Series Accelerator participants pitch in SerienCamp, Cologne
Ewa Network is proud to announce the conclusion of the first Series Accelerator Programme with a successful pitch at Seriencamp Festival.
In 2023 EWA Network teamed up with Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equity to launch the Series Accelerator Programme, an initiative which has brought together women film producers to expand their creative range by deepening their knowledge of series production. The launch was announced at MIA Market, Rome in October 2023.
The programme unfolded for six months in 2024 and consisted of three industry-led workshops curated by EWA, which offered practical insight and upskilling tailored to the European series production landscape. Furthermore, each participant received a €5,000 grant to further develop their work.
THE PARTICIPANTS
Maria Teresa Favia, Dinamo Film ITALY (Nowhere Special, dir. Uberto Pasolini 2020; Ferrante Fever, dir. Giacomo Durzi 2017)
Stelana Kliris, Meraki Films, CYPRUS (Pafsi, dir. Tonia Mishiali2018)
Sharon Lawless, Flawless Films, IRELAND ( The Killing of Fr. Niall Molloy, documentary 2021)
Maja Popovic Milojevic, Sense Production, SERBIA (Balaur, dir. Octav Chelaru, 2021; Forever Hold your peace, dir. Ivan Marinovic, 2023)
Helene Sifre, Braintrust Productions, UK (Blue Jean, dir. Georgia Oakley, 2022)
Ioana Lascar, DeFilm, ROMANIA (To the North, dir. Mihai Mincan 2022; Lost kids on the beach, dir. Alina Manolache 2020)
Geraldine Ohana, Nekeva, FRANCE (Why we fight, dir. Camille Etienne & Solal Moisan, 2023; the pod generation, dir. Sophie Barthes, 2023)
Alejandra Mora, Quatre Films, SPAIN (Tehran blues, dir. Javier Tolentino, 2021, an Elephant on a Spiders ́web, dir. Rolando Diaz 2022)
WS1 Amsterdam
The workshop in Amsterdam at Neflix's offices was aimed to introduce the eight participants to their tutors, and get them familiarised with the overall program goals, and the formats and conventions of series production; to build a strong creative foundation for an achievable, commercially viable production; to apply the learnings about series production to their specific projects to be developed during the programme.
Participant Sharon Lawless Geraldine Ohana Maria Teresa Favia Alejandra Mora Ioana Lascăr Hélène Sifre Stelana Kliris and Maja Popovic got to learn about TV scripts with Dan Sefton (UK), different models for series content development with Teresa Fernandez-Valdes (Spain) and financing perspectives in series development with Mirela Nastase (Germany).
After some intense plenary sessions which included a presentation on the perks of shooting in the Netherlands from the Netherlands Film Commission, the group enjoyed a boat trip to Amsterdam while reviewing the assignments for the next session.
We were proud to count on the experts Teresa Fernández-Valdés, Writer and Producer (Cable Girls, Gran Hotel), Mirela Nastase, Director of Drama, ZDF Studios and Peter Nadermann, Producer, NADCON (The Bridge, 2011; the Millenium Trilogy, 2009)
THE TUTORS
DAN SEFTON
Dan Sefton is a writer of TV drama and comedy. He has written for several well-established long-running British dramas, as well as developing, writing and exec producing his own original series, two of which have received a second series commission to date. He continues to develop original drama and comedy projects as well.
Best known for the dramas Trust Me, The Good Karma, Hospital and The Mallorca Files produced for BBC/Amazon.
FRANCESCA DI LISI
Francesca currently works for The Apartment Pictures, in the development department, closely following a number of international projects. She shifted towards development in 2021, whilst before she worked as a screenwriter for the most important Italian producers and broadcasters, including Rai, Mediaset and Sky Italia. She created and wrote for Sky Studios the first season of the TV series Blocco 181, a crime show on violent and flashy Latin gangs attempting to conquer the city of Milan. She also wrote the second season of the cop show Carlo & Malik, produced by Cattleya and Rai.
In the last ten years, she also worked as a tutor with different international screenwriting programs and schools, such as European Writers Club, Torino Film Lab, Serial Eyes and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
WS 2 ONLINE MEETING
After months of work with the help of the tutor, we dived into the second workshop with clear goals of stepping into production and starting to reach target audiences; with the help of numerous experts, some of them also EWA members, we continued building on knowledge acquired in Workshop 1, the online orkshop focused on the “how to” essentials of producing series, rather than single films, from understanding and targeting different audience segments, to funding, finance across the full duration of a series, and managing bigger production and post-production teams across multiple episodes.
We express our gratitude to the representatives of the national governments Cristina Morales Puerta, Caroline O'Loughlin, Danae Stylianou, Ana Mirea and Maria Silvia Gatta from the European Commission who joined our workshop for an exchange on a topic close to our hearts: “Diversity in the Audiovisual Sector in Europe.”
We concluded this workshop with an inspiring feeling and with growing enthusiasm to meet everyone again at Seriencamp for the final pitches!
WS3 SERIENCAMP COLOGNE
In this final workshop, the participants prepared their updated financial plan, budget top sheet, series bible, refined the outlines for each episode, the commissioning and distribution strategy and the project pitch with the invaluable coaching by Linda Green, who helped the participants on how to pitch their amazing projects.
In this workshop, the participants practiced how to pitch to the TV industry’s professionals, to later test their skills by pitching their projects at SERIENCAMP CONFERENCE.
Quotes from participants
The program was a fantastic first step into international series production, with very good experts who were open and ready to share their experiences
A really great well-rounded programme that covered all areas regarding series development and production, with an impressive selection of experienced tutors and mentors/industry experts.
It was well-organised and focused at exactly the right level for my experience and needs. What was outstanding - apart from the open sharing of knowledge with the other participants - was the standard of expert speakers. Each one was incredibly generous with their time and so honest about their experiences, good and bad. There was no mystery or ego, just good, solid advice and encouragement.
I must also mention the significance of the eight of us (and tutors, speakers, etc) contributing to each other's projects, or even getting a better understanding of the producer's own vision. Our bond as individuals and a group is great, and adds so much quality and value to the programme to have mutual trust and respect, knowing that we want each other to succeed. Thank you so much.