Cannes Guest Blogger Day 3
Hey Robert, nice shoes! :-) Here's his report:
Day 3
Yesterday afternoon I went back to the Stock Film area to check if I’d be able to view the projected film a few minutes before the screening – just to be sure it looks right. The image on the tape is anamorphic and it’s correctly labelled in English but not in French :)
I met with a friend from London who now lives in LA working as a finance finder (not entirely sure what the official name is for these guys) – he vets film projects, packages them into slates and then seeks finance. He ran by me the films he’s here to get funding for and I got his feedback on some one-pagers I have for my films in development.
No Jacket Required
Last night was the Cannes marche opening night party. I think that everyone screening a film or renting a booth in the market was invited – so very much an industry party rather than a celebrity or promotional party.
I had my invitation with me but I was going to have to try to get Calum in. I’d tried emailing the organisers to get another pass but had not heard back. So here’s what happened….
First, I checked the invite several times to make sure of the dress code. The French bouncers (the doormen? Not sure of the American word) are shipped in from around all of France because the festival requires so many and boy are they dicks.
So there’s no dress code and much to Calum’s annoyance I wore a Kooks T-shirt and my chequered Vans – he of course dressed up but then he didn’t have an invite and I still had to use my charm to get him in!
We waited in line to get through the bouncers and check in with the hostesses. As I walked in saw him look down at my shoes and I thought “oh no, run!” His arm reached out to grab mine to hold me back but I managed to stretch out my arm and fully extended stick my market pass under a hostess’ nose! Phew - close shave. The dick was still clinging on to me but the hostess flicked him a look to let me go! There’s no arguing with these dicks because they don’t speak English and I don’t speak French. So complaining that the invite doesn’t stipulate a dress code is going to be a lost cause. Every year they’re the same and that’s why Calum was annoyed with me because we both knew I was chancing my luck – but hey, I’m a nonconformist man! :)
OK, I was in and thankfully the hostess was very nice and allowed me access for one guest but it looked dicey for several minutes as she pondered the rules and regulations.
Inside was pretty cool – free food, champagne and fireworks. I met a producer, my sales agent who is selling my first feature, London Voodoo, and someone from the Canada film board. Again, another successful networking event: it all happens at the parties!
We finished at 3am again and found a small café still open serving hot snacks.
At 10am I caught a film that screened at Sundance – Quid Pro Quo and at 12:15 I met at Australian distributor who wanted a MindFlesh screener.
It’s now 2pm and I’ve been talking to another director who has a market screening next week and swapping war stories about distributors, markets, video on demand etc. I’m going to grab a bite to eat now, pick up more business cards from the apt and then catch a screening at 3:30pm because I know the producer.
More tomorrow…
