TEST SEMINAR 2006
Challenging the status quo: How relevant are current Screenwriters ’ Training and Development Programs within the European Film Industry?

Script development is obviously closer to alchemy than to cooking with recipes. It is difficult to analyze this creative process, but important to examine, after 15 years of investment and practice in European screenwriters’ training and development programs, whether or not the skills and methodologies that are being transferred in these programs are still relevant. We need to look at this question by taking into account the evolution and changes in production, markets, and in professional practice in the film industry across Europe now.

TEST is a program intended to improve the quality and relevance of training and development programs for producing screenplays in Europe, as proposed by government sponsored and/or independent institutions and/or by the film industry itself.

The TEST SEMINAR 2006 is a 2-day debate to challenge the status quo in this field, and to define new training parameters, tools and strategies for the creative film development of marketable European feature film.

Three development initiatives, strictly project-based, and emphasizing the interaction between producer and writer(-director) will be proposed as case studies to support the debate.

FactFiction Lab – PAL London, P.R.I.M.E – transFOCAL Berlin, Slingshot London

Speakers

• For FactFiction Lab
  Ruth Caleb, Producer BBC Drama, tbc (London)
  Gavin MacFadyen, Documentary Filmmaker and Director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism, and FactFiction Lab Mentor (London)
  Jenny Thompson, PAL FactFiction Lab Director (London)
• For P.R.I.M.E
  Frank Stehling, Project Director (Berlin)
  Donat Keusch, Project Co-Developer (Berlin) Producer participant in the first P.R.I.M.E edition
• For SLINGSHOT
  Arvind Ethan David, Producer and Managing Director (London)
  Rachel Connors, Producer (London)
  Writer-director participant in the first Slingshot Lab
• Jonathan Olsberg, Audiovisual Strategic Consultant, Author of the ‹Study of Continuous Training for Audiovisual Professionals in 32 European Countries›

Moderator

• Antoine Jaccoud, theater and screenwriter, script doctor (Lausanne)

Participants
20 Heads / Managers of screenwriters, writers(-directors) and producers training programs from across Europe

Date and venue
From 23rd to 25th June 2006, in London

Registration deadline
28th April 2006; please add a presentation of the program/training institution you are leading as well as your CV

Fee
The Seminar is free of charge, the accommodation and meals are paid for. Travel costs must be paid by each participant.

Language
English without translation

Organization
TEST Seminar, Susan Benn, PAL
TEST Online, Lourdes Rubio, FIA

Informations & Applications
PAL
6 Flitcroft Street, UK-London WC2H 8DJ

Second case study: P.R.I.M.E.
Frank Stehling, Project Director (Berlin)
Donat Keusch, Project Co-developer (Berlin)
Producer, participant in the first P.R.I.M.E. edition

Working groups continue discussions about
Evolution of the audiovisual training landscape: what future for the independent training providers?
Profile, content, interaction with the industry, interaction with the film schools...

Working groups form
Critical analysis of TEST proposal for 2007