SCREEN FOREVER / News / SPA Connect Market a Pot of Gold
SPA Connect Market a Pot of Gold for Producers
11 Dec 2023
Screen Producers Australia (SPA) today revealed highlights from the upcoming SPA Connect Market that will take place 19-21 March 2024 on Queensland’s Gold Coast, as part of SCREEN FOREVER 38, followed by the Online Global Market from 26-27 March 2024.
SCREEN FOREVER 38 delegates can look forward to a bustling market packed with buyers and sellers, all there to take advantage of abundant opportunities to broker business deals, build industry networks, and pitch projects face-to-face with key local and international executives.
Local buyers participating in the SPA Connect Market include ABC, ACTF, Arcadia, the Foxtel Group, Roadshow Films, SBS, Sharmill Films, Stan, StudioCanal as well as global buyers FIFTH SEASON, Red Arrow Studios International and SC Films International, plus global financier Head Gear Films. The Online Global Market will include key international players, Bankside Films, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBS Studios, Fremantle International, Keshet International and ZDF Studios. More local and global buyers will be announced in the coming months.
The SPA Connect Market will see the return of highly anticipated elements, including Ready, Steady Pitch!, Marketplace Roundtables and the Screenrights Speed Networking Hour.
Ready, Steady, Pitch! is a high-energy, no-second-chances, fun and fast pitching market for delegates. Hosts include financiers, commissioners, sales agents, and distributors. Pitch meetings run for 10 minutes, with 5 minutes for delegates to pitch and 5 minutes for feedback from the host.
Marketplace Roundtables will give delegates a unique opportunity to meet buyers in a relaxed environment. Each roundtable will run for 25 minutes, providing the opportunity for an extensive Q&A.
The Screenrights Speed Networking Hour will again be a fast-paced event that aims to provide an energising environment for delegates to build new industry relationships.
March 2024 will also see the Production Partnerships Forum, allowing independent producers to meet with production companies to create important relationships, partnerships, and alliances.
After a year's hiatus, the popular Publishers Pitch & Market is back. It is the perfect opportunity for producers eager to hear from publishers, agents, and authors as they showcase their bestselling stories, published books and advanced copies of manuscripts. The Publishers Pitch & Market will see that the tables are turned as Producers are the ones being pitched to and will be a must for producer delegates who have a passion for adapting stories from page to screen or those on the hunt for the next big piece of Australian intellectual property.
A new offering for the 2024 SPA Connect Market is Launchpad, which will take place before the SCREEN FOREVER 38 Official Opening and aims to provide delegates new to SCREEN FOREVER with a comprehensive overview of the conference and how to make the most of the three days and nights. Launchpad will commence with a presentation providing first-hand advice from personal experiences at the conference, followed by a chance for emerging and early career producers to meet with lawyers, accountants, financiers, post houses, insurers and other services and facilities providers to expand their industry networks and contacts in a fast-paced speed networking event.
The Online Global Market, a fully digital market, will see delegates given a chance to promote their screen businesses and slates to top executives from across the globe. Delegates can participate in Global Marketplace Roundtables and Global Ready, Steady, Pitch!. Hosts will include international commissioning executives, distributors, and sales agents – all looking for the next best thing from Australian producers.
Spots for the SPA Connect Market and the Online Global Market are pre-booked on a first-come-first-serve basis, with all Gold Coast registered delegates receiving the opportunity to pitch.
SPA Connect Market Bookings open 12:00pm AEST on Tuesday, 20 February 2024, and bookings for the Online Global Market open 12:00pm AEST on Tuesday, 27 February 2024.
Both markets are open to delegates with a Gold Coast Pass, and meetings can be booked via the SPA Connect Market page.
Bookings for both markets are essential as places are strictly limited.
SCREEN FOREVER is proudly supported by the Queensland Government, through Screen Queensland.
Screen Producers Australia respectfully acknowledges the people of the Yugambeh language region, the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet. We thank the traditional custodians for welcoming us all onto their lands.
We acknowledge and pay respects to them and all their descendants both past and present. We also acknowledge the many Aboriginal people from other regions as well as Torres Strait and South Sea Islander people who now live in the local area and have made an important contribution to the community.