Stories are always best told from the start so read Part 1 of Steve’s blog here. If you’re already up to date then continue reading below. You can also find links to each blog from the series so far at the bottom of this page.
Attending MIP – Days 1 and 2 by Steve Hanton
With my bags packed full of a range of clothes due to the last minute worry that I would be dressed incorrectly and my man bag armed with my iPad and printed literature I headed toward the airport. I arrived in Nice and got on the bus to the centre of Cannes. I walked to my apartment, dropped my bags and headed out to take in sunny Cannes and register at the Palais, the large building where it was all to happen.
Once registered, I was able to get past the pretty strict security and walk toward the UK Indies stand. Once there I met Dawn, the first familiar and very friendly face I had seen. I checked my locker at the stand, dropped some stuff off and went to my first official meeting of MIP.
I met with Shea Fontana of Porchlight Entertainment. I pitched all of our concepts and she showed a keen interest in helping develop our 'Little Animals' project further helping with writing scripts etc. The meeting was outside The Grand hotel and felt quite relaxed although I would stress the need for practicing your pitch and condensing it to a short form that communicates the core ideas and information the person you're pitching to needs. We were told that we didn't need any animation prior to MIP, that a good idea and pitch would sell itself.... I completely disagree, if you can afford professional visuals then they can make all of the difference. Everyone responds differently to pitches, some people like visuals and some scripts. The mistake would be to present amateur looking visuals that would put people off even reading your scripts. We are lucky enough to have a great team of artists that produce wonderful work so we put them to work in preparation for MIP and they sure delivered.
After this first meeting I attended the ‘First Timers' Cocktail and Tour', this felt a little bit of a waste of time as I can read a building map and prefer exploring on my own. But nonetheless I joined in and killed an hour before my next meeting across the road with a Singaporean animation studio, interested in 'Little Animals'. We had been speaking for a few months before this meeting and he was surprised how young I looked and jokingly embarrassed at how old he looked. What I realised from this meeting was that everyone judges people when they first pitch but if your project is good enough, little else matters.
An hour later I was across the road at the Palm Square Bar for a welcome drink hosted by UK Indies and their Canadian equivalent. Here I met Greg and Eugenio from Three Stones Media, they were here at MIP to promote a little show about a Rastafarian Mouse, I don't know if you've heard of it. It was lovely to meet two such down to earth people and chat in a relaxed environment, about the pros and cons of the TV business. I left there quite early as I knew I had a big day ahead of me tomorrow.
The next day at the UK Indies stand I met with the BBC, France TV and Rights.TV, and had lunch while walking around the hundreds of other exhibitors from around the world making sure nobody had a concept based on a theme park or kids dressed as animals. I then went to the 'Co-Production Masterclass' with David E Zucker. He was there explaining creative financial models and production strategies.
Following this was a meeting with E1 Entertainment on the beach outside the Palais although they seemed to not know who I was and I only got the chance to perform an elevator pitch to someone that watered their plants or something, she was not interested. I left and sent a confused email to my studio manager who had set up all of these meetings.
I am checking my itinerary and it says I attended the MIPCOM launch party at 6:00pm until 8:30pm to be honest I have no idea about this event. So I presume I arranged another meeting and got side tracked or got extremely drunk and lost my memory, this remains a mystery.
The Road to MIP (Part 1): Deciding on MIP
The Road to MIP (Part 2): Preparing for MIP
The Road to MIP (Part 3): Attending MIP – Days 1 and 2
The Road to MIP (Part 4): Attending MIP - Day 3
The Road to MIP (Part 5): Attending MIP - Days 4 and 5