– VENICE 2026: The session examined how earlier marketing input, audience development and more flexible financing could strengthen the circulation of independent films
By Davide Abbatescianni
The fourth edition of Europa Distribution’s producers-distributors workshop took place during the Venice Production Bridge (3-9 September), bringing together roughly 30 independent distributors and another 30 producers to explore ways of improving collaboration across development, financing, marketing and release.
Organised by Europa Distribution with the Venice Production Bridge and in collaboration with ACE Producers, EAVE and the European Producers Club, the session opened with a presentation of Eurimages’ Film Marketing & Audience Development Support Programme by programme manager Thierry Hugot and project manager Iris Cadoux.
The scheme is designed to encourage producers to develop audience and marketing strategies earlier, together with sales agents, distributors and specialist agencies. During 2024 and 2025, it received 72 applications and supported 30 films from producers based in 23 countries, distributing €1.47 million in total. Its main findings so far include the effectiveness of early audience research, digital campaigns, taste-based rather than purely demographic targeting, centralised marketing assets and access to talent.
For the current cycle, Eurimages offers non-refundable grants of up to €50,000 per film for activities including audience research, digital marketing, press and PR, media assets and outreach. Its revised 2026-2027 assessment criteria also place greater emphasis on campaigns developed before principal photography.
Participants then split into working groups before reporting their conclusions in a plenary session. A recurring issue was the difficulty of involving distributors early enough, particularly on international productions. While domestic distributors are often attached during financing, international buyers may only encounter a project once it has been completed, acquired by a sales agent or selected by a festival.
Several groups therefore called for earlier exchanges over marketing strategy, stills, trailers, release calendars and talent availability. Participants also highlighted the need to involve sales agents, exhibitors and funding bodies more consistently in these discussions.
Financing emerged as another key area for possible reform. While minimum guarantees (MGs) remain important components of producers’ financing plans, participants considered whether lower MGs could sometimes be combined with clearer or guaranteed P&A commitments from distributors. Greater flexibility around rights and contractual release restrictions was also discussed.
Audience development formed another major strand of the workshop. Participants examined whether cinema could adopt approaches used in the theatre sector, including dedicated audience developers tasked with identifying communities and organisations relevant to individual projects. They also stressed the importance of understanding a film’s likely audience during development, rather than trying to identify it only once the project reaches distribution.
The discussions ultimately exposed a structural mismatch within the independent film chain: producers often need distribution commitments before buyers are comfortable taking risks, while distributors need marketing materials and audience information earlier than they generally receive them.
The workshop suggested that improving circulation may therefore depend less on creating additional promotional tools than on changing when producers, distributors, sales agents and other partners begin working together.