20/09/2012 - Cineuropa interviews Spanish producer Deborah Micheletti, one of the participants in the Closing The Gap training course

Cineuropa interviews Spanish producer Deborah Micheletti, one of the participants in the Closing The Gap training course.

Please introduce yourself and the films you have produced…
I am a producer, head of international development at Los Sueños de la Hormiga Roja, a Spanish production company specialized in historical and creative documentaries. The film we are producing is called The Secret of the Trees, a long feature creative documentary with parts of animation. It is about the odyssey of a Polish soldier, Jacek Lopuszanski, who survived the deportation to the Gulags in Siberia during WWII. It will be a Spanish-German-Polish co-production.

Before participating in the Closing The Gap programme, did you already have experience in producing a film?
A little bit. I started working in this company in 2009, so I would not say I am an experienced producer.

In what ways did the Closing The Gap programme transform your experience?
It gave an insight in a realm that usually independent producers do not have or think about, the world of private investors. Before Closing The Gap I was quite sceptical about this kind of collaboration and now they are just like any another possibility.

How did your film benefit from your participation in Closing The Gap?
We managed to create a sound business plan that we adapted for the different people we approached: producers, commissioning editors, funds. It was good to have international experts evaluating the project. It helped us to focus and simplify the project in a way to be better understood. It was also good for the insight in the world of transmedia and crossmedia, which in this moment is fundamental for independent productions. We have used this knowledge in other projects we have developed quite successfully, both for the transmedia component and for the crowd-funding and viral marketing part.

What are the most important lessons you learned during the training programme?
To make things as easy as possible - have a good strategic plan that covers all aspects of the production, and also consider all possibilities.

At what stage is your film today? Do you think it would be in the same place without having participated in Closing The Gap?
We are finalizing development and trying to fundraising in order to start production. Thanks to Closing the Gap we have found our German co-producer Michael Geidel at Miriquidi Film, so we definitely would not be where we are now!

Would you recommend the Closing The Gap programme to other producers? What do they stand to gain from it?
I would recommend it to the less experienced producers, as an opportunity to improve their strategic planning skills. Also it is a good occasion to meet and network with other producers in a relaxedenvironment and the pitching can be a good first time as it is quite private and friendly.

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