Thoughts from an Oscar winner

Posted on 17 March 2008

Category: Creative businesses

Film producer and NESTA grant recipient Hugh Welchman’s animated film Peter & the Wolf won an Oscar in the 2008 Academy Awards. He tells us what impact the award is having on his work and shares his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities for independent film-makers in the UK. 

An eclectic approach to production

Hugh is founder and managing director of Breakthru Films, a London-based production company with eclectic credentials ranging from animation to live action. Earlier this year his film Peter & the Wolf (2006) won the Oscar for best animated short film. Hugh was also a visual effects producer on another of this year’s Oscar success stories – La Vie en Rose.

Winning the Academy Award for Peter & the Wolf is already having an impact on Breakthru’s work. “The Oscar has given us a real boost for promoting and distributing the film,” says Hugh. “It’s been less than a month since the win but it’s already helping to open lots of doors for us – we’ve been approached by people that it would have taken months to set up meetings with previously. We hope that the increased profile that it’s given us will lead to some exciting new projects and opportunities.”

Space for creative development

One challenge that Hugh faced with Peter & the Wolf was having it pigeonholed on the basis of its 30 minute length. Being classed as a short film meant that Breakthru wasn’t able to access the mainstream funding sources that are available for feature films. Instead, they patched together funding from a range of sources. An award from NESTA enabled the team to explore and develop their ideas which included live orchestral performances and incorporating education elements into the project.

Hugh believes it’s during the creative development stage of a project that film-makers need to consider the audience for the film and how it’ll be distributed. He explains: “Independent film-makers sometimes try to justify unsuccessful films by labelling them as arthouse. There’s actually a thriving audience for arthouse films worldwide and with some of these films, there’s just not enough thought given to the audience – or whether there is one at all.”

A shift in distribution

Looking to the future, Hugh believes we’ll see a paradigm shift in the way films are distributed, as we’ve seen happen with music distribution: “Five or ten years from now I can see us being able to download any film we want to, from any time and for a marginal cost.” Breakthru is already selling films directly through its website and licensing content via iTunes.

Hugh believes that the UK’s independent film-makers aren’t yet making the most of new opportunities for digital sales, marketing and distribution and need to step outside of conventional boundaries to get more involved in these aspects of their films. Breakthru’s forthcoming feature-length horror Sh – a collaboration with the band The Future Sound of London (FSOL) – will embrace creative and integrated approaches to marketing. There’ll be a tent installation at summer music festivals, offering an additional perspective that will add to people’s experience of the film. FSOL is also producing a musical remix of the film.

“Thinking about audience and marketing shouldn’t be treated as a dampener to creativity,” says Hugh. “Good marketing can be part of the story, engage potential viewers and add to the audience’s experience.”