Due to the high competitiveness of the film market, over the years the practice of buying films on script has become more and more common even for independent films. Today, in the distribution sector, the ability to evaluate the potential of a film from its script is a key aspect of the decision-making process that leads to acquiring and releasing a film.
 
For the 4th year of its partnership with the KVIFF, Europa Distribution keeps on addressing the sector’s needs, by offering this time an opportunity to share knowledge, experience and best practices regarding script analysis. Along with the festival, the association of European distributors will organize an Open Showcase session and a Private Workshop, both dedicated to the exploration of the ways films can be perceived from their scripts and of the elements that are essential to evaluate their potential. While the workshop will focus on developing human analytical skills, the open session will highlight the possible contribution of innovative digital technologies in this matter.
 
On Monday July 2, Nadira Azermai, the founder of the Antwerp-based startup Scriptbook, will showcase a live demo of the platform they developed. In this spotlight session, entitled « Artificial Intelligence and Script Analysis: Predicting Commercial and Critical Success for European and Independent Film », Nadira Azermai will try to demonstrate how AI, by helping industry stakeholders to understand the science of audience satisfaction, can be a powerful tool to improve decision-making and to select content which stands out both critically and commercially.
 
The Scriptbook presentation will provide an interesting foretaste of the way digital technologies might significantly change practices in the film industry. But since they are not able to replace human judgement, Europa Distribution « Script evaluation workshop – How to evaluate a film and its potential by reading the script?» will seek to equip its members with reading methods that can help them to understand which elements should be taken into account when reading a script and how they could build an evaluation grid that is adaptable to different kind of scripts. Through concrete examples, case studies and experience sharing, this private session (for Europa Distribution members only) planned on Tuesday 3 July will tackle these questions with the support of the experienced script consultant and project development advisor Isabelle Fauvel (Initiative Film).
 
Attending distributors will also participate in the festival activities, including works in progress, meetings, special screenings and networking events.