On 3 September, the Hotel Excelsior’s Spazio Incontri hosted a talk titled “The Creative Connection: Kick-starting Writer/Producer Collaboration in Early Development”. The Venice Production Bridge event saw the participation of The Creatives members Carole Scotta (Haut et Court, France), Leontine Petit (Lemming Film, Netherlands) and Gerhard Meixner (Razor Film, Germany), who presented the final results of The Creative Connection to the industry representatives in attendance. Laura Gragg, The Creative Connection head of programme, moderated the discussion.

The Creatives is the Fremantle-backed alliance consisting of ten production companies, launched in 2021 (see the news). Its members are France’s Haut et Court, the Netherlands’ Lemming Film, Belgium’s Versus Production, Norway’s Maipo Film, Germany’s Razor Film, Israel’s Spiro, France’s Unité, the UK’s Good Chaos, Germany’s Komplizen Film and US-based Masha. Together, they aim to house a slate of high-end drama series and films, and increase their collective power. During the days of the Venice Production Bridge, the alliance invited producers and writers to take part in three dedicated workshops.

The three workshops – titled Inspiration, Brainstorming and Collaboration – were held in France, Greece and Germany, and were co-financed by the European Commission with backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

During the panel, Scotta highlighted how the alliance aims to create “a safe space for writers” so that they can work freely. Currently, five projects are in the works as part of the alliance’s efforts. The core goal, however, remains that of collaboration, Gragg underscored.

Meixner pointed out how the experience has proven very useful overall, and how creatively stimulating and stress-free it was to work on developing ideas without feeling obliged to deliver something at the end. Petit agreed and said that not focusing on deliverables didn’t mean ignoring the market, but rather giving each writer some time to think through “what they really want to write about” and develop their network.

During the event, a video featuring participating writers Tunde Aladese, Susanne Farrell, Reeta Ruotsalainen and Jan Schomburg was also screened. The four writers agreed how the alliance’s activities have the potential to pave the way for new, fresher forms of storytelling; to play a role in Europe’s efforts to protect and promote its cultural values; and to significantly strengthen the relationships between writers and producers. The latter is a point of crucial importance, especially in the turbulent times of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Towards the end of the discussion, Gragg announced that The Creatives had applied for a second round of funding and that they were hoping to continue their efforts in 2024.