Symposium “How to Sell a Short Film” - Internationale Kurzfilmtage ...

PART2:WORLDSALESAGENCIESSimonKoenigstartsthesecondpartofthesymposiumwiththemuch‐askedquestion,ifthereisanythingsuchasworldsalesforshortfilms.ThisisnotthecaseinSwitzerland,buttherearemany such organisations abroad. The guests form an illustrious round of four speakers, whohavebeensellingshortfilmsforyears,amongthemarepresentativeoftheoldestofthesekindsofinstitutions,thelegendaryKurzFilmAgenturinHamburg.MichaelSchwarz,DistributionandMarketing,KurzFilmAgenturHamburgMichael has been an employee of the KurzFilmAgentur since 2000:http://agentur.shortfilm.com/TheKurzFilmAgenturHamburge.V.(KFA)hasbeenpromotingthepopularisationofshortfilmsas an independent art form. The agency was established with the support of the HamburgDepartment of Culture. The main aim of its activities is to improve the screening anddistribution options of national and international short film productions. The agency curatesshort film programmes for national and international festivals and institutions, and can beconsulted as a cooperation partner for cultural events. The agency sees itself as a gatewaybetweenshortfilmproducersandscreeninginstitutions.Toachievethisfunction,theagencyconcentratesonthreemainareasofactivity:SHORTFILMDISTRIBUTION:∙ since 1994, continuous build‐up and acquisition of non‐exclusive commercialtheatreandscreeningrightsintheGerman‐speakingarea(Germany,Switzerland,Austria). Current catalogue has around 390 international shorts on 35mm anddigitalcarriers.∙Shortfilmsofallgenres.Mostlynarrative.70%under10minutes.∙ 18 feature‐length, thematically ordered short film compilations (Shit Happens,OscarinShorts),includingashortfilmreelforchildren“Mo&FrieseUnterwegs”.∙ Over 400 cinemas are clients (with around 70 fixed subscription clients andaround1millionvisitorsin2008)∙Flatrates(40Eurosforonedayofscreenings,100Eurosforoneweek),astheagencycan'tshareintheboxofficetakingsofthecinemas(whichwouldbeverylucrative,butthepossibilitytoshowshortfilmsalonewashard‐fought...)∙ Since 2005, the distribution catalogue can be researched online onwww.kurzfilmverleih.com∙Atpresent:thedistributioncatalogueisdigitalisedin2K,“XKSHORTS”SHORTFILMWORLDSALES:∙Since1998:build‐upofacatalogueofaround180,predominantlyGerman,shortfilms by acquiring the exclusive global commercial rights for international shortfilmproductions.∙Worldsalesoftheexploitationrights∙ Clients include: TV stations (e.g. arte, Canal+ .. ), feature distributors, cinemas,