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MOTIONPICTURE&PRO-VIDEO Showcase 2004
THE TRANSATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP
It’s full steam ahead for UK Showcase 2004 in Hollywood
M ike Fraser has absolute- ly no doubts: “It will,” he says firmly, “be the
biggest show the British film industry has put on in this or any other year.” He’s talking about
UK Showcase 2004 which after being unveiled last autumn as a well-meaning initiative - and the industry’s had a few of those in its time - is now gathering the kind of unstoppable momentum which is even taking an experienced salesman like Fraser by surprise.
The place is the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel in the heart of LA filmland and the dates are November 9-11 for Fraser’s brainchild which, as he once spelled out to EXPOSURE, is “to go out and sell the British feature film service as an entity.”
It’s now just five months off from these trail-blazing LA away-days and Fraser, vice-chairman of the BKSTS, the Moving Image Society under whose ‘umbrella’ the event is being spon- sored, is just bubbling with excitement.
“Steaming ahead? It most certainly is. We’ve got some 40 sponsors at the moment and I expect to have 70 by the end of the day. If I didn’t also have to jug- gle with the day job [as a pillar of post- production] I’m confident we’d already have everyone signed up by now.
“The most interesting manifesta- tion is that all the sponsors are really taking it on board. We’ve had two or three sponsor meetings to set up con- tent committees and now they’re lead- ing this; they’ve taken the ball and are running with it. Very importantly too, our huge database for getting the audi- ence is increasing by the day.”
The precise scheduling of the actu- al event was, of course, absolutely cru- cial. With a Gala Dinner on November 8, it now comes as part of the climax to eight pulsating film days in November, starting with the American Film Market (November 3-9). BAFTA LA’s Britannia Film Awards are on November 4, the first night of the AFI’s
LA Film Festival, which also runs through to November 11.
In other words, as Fraser and his administration and PR sidekick Geoff Bullock, head of Allied Marketing, see it: anybody who’s anybody should be there. But can one in any way guarantee the right audience will attend UK Showcase?
Says Fraser: “We’re doing everything in our power to make sure they come and, of course, we have a head start because we have the ear of many people who know the decision makers in LA.”
Bullock chips in: “This whole thing in a way began with: does the British feature film service industry really believe in itself? Part of that question was based on the fact that, with all due respect, the industry, though tech- nically well-skilled, is not especially good at selling itself. This time we’re going THERE and using the knowledge our sponsors have. They know the people we want and have some ability to leverage the attendance.”
With three days and two auditoria available, the actual ingredients of Showcase are currently being finalised by the sponsors’ various content com- mittees. Already set, says Fraser, are day-long seminars on Finance, Digital Intermediate and Visual Effects.
“From the beginning,” says Fraser, “I had this dream which said, ‘Look, I’ll drive it, but at every step and turn of the way, you the sponsors will make the decisions.’ It is absolutely your show.
“The wonderful thing we’ve done is to be able to persuade all the main players in the British feature film serv-
ice industry to come aboard – and then make it the same rate for everybody at a low-level entrance rate of £2,500.
“This means it’s not an expensive thing for the two platforms we’re pro- viding. The first is for our sponsors to get out there and say, ‘if you’re going to make a film abroad we’re the place to make it and this is why. The second is that all these companies will be out there and will have several days dur- ing which they can also go and indi- vidually sell their services at a very competitive cost.
“The definition for UK Showcase has been set right from the beginning. We’re telling the Americans that, ‘if you intend to make a film this side of the Atlantic then make it with your old trusted friends in the UK - not any- where else – because after you, we’re the most comprehensive film industry in the world. We have everything here, speak the same language and this is where you feel most comfortable.’
“There’s more and more competi- tion from other countries around the world and we’re simply reacting to that competition and reacting positive- ly,” adds Fraser.
With official support – and money – from the UK Film Council and the Department Of Trade & Industry through UK TI, the event, which is costing £200,000-£300,000 to mount, will also publish a crucial companion volume.
This, says Fraser, “will be a very special source book of the feature film service industry in the UK. All the companies in the book are sponsors
and will have absolutely equal billing. It will be designed so that a producer in Hollywood can pick it up and theo- retically make a film with that book.”
As far as he’s concerned, the keys to planning the success of UK Showcase – expected to become a biennial event – have been “getting the right audience to come and listen to us; and next, what do we do to get them to come and listen to us.”
As planning and preparation head down the final straight, the omens for UK Showcase 2004 are looking dis- tinctly promising. ■ QUENTIN FALK
Updates and more information at www.showcase.uk.net
THE SPONSORS
(at time of going to press) AFM Lighting, APRS, Arri Lighting, Arri Media, Ascent Media Group, Capital FX, Cinesite, Clear, Cooke Optics, De Lane Lea, Deluxe London, Discreet, Elstree Film & Television Studios, Film Management Group, Framestore CFC,
Fuji Photo Film (UK) Ltd, Goldcrest Post Production Facilities, Hyperactive Broadcast,
ID F&T Services, Lee Lighting, Lip Sync Post,
Media Travel International, One Post, Panavision London, Pinewood Shepperton, Rushes, Sargent-Disc, SD-Tec, Soho Images, St Anne’s Post,
Steeple Post Production, Technicolor London, The Editpool, The Machine Room,
The Moving Picture Company, The Picture Production Company, The Production Guild, Todd-AO Creative Services, Videosonics, VMI, VTR Group.
Photo l-r: Mike Fraser and Geoff Bullock, Head of Allied Marketing
36 • Exposure • Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video