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Frances-Anne Solomon Caribbean Tales Worldwide Distribution
being developed in partnership with Dr. Basil Springer's investment company, the Barbados Entrepreneurs’ Venture Capital Fund. Parallel to this, we will be producing a number of market development initiatives to assist producers to raise ?nance for their projects including an Annual Pitch Marketplace, A Market Incubator, and a number of codevelopments with partners including South Africa. Given the transformations in the global industry, (e.g - technological changes, global economic recession) where do you see your business going in the next 2-3 years?
What innovations have your company brought to the industry in recent years? 10 years ago I started CaribbeanTales which aimed to be an interactive online home for Caribbean culture and storytelling in all its forms. One of the most exciting projects was an interactive multimedia newsletter featuring authors and storytellers. Such things are perhaps commonplace now, but ?ve years ago it was quite the innovation and we were very grati?ed by the feedback we got.
We are moving to be more global in focus by tapping into international diasporic and south-south spaces. To do so we are employing a range of strategies from viral marketing to strategic collaborations and 2.! As has happened in many developed partnerships. countries government needs to partner with the private sector and the region’s What are the key lessons that you have learnt broadcasters sector to ?nancially support from working in the industry that new content creators. Regulation of the entrants should know? industry should be regional rather than by island. Establishment of regional and •! Persistence is the main quality needed. local ?lm funding commissions, and Keep going and you will get there. Give incentives for producers and investors to up and it is over. If ?rst you don't engage with the production pro?tably succeed... try, and try, and try, and try... should follow. •! Expect nothing, prepare for everything. •! Marketing, marketing, marketing. 3.! Marketing marketing marketing. Create and promote Film Brand Caribbean so it sits proudly on the world stage alongside Hollywood, Bollywood Nollywood and the British Film Industry.
television industry. We will never get anywhere by each island developing content speci?cally for their minuscule populations; there simply isn’t the audience base to support it ?nancially in that way. However we must ? ??rst consider the region, including the French, Spanish and Dutch territories, including the Diaspora. The Diaspora is important because there are huge populations of Caribbean people in every major urban city in North America and Europe. Our Diaspora extends also to Africa, India, China, and Lebanon which clearly indicates that the stories of Caribbean people speak to a very wide audience base. Then we can begin to talk about a sustainable audience base hungry for stories.
Five years ago I started the CaribbeanTales •! Don't be afraid to do every single thing Film Festival in Toronto and again at the time, yourself! Learn about the business, it was a great brand new idea to have a become a business person. "I am an artist, 4.! Nurture and develop a range of Caribbean-themed ?lm festival that moreover not a business person" is no excuse in ?lmmakers. Encourage exploration of apparently was destined to fail according to ?lmmaking. You will get left behind. storytelling from inside the Caribbean naysayers. However the growth and interest perspective, whatever that may be. in the Caribbean, it's culture, and its •! Don't hit your head on the wall, walk Develop a brand and aesthetic for our burgeoning media industry has helped the cinema that is parallel to our wonderful around it! We black people are inventive. festival to go from strength to strength. Literature. Such a development would Learn from Anansi - ?nd alternatives to reveal the Caribbean as so much more get what you want. In 2008, my feature ?lm A Winter Tale was than sun sand and sea but for what it is completed. We released it in the Caribbean an extraordinary diverse and complex •! Live your passion. Don't become bitter. where it opened in ?ve cinemas in Jamaica, combination of cultures, an extraordinary Don’t compare yourselves to other people. four in Trinidad, as well as in Antigua. Illness Enjoy each step of the journey - the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multiprevented me from completing the tour; business is too hard to face it with lingual world. however, we also had screenings in a number anything but a smile and a wink each and of other Caribbean islands, including every day. 5.! All this is doable in my opinion. Similar Barbados, St Lucia, Dominica, Martinique, industries have been developed in recent (not counting all the international screenings How was your company ?nanced in the years in South Africa, Canada, Australia, and releases). Again we were not the ?rst to initial stages and what are your key sources using many of the methods listed above. self distribute a Caribbean feature ?lm in the of income now? These are all now major ?lm economies. region (Alison Saunders’ Hit For Six did the Hollywood itself is no more than 100 same) but it is still a very new way of thinking BEFORE: Canadian Government grants; years old. The audiovisual sector is a about regional ?lm distribution. We also broadcast licenses; business incentive potentially very lucrative, multi-billion initiated a program called Talk It Out to screen schemes. NOW: Same as above but also dollar industry - we need to claim a piece this ?lm and others for schools across the sponsors, private investors and the tourism of this monster business to tell our stories region as well as in North America, for industry. and show the world how great it is to be audiences of high school students. Caribbean. If the audiovisual sector in your country was Finally, we are about to launch granted US $10 million, over a 3-5 year period, C A R I B B E A N TA L E S WORLDWIDE what should be done with it? DISTRIBUTION, a ?lm distribution company that aims to meet the demand from producers 1.! First there needs to be a regional body and buyers for a company that specializes in that supports the development of an Continued on Page 7 acquiring, promoting and selling Caribbean International Caribbean ?lm and themed audio visual content. This company is
6 www.creativeindustriesexchange.org
Volume 1 September - November 2010