than four theatrically-released feature films as the main producer) are not obliged to attend an interview. They are, however, strongly encouraged to do so.
Very experienced producers should be aware that a decision not to select them to participate in the ACE programme will be based not on a judgement of the value of the candidate or their project, but rather on an objective evaluation of the state of development of the project and the extent of the effective contribution that ACE will be able to make to it. In this case we will most likely recommend that the producer re-applies in a future year with a new project.