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Production Value 2012

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- From January 6 to 14, 2012 took place in Malta the 6th edition of PRODUCTION VALUE, the only training workshop dedicated to the art and craft of scheduling and budgeting European feature films

Production Value 2012

MALTA: From January 6 to 14, 2012 took place in Malta the 6th edition of PRODUCTION VALUE, the only training workshop dedicated to the art and craft of scheduling and budgeting European feature films. Cineuropa gathered along with 32 film professionals from 16 European countries.

Storified by cineuropa.org · Thu, Nov 29 2012 16:39:59

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What is Production Value?

Production Value is based on the idea that it is to the European film industry’s advantage to combine the respective experiences of “creative partners” (Producers and Directors) and “operational partners” (Line Producers and First Assistant-Directors) in the interest of the film project itself, be it a low-budget auteur film or a high-budget pan-European co-production. And this with respect to an often under-estimated aspect of filmmaking, namely scheduling & budgeting.
Swiss filmmaker Denis Rabaglia is Production Value's Head of Studies for the 6th year in a row. He summarizes what the training is all about:
Production Value - Introductioncineuropatv
Projects are selected on the basis of challenging criterias:
Production Value - Selection criteriascineuropatv

How does it work?

The 6th edition of Production Value took place in Malta — 2013 edition will take place in Switzerland — as a 7-day residential workshop simulating the pre-preparations for 6 existing film projects, and ultimately delivering professional budgets and shooting schedules.
Working in teams of two, Junior Line Producers and Assistant-Directors from all over Europe were assigned real projects in development, brought to the workshop by Directors and Producers. The teams were coached by Seniors European Line Producers and 1st Assistant-Directors, to ensure that, in the given circumstances and at the week’s end, they've achieved the best budgets and schedules possible.
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Skilled Line Producers/Production Managers and Assistant-Directors have vast experience in evaluating and handling difficult shooting situations, in securing a shoot even under extreme conditions. Production Value trust them as the key people to bridge the gap between creative vision and feasibility.
Everybody — Juniors and Seniors alike — is assigned a project from other countries than their own. Directors and Producers play an important part in the process: they provide the main parameters of the projects at the beginning and, at the end, they join the workshop to discuss the various recommandations, options and results.
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Production Value's best practice is a methodology allowing Line Producers/Production Managers and Assistant-Directors to work together in providing creative solutions when given the bare facts of any production early enough and clearly enough.
For Denis Rabaglia, it's not about wether or not the selected projects will eventually become features but more about the added value of the exercise for the European general practice of filmmaking that frequently involves falling short of the budget needed to fully realize the creative vision of the Director and the Producer. All too often, it is too late when Director and Producer find out that there is a serious gap between the estimated cost of their film and the funds they have been able to raise. This specific training — the only one for Assistant Directors and Line Producers — aims at challenging this situation.
Even though projects are chosen for the production challenge they represent — a heavy weight project sorted out during this edition of the workshop was a hard 25 millions euros sell handed to a first time director — there are still some goals in terms of completion of the selected projects that would eventually be converted into a feature film to be released as Denis explains in the following part of the interview:
Production Value - Tracking the projectscineuropatv

The 6 projects brought in 2012:

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The working sessions are completed with plenary sessions devoted to general topics related to Line Producing and Assistant-Directing, as well as case studies by the Seniors.
Production Value is a training initiative organized by FOCAL (Switzerland) in coproduction with the Austrian Film Institute (Vienna), the Norwegian Film Institute (Oslo) and the Swedish Film Institute (Stockholm), with the support of MEDIA TRAINING, a program of the European Union. 

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