FUNDING COMPETITION: Discop Jhb Launches Pitching Competition For Producers

DISCOP Johannesburg, the continent’s largest content market, continues to provide important platforms for the development of Africa’s future content producers.

DISCOP Johannesburg pitching competitions, the most recent in Abidjan in June and upcoming in Johannesburg in November, have become known across Africa as “must-attend” events for independent producers looking to generate funding for projects as well as for mentoring and networking.

The DISCOP pitching competitions are a vital element of the DISCOP markets that now take place annually in Abidjan and in Johannesburg, with the next edition scheduled for Johannesburg from 2 to 4 November.

DISCOP runs and promotes these pitching competitions as a way to develop young talent and to support them in securing the necessary funding and distribution support to bring these projects to fruition.

The DISCOP Johannesburg pitching competition is open to all DISCOP Johannesburg registered producers and is comprised of five categories of popular television genre:

• TV SERIES
• DOCUMENTARIES
• FORMATS
• ANIMATION

The pitching competition will take place on Thursday 3 November 2016 with the selected producers across the four categories under the spotlight. Aspiring and established producers alike will have to pitch an original idea to a panel of industry key players and potential investors active in Africa and abroad, other producers, programming and commissioning executives and advertisers.

A winner and runner up in each of the four categories will be announced on the day and receive various prizes ranging from cash prizes, funding support, mentorship packages, marketing and distribution assistance, potential broadcasting and more, all prizes for the respective categories will be announced during September 2016.

All producers registered for DISCOP Johannesburg can enter in any or all of the five categories. The submission deadline is Friday 14 October 2016 and only 25 producers will be selected from the pool of registrants by a specially appointed committee of experts: five (5) nominees for each of the five (5) categories.

Selected nominees will be notified by Wednesday 19 October and will receive promotional support to include:
• A designated space on the DISCOP Africa website to promote the nominated projects.
• Promotion of the nominated projects on all social media platforms associated to DISCOP Johannesburg and to the DISCOP Johannesburg pitching competition.
• 10 X VIP invitations to the DISCOP Johannesburg pitching award ceremony to take place on Friday 4 November
• ‘How to Pitch’ coaching session to take place on Wednesday 2 November @ 3 PM, the day before the pitching competition.
• One-on-one 10-30 minute preparation session with a pitching professional during the course of the day on 2 November.

During the competition, a qualified jury of experts and key players driving television content production and distribution across Africa will select one winner and one runner-up per category based on the project’s creative vision, its originality, and the viability of the idea that could actually be produced.

Judges will be looking not only for a strong idea that meets the criteria, but also for a clear, well-prepared and engaging pitch that will express the concept, the storyline and the characters that inhabit the story.

Registered producers interested in entering the DISCOP Johannesburg Pitching Competition must fill out the form on the DISCOP Africa website and send it by e-mail to bettyyengo@basiclead.com.

Deadline for submission is Friday 14 October 2016.