Cross-media professionals from across Europe are travelling to Potsdam this July for Pixel Lab 2012. Of the 35 participants confirmed, 18 are producers who will be bringing a range of exciting projects to the lab, combining film, interactive, live event, mobile, gaming, TV, publishing or online.
Now in its third year, The Pixel Lab is Power to the Pixel’s unique cross-media workshop, a residential training event at which the participants, from 16 different European countries, come together to develop and exchange skills and ideas to create, produce and finance cross-media properties. Included on the list of producers this year, is i-Docs 2012 delegate and speaker Andrew Pawlby from The London Quest Company with the proect ‘A Tale of Two Johns’.
Each project producer will be partnered with a participant not bringing a project, who include screenwriters, commissioning editors, financiers, story architects, cross-media and interactive producers. Within the Lab, producers will also receive expert guidance and invaluabel from a team of cross-media tutors — producers, writers, funders and legal experts who are all international leaders in their field, which this year includes executive director of ARTE France Cinéma (FR), Sean Coleman and head of digital content & strategy, National Film Board of Canada (CAN), Adam Sigel.
Commenting on the Lab, Liz Rosenthal, CEO & founder of PttP, said: “We’re thrilled to see the growing number, diversity and quality of projects and participants this year. We look forward to nurturing these innovative professionals towards the building of sustainable cross-media businesses and IP with higher awareness for 21st century audiences.
Thanks to the longstanding generous support of the MEDIA Programme, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Skillset, TorinoFilmLab and ARTE, Power to the Pixel is able to gather the world’s leading experts to help develop the exchange of skills and ideas, advance competitiveness and business acumen and create new networking opportunities for participants through collaborative project-driven work”.
The collaborative nature of the event means that the benefits for particpents are potentially limitless; Savina Neirotti, director of TorinoFilmLab said: “Every time I take part in a Power to the Pixel’s Lab, my head starts spinning, a number of ideas come to me, and the need to explore them further, test them, and make them real. This is what The Pixel Lab is about, transforming brilliant ideas into concrete projects.”
This residential week in July is the beginning of a four-month process. From July to September, producers will continue their work with Power to the Pixel heads, Liz Rosenthal & Tishna Molla, on project strategy. The Pixel Lab culminates at PttP’s Cross-Media Forum in London in October, when one producer will be awarded The Pixel Lab Prize, after a presentation of the projects to a jury of industry leaders. In addition, up to three producers will be selected to present their project at TorinoFilmLab’s Final Meeting Event held during the Turin Film Festival in November.
Dan Simmons, head of film at Creative Skillset said: “It is crucial that UK film businesses continue to be pioneering and entrepreneurial to maintain our competitive edge in this digital age. The Pixel Lab 2012 will give participants the skills to respond to new patterns of consumer behaviour, capture new audiences and enhance their business opportunities. We are delighted to continue our support for a scheme that unites talent from across the creative industries and brings innovative cross-media projects into the marketplace.”
The Lab seeks to increase competitiveness in the international marketplace, advance business acumen and create new collaborative and networking opportunities for participants through focused, project-driven work. Once again, it will receive generous backing from European funders who share these aims. For the third year running, the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, TorinoFilmLab, and Creative Skillset’s Film Skills Fund aresupporting The Pixel Lab. Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg are supporting the event for the second time, ARTE France have this year awarded bursaries to three French participants, Camille Duvelleroy, Chloé Jarry and Guillaume Podrovnik.
The Pixel Lab 2012 will run from 1 to 7 July at the Resort Schwielowsee, Potsdam, Germany. Producers attending with a project attend a second workshop run in London in tandem with PttP’s Cross-Media Forum, from 16 to 19 October held in association with the BFI London Film Festival, to find out more, click here.