Recently, The ICA hosted a night entitled �How To Sell Your Film�. Naturally, the audience attending this event had mainly (myself included) decided that the event was called �Please Will You Help Sell my Film?� This actually made for a nice enough atmosphere, with a roomful of people all with projects at various stages of completion. On the panel were David Cox (the ICA's own film programmer and editor for FilmFour) Karen Alexander (a filmmaker and scholar, and the Head of Distribution at the BFI), Iris Ordonez (the representative for German Films), Keeley Naylor (who founded Emfoundation, a publicity & events management consultancy) and Jane Giles, who is the Head of Occidental Acquisitions at Tartan Films and was the moderator of the evening. Each representative being from a different specialization within the field of distribution, some varied opinions were on offer. Although the evening included some examples of work being projected, the event had a loose, informal structure-guided by questions asked from the floor. As such, we have listed the main topic and points stressed in several categories.

POTENTIAL AUDIENCE:

Fielding questions from the floor, the one essential stressed by all panelists was to consider the potential audience for your film. This included taking note of potential ratings, and the justification of including controversial subjects. The panel generally agreed that some scenes would make distribution difficult (sex, drugs and violence etc.), which drew murmured protest from the floor- people perceiving censorship of their �vision'. The evening's tendency to wander into a general film-centred debate was here illustrated when an audience member ventured, �What if, perhaps there were animal cruelty�like a cock fight perhaps?� The sharp response of Jane Giles was to state that the inclusion of such scenes was potentially reprehensible in itself, and took the debate outside the parameters of distribution, into a wider argument over the validity of shocking content within films.

TRENDS:

With influential figures such as Harvey Weinstein and those at institutions like the BBC announcing that they want specific genre scripts (apparently sci-fi is desirable currently) the panel discussed what trends affected the distribution of works. Although not stringent, they did all concede that certain fashionable subjects might make something more saleable. However, they reminded writers and directors to remember that the time lag between the germ of an idea and the completed film being shown to an audience is such (often several years) that something very zeitgeisty can seem dated by then.

Again, talking of filmic �products� make audience members defensive, and I couldn't help thinking that more useful advice would have been to keep an eye on the trends so as to AVOID duplicating someone else's work (since if we are all riding the same cultural wave, then unconsciously following trends is far more common than bucking them).

MARKETS:

As both ICA and Channel Four programmer, David Cox was able to give authoritative, hard facts about which markets pick up which films. The whole panel agreed that if a film does not get a release in its home territory then it would be far more difficult to get a release abroad. However, since certain British films (Morvern Caller or Dead Man's Shoes for instance) actually receive greater critical acclaim in Europe than in the UK, it seems that the home release is more tokenistic then economically desirable.

Cox also noted that films not released in cinemas are very rarely broadcast on terrestrial television, making aiming for a release all the more important. However, as distribution is changing rapidly (increasing digital projection, and multiple format release strategies such as that for Michael Winterbottom's Road To Guantanamo ) so this was an area open to debate.

PUBLICITY METHODS:

With all the talk of securing releases, the talk turned to how best to generate a buzz about a project. Keeley Naylor had several useful words on the subject: Pre-completion publicity (getting small articles on the film in the press while it is shooting) generate interest in project, and give people a reference point for it, when it in doing the festival rounds.

Having a publicity �hook� is also desirable, which is where the big-name actors, novelty subjects etc. all come in. However, she cautioned not to overdo the early publicity, or publications feel they have used up their quota of attention for the film. Iris Ordonez stressed the importance of creating good publicity at festivals, with poster campaigns, good press kits, since the sheer volume can make it hard for distributors and journalists to find their way to seeing everything. If something becomes �talked about� then it can guarantee some interest, although that will not necessarily lead to distribution.

The formal talk ended with Karen Alexander showing some footage of new archive exhibition that she is putting on. Since she deals mainly with specialist and retrospective programming, her views were less concerned with world markets than with niche and genre audiences, which was encouraging. After the official talk ended, audience and panel mingled together at a drinks reception in the Nash Room and the general chat was of the many projects everyone had underway. The Club is a networking and educational initiative at the ICA, which allows people interested or working in the arts (particularly film) to meet and work together. The evening was a good example of how the ICA works to provide a focal point for those trying to create worthwhile and interesting projects. The lingering doubts left by the panelists that people were now discussing were those concerning the business end of cinema: the markets, the trends, the financial �realities� which film-makers need to be aware of whilst planning their pictures.

However, in stressing these important facts most of the panel had neglected to talk about the most important element: quality. The point of the evening had been to explain that the business of securing sales and distribution is one dependent on many factors and this was a salient point which all attending benefited from hearing. Yet in emphasizing this too much the actual point of making and watching films had been a little neglected. I spoke to David Cox and Jane Giles about this and they were both very keen to stress that if something is very good, then it will often sell itself. Both pointed to recent films such as The Beat That My Heart Skipped as evidence of how commercially and critically successful a good film can be, simply through doing well at festivals and being received rapturously by critics. And, as a positive end-note, here is a hope-inducing statement from Jane Giles: �If something is a really, really beautiful piece of work, then I will take it on.�