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MIFF 37ºSouth Market occurs 08 August – 11 August 2024, around the opening weekend of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF).
If you are a PRODUCER based in Australia or New Zealand and you have a script-stage feature film project (or, better still, a slate of projects which can also include prestige TV drama) ready to pitch to and show distributors, sales agents, streamers and other screen financiers, then go to the Call for Submissions section of the MIFF 37ºSouth Market website and complete the application form (PRODUCER option A) for 37ºSouth: Bridging the Gap.
If you are a PRODUCER based in Australia or New Zealand and you have a completed movie that is seeking world sales representation or distribution, go to the Call for Submissions section and complete the application form (PRODUCER option B) for 37ºSouth: Breakthru Screenings.
Alternatively, if you are a PRODUCER or DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE who is seeking new material to develop and/or finance (and do not also have a script-stage project to pitch to financiers), then you may wish to attend all or some of these modules (the application form for which is also in the Call for Submissions section – PRODUCER option C):
NOTE: Producers accepted into Bridging the Gap or Breakthru Screenings are automatically entitled to “opt-in” for meetings at all or any of the content development modules PS&D, BaM, Nexus, as well as Link-Up (fostering connections and business opportunities between producers and 37°South partner organisations (screen agencies, service companies and more) and Team-Up (meetings between independent producers and larger production entities to explore collaboration opportunities).
If you are a book publisher / literary rights agent seeking to meet with producers and development executives, to pitch your books for screen adaptation, then please go to the Call for Submissions section and complete the 37ºSouth Books at MIFF form (portal D – for book publishers / literary agents).
If you hold the screen adaptation rights to other creative IP (such as games, comics, stage-plays, musicals, short stories, online content, poems, podcasts, etc) and wish to meet with producers and development executives, to pitch your creative assets for screen adaptation, then please go to the Call for Submissions section and complete the 37ºSouth Nexus form (portal E – for IP / creative asset holders).
If you are a screenwriter/director/creative seeking to meet with producers and development executives, to pitch your scripts and talents, go to the Call for Submissions section and complete the 37ºSouth PostScript&Direct form (portal F – for writers/directors/creatives).
NOTE: MIFF 37ºSouth Market is purely designed for screen production professionals to meet with potential financiers to stimulate screen production and/or with IP owners to find new content to develop. If you do not fall into these categories, then 37ºSouth Market is not for you – your best interface is with the 37ºSouth Market & Accelerator Lab public & industry partnership events, ticket purchases for which are open to all, as well as with MIFF‘s public programs and its hundreds of films, Q&A sessions, panels and other special events.
If you are concerned that your application for Bridging the Gap or Breakthru Screenings might not be successful, you may wish to apply for more than one strand/module of 37ºSouth Market to increase your chances of selection. Obviously, only a maximum of one of your applications will be successful. So, if you are applying, for example, with a completed film for a Breakthru Screening place (bearing in mind that there are only up to six Breakthru places on offer), you may wish to also apply with your script-based projects for Bridging the Gap. So, if you don’t secure the Breakthru place, you will still be in the running for a Bridging the Gap place. Be assured that no matter how many applications you submit, you will only be charged once – and only if you are successful.
Producers who, on the basis of their applications, are selected for Bridging the Gap (37ºSouth’s core production financing module) or Breakthru Screenings registrations to 37ºSouth Market will receive a photo-lanyard entitling them to scheduled meetings with local & international financiers/buyers who have requested to meet them, as well as selected networking events and State of Play talks; plus choice to opt-in (at no extra cost) or opt-out of participating in the content-seeking modules of 37ºSouth: Books at MIFF (program of book pitching, case-study talk, networking and (if requested) meetings with publishers pitching books for potential screen adaptations); and/or 37ºSouth: Nexus (other IP rights holders pitching their creative assets for potential film/TV adaptations, including games, musicals, comics, e-books, poems, podcasts); and/or 37ºSouth: PostScript & Direct (writers/directors/creatives pitch their screenplays and talents and seek to broaden their producer networks); and choice to opt-in (at no extra cost) or opt-out of participating in the business development modules of Team-Up (facilitating potential screen content collaborations between independent producers and larger production partners with direct finance access) and/or Link-Up (fostering connections and business between producers and 37ºSouth partner screen agencies and screen service organisations).
For those producers who do not have market-ready scripts to pitch to financiers, they can apply to attend solely the modules where they can seek new content to develop – namely Books at MIFF and/or Nexus and/or PostScript & Direct. For more information on 37ºSouth’s various modules, see here.
Yes!
However, each registration is only good for one participant; photo passes are not transferable, nor are they able to be shared, and only the person on the photo pass will be able to access the events (such as meetings, talks, functions) associated with the module they have been selected. Please note that by applying, you agree to the one participant per registration/lanyard rule.
For clarity, each 37ºSouth application is for one person only. Should you wish to have any of your collaborators join with your meetings, then: (1) they must submit a separate application; and (2) both your application and their application (and their application can be either with the same lead project as your own or else one of your slate projects with your lead project as one of their slate projects) must indicate that you both wish to be ‘linked’ to each other and take meetings together. For clarity, linked-participants will have the same diary of meetings for the entire Market – it is not possible to only part-link!
Please note that participants can only link with participants in the same module. So, only producers doing 37ºSouth: Bridging the Gap can link with others doing Bridging the Gap – participants registered for, say, PostScript & Direct are not permitted to join-in the financier meetings of a Bridging the Gap producer.
In summary, each application-registration is for one person only who will receive a lanyard entitling them entry to meetings, talks, events and functions associated with the module of 37ºSouth Market that they have been selected for. Nonetheless, more than one practitioner per project may attend the Market if they have separately applied and been accepted for registration.
In short, no! For your application to be valid, you are required to give your credit card details in the payment and declaration section of your application. However, the amount will only be deducted if your application is successful.
If you find yourself not able to attend the market refunds are not issued. However, on a case-by-case basis, a credit may be offered for the following year’s edition of the market. Like the registrations and passes themselves (as outlined above), a credit is good for the one producer only and is not transferable or able to be shared.
Generally, MIFF 37ºSouth Market will contact you in June to let you know if you have been successful or not – although some modules allocate places in stages running through June and early July. Also, for some producers, further information will be sought and your application placed in reserve and you will be contacted again in late June based on the new information you provide.
MIFF 37ºSouth Market has always connected Australian narrative feature film producers with the local and international marketplace on their home soil – far away from the rest of the world’s producers (and buyers) competing for sales agents’ attention at major international markets/festivals. MIFF 37ºSouth Market now also admits producers whose slate includes prestige TV drama.
If you have a feature-length documentary that is a genuine theatrical proposition (think An Inconvenient Truth, Mad Hot Ballroom, The September Issue, Sherpa, Mountain, Amy, Buena Vista Social Club, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Capturing the Friedmans, Twenty Feet from Stardom, Waltz with Bashir), then 37ºSouth Market will have co-financiers in attendance of relevance to your project. If your documentary project is aimed more at international TV co-financiers, then there are other Australian events (such as AIDC) to connect you to those TV buyers/financiers.
If you have attended a previous edition of the market and you wish to return with the same project, that is not a problem – after all, screen project financing is a gradual business! Indeed, many of the projects that have attached financing elements at 37ºSouth Market were presented at more than one edition of the event. Each year, the mix of financing guests is different with some returning companies and always several new companies. However, in this circumstance, it is advisable to apply with a slate.
Each year, 37ºSouth brings together a carefully-curated selection of screen production financiers (including sales agents, distributors, streamers, gap funders, cash-flow providers, and more) with a range of financial capacities and creative interests. Most years, this spread of companies will range from conglomerate level, through to major independents, frequent partners in Australian projects, streamers and companies comfortable with lower budget work.
Each of the meetings goes for around 20-minutes, replicating the typical meeting time at a major market. The best thing to do is to use the few days between getting your diary and the guest sales agent/distributor/financier profile document (generally four days prior to the start of the market – scheduling more than 3,000 meetings takes a long time!) and the start of the market to visit the links of each of the companies that are meeting with you to get a feel for their recent slate. Generally, it is advisable to have a pitch on your lead project ready to take up no more than 10 minutes of your meeting time, leaving time for questions and also to quickly pitch the rest of your slate if the buyer is interested. It is also advisable to be ready to switch quickly to another of your slate projects should the buyer not bite at your main project pitch. The key objective for most meetings is for the buyer (sales agent/distributor/financier) to be induced to ask to be sent a copy of your script – after all, a requested script generally gets read a lot sooner than an unsolicited one! For other producers, the key outcome is just having met the buyer and having made that contact which might be useful in the future. For foreign sales agents especially, 37ºSouth Market works as a “feeder & filter” market – in that they meet a very large number of producers over the four days and tend to pick a handful of projects that they would like to read the script for (Feeder element) and then take follow-up meetings with at future international markets (Filter).
Please note that 37ºSouth Market meetings are determined mainly by the preferences of the invited buyers (sales agents / distributors / financiers) – so, while this means that organisers cannot guarantee the number of buyers meetings in your diary, the benefit here is that if you have a meeting scheduled, odds-on it has been at the request of the buyer!
Don’t forget, that in addition to your scheduled meetings, there will also be several more informal networking events – so if you don’t have a meeting with a company that you were hoping for, there are other chances over the four days (which can include multiple networking events, selected roundtables, talks, screenings) where you might be able to make yourself known to them. Also, there are also other meeting opportunities in non-financier modules, such as BaM, PS&D, Nexus, and Link-Up, and you never know where various connections eventually lead.
It is worth remembering that it all starts with your application: the 37ºSouth Market application process asks for specific information on your projects to assist the invited distributors, financiers, sales agents and other funders to make their decisions on whether or not your project is something they are interested in meeting you about. So, this means it is very important that you provide full information on the form because if you are selected to participate at 37ºSouth Market, this two-page form becomes your entry in the confidential project book from which the financiers then make their selections for who they wish to meet. So, in summary, your application form is a crucial document that serves two important functions: (1) it is the basis upon which the decision to select you to participate is made; and (2) it is the basis upon which the financiers will determine if they wish to meet with you.
If you are attending the market and are from outside Melbourne, there is a large range of hotels close to 37ºSouth Market‘s main venues; at the luxury end is Rydges on Exhibition Street, The Westin on Collins Street, Next Hotel on Little Collins Street, Sofitel on Collins, Sheraton on Little Collins, and Hyatt on Collins, while on the more budget side is the Victoria Hotel on Little Collins and the Mercure on Swanston Street.
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