09/01/2007

European film industry professionals, scriptwriters, directors, producers and development managers have until February 20 to submit their application to the Script&Pitch training programme.
Promoted by Italian production company MGlab and the Alba International Film Festival, the programme brings together a fine selection of partners that includes Scuola Holden, the Turin Film Festival and European network Nisi Masa.

Under the mentorship of several highly experienced professionals, including Christina Kallas, Franz Rodenkirchen and Gino Ventriglia, the 20 candidates selected will spend ten months developing their project, from pitching before real decision-makers right through to all the writing phases. The six phases of work include four that will take place in residence and two from a distance.

While development has long been identified as one of the weak points of European cinema, especially on account of the lack of available funding for this crucial but high-risk phase, training programmes supported by the MEDIA Programme have had a good track record for the most part. These programmes complement the development process to such a degree that MEDIA decided to create the New Talent Award. The prize rewards a project developed in one of its training courses, such as Lara by Slovenian director Blaz Kutin, the 2006 award-winner that took part in the 2005 Script&Pitch event.