26/11/2012 - Cineuropa interviews producer Emily Corcoran, one of the participants in the Closing The Gap training course

Cineuropa interviews producer Emily Corcoran, one of the participants in the Closing The Gap training course.

Please briefly introduce yourself and the films you have produced…
I have previously made a number of short films and micro budget comedy feature film called Sisterhood, which won a number of international awards and was distributed in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
More recently I completed the feature film thriller Confine starring British Supermodel Daisy Lowe, Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones) and Eliza Bennett (Inkheart).

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In what ways Closing the Gap programme transform your experience of producing a film?
The Closing the Gap training allowed me to build a business plan in a way to present to private investors, a group that I’d not had as much success as I would of liked in the past. This knowledge, coupled with the opportunity to test it out to a group of private investors – has allowed me to refine pitches and also give a number of investors (including ‘non film’ investors) a document that they can relate to.

How did your film benefit from your participation in Closing the Gap?
Through developing the fabulous business plan, which I have now used on multiple occasions and also use as a blueprint for other films I am developing. Also, I made some great connections and am now working in earnest with fellow Closing the Gap attendee Michael Giedel who is helping me finance part of the film out of Germany.

What are the most important lessons you learned during the training programme?
Make sure the numbers stack up! Keep it to the point and clear! Make sure you really know all the answers on your project – because you WILL get asked them.

At what stage is your film today? Do you think it would be in the same place without having participated in Closing the Gap?
We are now 15% short of our full budget. However, I now have the project into a number of private investors whom would not have considered the film had I not been able to pitch it at the right level or offer the right materials.

Would you recommend the Closing the Gap programme to other producers? What do they stand to gain from it?
I definitely would recommend it for other producers, particularly those that have done one or two feature films but are having trouble getting to the next level. The training to enable a producer to step out of a creative headspace and into a business headspace is crucial to raising finance – and I think this is what Closing the Gap can teach.

Though I do stress that anyone doing the course, will only get the best out of it if they really embrace the course and do the work. It’s a bit of a slog when you’re not used to it, but those hard parts are what come in the most useful and are the most impressive when you’re pitching.

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