This 4-day Audience Design Lab in-person workshop aims to introduce the methodology of Audience Design to the next generation of talented filmmakers by giving them an overview of the independent film landscape. During the Lab, (five) 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.
For a film to exist in the world, it needs an audience. It needs to know where it sits both within the market, and with its audiences. Not positioning a film early on means taking a huge risk as success rarely just happens. 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.
Who’s it for?
The workshop is for fiction and documentary feature teams who are either in late development through to the completion on their debut, 2nd or 3rd feature.
It will be most beneficial to teams that have developed their projects far enough that they can be clearly defined in terms of genre and thus audiences.
Feature-length Fiction or documentary films that have not yet secured Sales or Distribution.
Debut or early career films (1st / 2nd / 3rd feature).
Either in late development or completed (we will accept picture-lock).
Teams applying in Development: Producer, Director, Writer.
Team applying as Completed: Producer, Director (Optional: additional Producer).
The Institute is aiming for gender parity, so strongly encourages female teams. We are keen to promote equality across all its training programmes with a focus on inclusivity across gender, abilities, ethnicity and socio-economic status.
Síle is a freelance Audience Designer and Development consultant based in Dublin.
After almost a decade in London working in Sales & Distribution, including at award-winning independent Altitude Films, Síle now facilitates and runs workshops for film teams to help them identify potential audiences for their films and the positioning of their projects in the marketplace. She's also a guest programmer for the Dublin Feminist Film Festival. Síle is an alumni of the National Film and Television School, Berlinale Talents, Torino Film Lab and LIM Less Is More. She is a member of the European Film Academy.
Venue / Location
More information about the venue will be available when applications are open.
Covid Protocol
All courses that will take place on-site will follow an adequate hygiene protocol. The safety and health of everyone involved in our training is our top priority. A more detailed protocol briefing will be provided closer to the training.
Course Fee
More information about the fees will be available when applications are open.
If you have any questions about this course, content or fees, please email office@screeninstitute.eu
Booking terms and conditions for participants
If you are unable to attend the International Screen Institute course due to (certified) health reasons (e.g. Covid infection), please contact our office. We will consider alternative possibilities for your participation and if no option is suitable, we will allow you to use the payment you have made against the next edition of the course. If you are unable to attend the International Screen Institute course due to any other reasons, please contact our office as soon as you become aware of your impossibility to attend. Depending on the time of your notice, and on the costs we have incurred in connection with your booking, we may not be able to refund part or all of your participation fee. Your case will be dealt with on an individual basis. We reserve the right to cancel or postpone a course if circumstances require it. In this case, your participation fee will be transferred to the rescheduled dates. If you are unable to attend rescheduled courses, you will be entitled to a full refund. If you have any questions about the programme, the application form or financial support needed to attend this course, please email office@screeninstitute.eu
Scholarship
Thanks to Creative Europe Funding, ISI has partial scholarship support available for participants who wish to attend this course from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
If you are not from a Low Capacity Country and can give us a good reason that you are in need of financial assistance and your national screen agency does not fund training in principle, please contact us before submitting your application to discuss whether you can apply for financial support. We have very limited funds available for a limited number of participants in genuine need.
For working parents who have childcare responsibilities, we have a childcare bursary available and a bursary for participants who need extra assistance due to disability or impairment available.
Financial Support
We actively encourage participants to research and apply for financial support with your national/regional funding bodies first who may have bursaries and grants to cover training and professional development.
Please ask the MEDIA Desk in your country if there are any funding opportunities available. Kindly inform us if you apply to a national or regional fund.
We are currently reviewing all the national funds available in Europe. Below are a few examples:
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe. Neitherthe European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.