For a film to exist in the world, it needs to know where it sits both within the market and with its audiences. Knowing who your potential audiences are before you embark on the long, challenging journey of independent filmmaking will give you better chances of finding and engaging in a meaningful way.

The Audience Design Lab is an in-person workshop aimed to support filmmakers with the above, by introducing the methodology of Audience Design and supporting teams with defining and understanding their target audience.

Over the course of four days, up to 5 film teams will each receive a tailored, creative workshop on their project led by a highly skilled Audience Designer in which they will explore and identify potential audiences and routes to market for their film. Additionally, each team will be supported with one-on-one sessions with industry experts in international sales, festival strategy, and international publicity.

Venue Location:

Zoku Vienna
Perspektivstrasse 6
1020
Vienna

Application Deadline:

17 March 2025

Lab Outline

A 4-day workshop with your own Audience Designer

One-on-one sessions with industry experts giving feedback on your film

Peer-to-peer feedback and an environment to share ideas

Outcomes

Teams will come away with:

–        Knowing how to better position their film

–        A deeper understanding of their film’s core story

–        Defined Unique Selling Points

–        Ideas on the film’s visual identity

–        Audience clusters and Personas

–        Insights into how to navigate in the marketplace

Fees

Early Bird Rate:

1.755,- Euros excl. VAT (For 2 People) +400,- for extra person

For more information regarding fees, visit: Fees and Funding Support Page 

Participation in The Audience Design Lab could be an eligible expense in European funding schemes, such as the new Eurimages “Film Marketing and Audience Development Support” scheme. This fund is accessible to recipients of the Eurimages Co-Production Funding. You can find more information about the Eurimages support scheme here: https://www.coe.int/en/web/eurimages/fmad

Who is it for?

The Lab is designed for 5 film teams working across fiction, documentary, or animated films who are either in late development or have completed their feature.

For projects in development, we recommend applying with a script that is developed enough so it can be clearly defined in terms of story, genre, and therefore audiences.

All genres and languages are welcome – although we ask you that materials and subtitles, where applicable, are made available in English.

The film team must consist of the producer and the director. A third member of the core film team, if relevant, is welcome to join.

The speaking language of the Lab is English, so we therefore recommend a decent fluency in the language.

Applications are welcome from individuals of all nationalities!

Lab Director

Síle Culley has run a consultancy on Audience Design since 2019. She facilitates and runs workshops for film teams to help them identify potential audiences for their films and the positioning of their projects in the ever-competitive marketplace. Her contribution as Audience Designer has led to international premieres at top festivals, world sales deals and theatrically released titles, and millions worth in successful funding applications. She frequently collaborates with Torino Film Lab, Screen Australia, NL Film Fonds, Film I Väst, and more.

Before this, Síle held positions in Distribution at Pulse Films, CinemaLive, and Altitude Films, where she worked on award-winning campaigns and on box-office records, ranging from Cannes buzz indies and Oscar-nominated animations to boyband concerts and live opera.

Experts

Full list of experts to be announced soon.
2025 Audience Designers: 

Síle Culley

Síle Culley

Lab Director - Audience Design Lab | 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 Audience Designer

Síle is a freelance Audience Designer and Development consultant based in Dublin. With nearly a decade of experience working in Sales and Distribution, Síle now runs an Audience Design consultancy helping independent producers and established production companies identify potential audiences for their films and the positioning of their projects in the ever-competitive marketplace. Since she began, her contribution as Audience Designer has led to international premieres at top festivals, world sales and theatrically released titles, and successful applications with Creative Europe, the BAI, and Screen Ireland. Síle is a member of the European Film Academy and the founder of The Breakfast Club, a peer-to-peer network for women working in the Business of Film in Ireland. She is an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Torino Film Lab, LIM Less Is More, and the NFTS.

Greta Nordio

Greta Nordio

Speaker - The Audience Design Lab | 2022, 2024 Development Producer, Audience Design Consultant, and Fund Advisor | TorinoFilmLab

Greta Nordio is a financing, development, and audience design consultant for independent films. She has worked as an audience designer since 2016, in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab, International Screen Institute, BrLab, and other international institutions and films, including the award-winning The Wound and A Land Imagined.

She was the head of financing, business and legal affairs of Vivo film for 6 years and currently is the Production and TFL Fund Advisor of TorinoFilmLab. She also offers consultancies in European and Italian financing.

Paul Rieth

Paul Rieth

Speaker - The Audience Design Lab | 2024 Audience Design Consultant

Paul Rieth is a Berlin-based audience strategist, marketing & crowdfunding consultant, and producer. He regularly gives lectures and presentations at universities, colleges, and film festivals. For TorinoFilmLab as well as the Documentary Campus Masterschool, he is a tutor and consultant in the field of audience design and marketing. In 2015 he released his first book, “DOK & CROWD”, about financing and distributing documentaries in Germany. With his agency, GET YOUR CROWD, he offers consultations or workshops for companies, organisations, and individuals for strategic planning regarding audiences(s), crowdfunding, and (online) marketing. In addition, he produces various web video formats for their clients. Since 2021, he has supported the Filmuniversity Babelsberg in the fields of audience design,innovation and entrepreneurship.

Benjamin Cölle

Benjamin Cölle

Speaker - The Audience Design Lab | 2022, 2024 Audience Design Consultant & Trainer | Pluto Film Distribution Network GmbH

Benjamin Cölle has worked as an audience design consultant & trainer on a broad variety of film projects within TorinoFilmLab, World Cinema Fund, International Screen Institute, and BrLab.

He has an academic background in cultural studies (Humboldt University Berlin / Goldsmiths London) and has worked as a production assistant at Flying Moon Film Production Berlin (2010/11), as a creative producer at INDI FILM Stuttgart/Berlin (2011-2018), as a tutor and researcher in the production and directing department of Film University KONRAD WOLF Potsdam (2015-2023), and since 2022 as managing director of the world sales company Pluto Film Distribution Network.

Ewa Bojanowska

Ewa Bojanowska

Speaker - The Audience Design Lab | 2024 Audience Designer & Festivals & Marketing Consultant

Ewa Bojanowska graduated in Media Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Film Producing from the Polish Film School in Łódź. She is also an EAVE Marketing and Torino Audience Design graduate. From 2015 to 2022, Ewa worked for New Europe Film Sales as Festival Manager, where she worked on festival hits such as The Last Family by Jan P. Matuszyński and Summer 1993 by Carla Simon. As Head of Marketing, she worked on campaigns for such films as SWEAT, LAMB, and CORPUS CHRISTI.

Since 2022 she has worked as an independent audience designer and marketing and festival consultant, and handled, among others, the Oscars® campaign for The Balcony Movie by Paweł Łoziński.

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