SHEX - Learning through shared experience

SHEX offers experienced and internationally oriented producers the opportunity to increase their proficiency in specific areas by customised training in groups. SHEX enables such producers to work collaboratively and independently, while drawing on the expertise of consultants who offer them support that is tailored to their specific needs. SHEX enables participants to boost their knowledge and skills and develop their network over a full year and thus achieve the strategic objectives they established beforehand.

Participants
Three groups can participate in the programme. A Swiss producer partners with two or three European producers to form a group.

Work topic
The group members define the topic they wish to explore and develop. This could be a specific genre (children’s film, family entertainment, comedy, horror, science fiction), creative documentaries or debut films. Other topics deal with optimising working with young talent, joint exploration of production and distribution strategies, international work processes in the animation sector, direct distribution on platforms, and the development of new formats (doc series, fiction series, web series, etc.). The topic and objectives bring the group together around shared strategic goals in order to define the skills and knowledge required to achieve them.

Methodology
The groups define how they wish to organise their workshops and the expert input they need. They choose their experts based on the potential contribution they can make through their knowledge and position in the industry. They plan and organise their training independently.

FOCAL advises the selected groups on how to implement their concept. If necessary, FOCAL will put them in contact with specialists in its network. In addition, for the duration of the programme, FOCAL puts at each group’s disposal a mentor (a producer working on an international level).

Financial contribution
The support contribution to the training programme is CHF 50,000 for groups of three people and CHF 60,000 for groups of four people.

Application package
The groups are required to present a concept describing the topic and the working method used to achieve the pre-established goals as well as a proposal for the use of the support contribution. The application package must be submitted in English.