TOMSK, Nov 28 – RIA Tomsk, Vadim Belozertsev.
Native of Tomsk, producer of feature films "Siberia. Monamur" and
"Mata Hari" Anastasia Kovtun told students of the Tomsk State University on Monday, how to achieve success in the film industry and to get a
job in Hollywood. More detail are in material of RIA Tomsk.
Kovtun was born in Tomsk in 1979. She lives in
France since 1996, where graduated from the University of Caen Normandy
of the city of Caen, Faculty of Economics and Management. She worked with the
film director Luc Besson ("Taxi", "From Paris with Love")
and the actor Gerard Depardieu ("Asterix & Obelix", "Les
Misérables"). Shootings of her latest work – series "Mata Hari"
– took place also in Hollywood.
To find the place in the film industry
As Kovtun told, the decision to work in the
film industries came to her during study in France. At that time, she knew only
one name in the film sphere – Luc Besson and, having come to his studio,
submitted an application for a training in his production center.
"I started in administrative group on
shootings of movies of Besson, I was bringing sandwiches. I was at the very end
of the list of film crew, but it pleased me very much – there are a lot of
names, but the list is one", – she remembers.
According to Kovtun, working with Besson she
understood that beginners in the film industry, first of all, need to be
determined, how they want to construct the career: to join production center
and to earn a name from movie to movie by decades, or to go in the way, creating
a unique product.
© со страницы "Короткометражный фильм "Писатель Аркашка" в соцсети "Вконтакте"Сasting
At the same time, you shouldn't forget that it
is possible to make the name in cinema not only as an actor or a producer.
"When you set a goal and you say: "I want to work in the film
sphere", you should look at the list of titles and to read about each
profession, which is in titles, and to think, if is it for me? Anyway a
producer has to know all these professions", – Kovtun considers.
According to her, if there is a strong
confidence to become a producer, first of all, it is worth studying bases of
cinema art: to take courses, and it is even better – to get basic education in
theater universities. After that, you should add knowledge base, having
received economic specialty.
Not to shoot about polar explorers, without
having visited the Arctic Circle
The beginning producers shouldn't undertake
pictures about things, in which they understand nothing, and to work only with
the known and clear scenes and situations, Kovtun is convinced. Otherwise the
movie will be simply uninteresting to a viewer.
"I watched in Omsk a short film about two
male polar explorers, living behind the Arctic Circle. The director is a girl
of 18 years from the South. And after viewing I have asked: "And why do
you shoot about two male polar explorers? Have you ever been behind the
Arctic Circle? You've got two Martians. Then you should name it "Two men
from Mars" – it would be more plausible. You have nothing to tell? Had you
no love?", – she shared.
The producer gave the first work as an example
"Siberia. Monamur". The film was shot in Krasnoyarsk Krai – in the
territory, the familiar for resident of Tomsk since the childhood. And
characters of the movie were "copied" from real people, in
particular, from the screenwriter's father. As a result the picture won more
than 100 awards at world film festivals.
© РИА Томск. Павел СтефанскийProducer Anastasia Kovtun
According to Kovtun, when you have name and
money, it is possible to develop action of a movie in the cities and even the
countries unfamiliar before. The main thing is that there was a history, which
can be transferred to a viewer, and the city will serve as a scenery, helping
to tell it.
"New York is good if you want to describe
history in the city from glass and concrete in infinite vanity of life. But for
writing of a good scenario, with which the movie begins, you should visit this
place and to spend there several days. Any good scenario is endured", –
she explains.
Two ways to find money
When there is enough knowledge and there is an
idea about what a film, it is necessary to think of financing, Kovtun says.
"It is a difficult way to submit an
application for a competition to the Ministry of Culture. The competition takes
place once a year. The application isn't usually approved from the first time,
but from the second, from the third... It will be interesting to them, who is
such persistent, and they will allocate money. It will be necessary to fill in
400 pages of applications, to undergo all competitive procedures, but there
will be money", – she added.
© сайт группы компаний DI-Group
According to her, the simpler method is to find
producer studio, there are around eight in Russia, and to send the scenario
there. It is possible to find the list of studios on the websites, for example,
Kinotop and Kinopoisk. "Everything is read, answered. Everybody is open
for dialogue", – Kovtun shared, having noted that this method has certain
minus – the product shall be interesting for target audience of the center,
otherwise nobody will pay attention to it.
Simplicity of this method is that the
application to the Ministry of Culture for an unknown author will be filled by
eminent production center, so, money will be allocated from the first time.
Besides, it is quite possible that the author of the worthwhile film will have
an opportunity to show it on TV or the platform of the center.
"When we were shooting "Siberia.
Monamur" (screenwriter) even had a monkey on his apartment in Novosibirsk,
risked, but then Besson's center joined us later, and everything became good.
But the person risked to live on the street. There is also nothing without
risk", – the producer emphasizes.
From Siberia to Hollywood
According to Kovtun, having created the
product, which was pleasant to the Russian audience, it is possible to try to
cooperate also with foreign studios. The main thing in this question is to
offer that content, with which it will be interesting to work for the western
specialists.
"We were shooting "Mata Hari" in
the Hollywood studio. Everything is very simple: we contacted them. Russian
projects weren't realised there before, but as the project was written in
English and "is calibrated" under the American public, – please! We
cooperated with them without any problems. Everything is possible", – Kovtun
concluded.