International co-productions are improving, argued “Fatherland” producer Ewa Puszczyńska of Extreme Films at Cannes.
“I don’t think we make the so-called ‘Euro pudding’ anymore. It has to be a project that everyone loves, and there has to be an artistic reason for making it together,” she said.
“Money is one thing, but there’s always a producer who started the project and is responsible for the artistic vision. In moments of dispute, this person has the final say. I think that – and I hope – that we are becoming increasingly clever in production, and I’m really happy when I see how good young producers are.”
Speaking during a “How to Develop Stories with Co-Production Potential” panel, presented by the Polish Film Institute, David Collins (Samson Films) said: “When you’re new to film production, you’ll often get excited by the possibility of getting a little bit of money here and there, but there’s a risk that, instead of making a film, you will be filming a deal.”
He added: “You can lose the vision of the film in your search for financing, and then, well, it’s a ‘pudding’. You’ve lost the soul of the film, or maybe you never knew what that soul was and that reflects on you as a producer. It’s easy to be seduced by the possibility of money in other countries, but sometimes it can hurt the project on a creative basis.”
