Issue 1 Summer 2011
Creative Arts as an Alternative Investment
Cash is King How angel investors can use their cash to negotiate a better deal.... The future of art and technology? SLOimage Our Success Stories CAIN goes Footloose crazy
In the Spotlight A day in the life of Open Cinema & CAIN Goes to Cannes
In this Issue:
Note From the Editor of the new quarterly CAIN Welcome to the first issue Magazine! e as it launching our new magazin We are very excited to be th an wi u y for CAIN to provide yo will be a great opportunit , film s and issues affecting the insight into the latest trend e in the es and share our expertis theatre and music industri perspective. sector with an investment ic of focus on one specific top Every quarter we will be ative Arts Cre we will focus on the interest. This issue where nt. as an Alternative Investme ic with the current econom We will be exploring how, cash to ed can deliver much need situation, angel investors sition ilst improving their deal po a cash-strapped sector, wh ative arts. We will also be when investing into the cre sitive tax o recently announced po thanking the tax man wh one that Investment Scheme (EIS), changes to the Enterprise sector. sfully for the creative arts cce su ry ve ng rki wo see we out the latest snippets of news ab We will also offer you the at will ustries and insights into wh film, theatre and music ind happen in the future. of our let us know what you think So sit back and relax and om or email us: admin@cainuk.c first issue. You can either dback fee ur yo gels. We welcome find us on Twitter @cainan .... too future editions if you like and you can contribute to Enjoy,
In the News p.2 A round up of top news this month In the News cont. p.3 Battle of the Films so far... Spotlight: OpenCinema p.4 A day in the life of Open Cinema’s CEO, Christoph Warrack CASH is King p.6 A possible growth opportunitiy for the sector SLOimage as the new media art? p.7-8 Jackie Balchin, CAIN’s Marketing and Events Manager, talks to Martha Fiennes, the creative force behind and exciting and fascinating new technology, SLOimage Is now the time to invest in creative arts? p.9-10 The Creative Arts industry as an alternative investment CAIN does Cannes
p.11
CAIN Gets Footloose p.12 Our latest success story How to find us
p.13
under of CAIN
Nicki Hattingh, MD and Fo
How to get in Touch:
CAIN - Creative Arts and Investment Network PO BOX 662, Banbury Oxfordshire, OX16 6GT Tel: 01869 337269 Fax: 01869 337269 Email: admin@cainuk.com Web: www.cainuk.com Or follow us on Twitter @CAINangels Or find us on Facebook: Creative Arts Investment Network
In the NEWS Bringing you a round-up of the latest and most exciting news in the sector. For more up-to-date information don’t forget to follow us on Twitter: @CAINangels.
Sky Arts launches search for best amateur theatre group A new television series for Sky Arts is on the lookout for talented community theatre groups in the UK with a real passion for the arts. The winners will have the opportunity to work with industry professionals from stage and screen, culminating in a performance in a West End theatre. Entry is purely for community theatre groups. For more info please visit: http://bit.ly/l4ASE4
Terrence Malick’s, ‘The Tree of Life’ scoops Palme D’Or Although ‘The Tree of Life’ divided audiences, with its spiritual earnest-ness and crude mechanisms for linking the local with the universal, no one can deny that it is a terrifically ambitious, megalith of an art film – and for that reason, it’s hard to begrudge it winning the Palme d’Or. The festival’s second prize, the Grand Prix, was split between two films, ‘The Kid With a Bike’ by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne and ‘Once Upon A Time in Anatolia’ by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
Peter Jackson’s two Hobbit movies named and release dates announced. Based on the JJR Tolkien’s The Hobbit book, the first film will be called, ‘The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey,’ and will be released in December next year, and the second film will be called, ‘The Hobbit: There and back again’ will be release in December 2013. The film will star Martin Freeman, as Bilbo Baggins and Sir Ian Mckellen and Elijah Woods will reprise their previous roles as Gandalf the Grey and Frodo, respectively.
Access industries, run by Russian born billionaire, Len Blavatnik, buys Warner Music in cash for £2bn. Earlier this month it was announced that after struggling with declining profits Warner Music will now become a private company with its shares delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. This sale marks the end of public pure-play music studios. For more info follow this link: http://bbc.in/j5pfZh
Angel investment activity on the rise as more businesses approach angel investors as other finance resources dry up. This means more work for angel networks as they become more selective and effective in picking the right projects to present to their investors. In return more businesses are benefiting from angel investment and a larger share of these are receiving seed funding compared to the previous year. To read the full article from BBAA follow this link: http://bit.ly/jTjPFR
NEWS Cont. Battle of the Films So far its the year of the sequels The Hangover - After taking a battering from the critics, the film has been an unexpected success smashing the US box office over its first weekend by taking £52.5m. Despite its lukewarm reviews the sequel pushed animated sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, off its top spot and set a new record for a comedy film at the US box office, according to studio estimates. Over 18 days since its launch it overtook the original 2009 version and has so far taken $431.3 million. So what do the critics know about the audience?
Pirates of the Caribbean Another record breaking sequel, the film had the biggest opening weeked of the year so far in the US and Canada taking £55.6m, estimates suggests. The 3D version of the film made a further estimated £213.8m worldwide. Its earnings saw it record the highestgrossing international opening of all time, beating 2009’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, however it did fall short to its predecessors that took £84m (Dead Mans Chest) and £71m (At World’s End).
Kung Fu Panda - Kicked three week’s top movie, Pirates of the Caribbean off from its top spot and collected $56.5 millions from 45 territories around the world.
Thor - In its first six day at cinemas in the UK and Ireland the film took £5.4m, and £50.6 million from 56 markets in one weekend before continiuing its success in the US and Canada with an opening weekend taking estimated at £40.3m. On its second weekend on release in the US and Canada, Thor made a further £21.3m - just over half of its debut weekend tally of £40.3m.
Rio - Flew to the top of the UK box offices knocking off Easter-themed comedy, Hop, and taking £1.5m in its first weekend. Rio continued its success by maintianing its top position for three weeks in a row at the internatioanl box office, and collecting another $44.2 million in 67 international markets this week. Rio collected a worldwide total of $286 million and for a while the animated musical family film in 3D became the biggestgrossing film of 2011, but was soon to be over taken by the Pirates of the Caribbean.
Fast Five - Fast Five took straight to the lead with an impressive $83million weekend opening in the US, marking a record breaking weeked in April and a further impressive first weekend in the UK making £5.3 million beating hit animation Rio. Although being knocked off its first place by Thor, Fast Five regained strength and zoomed past Thor to retrive its no. 1 spot gaining another $86.6 million across 58 countries. In its third week the film was still going strong making a total of $324.7 million worldwide, and is poised to blow past the original Fast & Furious tally of $360.4 million. Fast Five debuted in 44 new markets, setting anew weekend record for the Universal studio internationally with a record $8.6 million in Mexico and $5 million in Brazil, earning an average of at least $12,000 per theater, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Spotlight : a day in the life of Open Cinema I cycle in through the blowy May sunshine to Shoreditch, with the BBC’s Peter Day examining the German pencil industry in my headphones. I cross the junction at Old Street and wonder if I can feel the fibres, under what is now called Silicone Roundabout, humming with innovations. It is a thrill to be based in a fast-developing tech cluster, with the government’s attention unexpectedly directed this way. But so far we’re still hampered by intermittent broadband and mobile signal blackouts. Three of the team are already in the office, working variously on the recent launch of our first community cinema for female ex-offenders; a four-country project to help integrate Roma and native communities; and two events for homeless people we’re hosting at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June. The phone rings and it’s the partner for our first project in Wales, launching in March 2012, for the participation of local Somali, Kurd and disadvantaged Welsh communities. He’s been crowded by offers of support from major public, private and voluntary sector bodies. We are now devising a strategy to best direct those energies. We discuss the need for a name for the centre and he lights on the Tiger Bay Culture Hub. Naming things is one of the treats of this work. Harry Chapman arrives, a filmmaker who has been supervising one of three films being made by our homeless members for the Open City London Documentary Festival. He’s in to discuss his project to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats in three weeks (and in three weeks time), to raise funds for Open Cinema. The target sum, £20k, will help us reach our goal of ten new film clubs, dotted along Harry’s route, between now and September. This week we’ve had a visit from a Canadian filmmaker keen to partner on Open Cinema in Canada, a pair of Brazilian filmmakers here to discuss a pilot network there, and Skype meetings with Boston, Lisbon and Tel Aviv. Part of the work now is to enable the model to roll itself out amongst any community in need, where the parallel creative community can connect and enable development using Open Cinema as a platform. The Canadian’s brother works at the BBC Natural History unit, whom we have just approached for a work
placement for our most prolific memberfilmmaker. At 63, the member is now at work on his fourth film for us, which will be seen at Open City and at Edinburgh next month. In the afternoon I work through the in-tray and follow up with those expressing interest in working with us: today, including Worksop, Birmingham, Cardiff, and Edinburgh. Another delight of this work is that it takes us out to faded town halls, cash-strapped community centres, and embattled day centres, all of which strike me without fail as being the neglected, but resurgent future of cinema. I write this after the others have left for the day, listening to Last.fm, an online jukebox. This is the most successful start-up yet to emerge from the Shoreditch cluster. They launched in 2002 and sold to CBS in 2007 for $280m. Inspired and educated by their model over the year since launching our national pilot, I’m encouraged that this month we will be meeting payroll from sales revenues for the first time. I’ll keep that in mind as I head back across Clerkenwell with German pencil makers describing 300 years in business in my headphones. --Biog: CW is the founder of Open Cinema, a national network of community cinemas for homeless or vulnerable people. They present themed seasons of films, which are regularly introduced by major filmmakers. Participants make their own short films, which are seen at film festivals, and are given opportunities for work experience and further training. They see community cinema as an engine of education and opportunity, and are seeking investors to collaborate on the company’s growth to scale internationally. For more information, please see the website at www. opencinema.net, contact info@opencinema.net, or CEO Christoph Warrack directly at christoph@opencinema.net.
CASH IS KING What the Government Comprehensive Spending Review cuts really mean for the sector and how CAIN sees the cuts as a potential opportunity for angel investors with cash.
T
his year the Government has announced its highest public spending cuts since the 1920s with the Department for Culture Media, and Sports (DCMS), being the worst affected. As with most industries, for the creative arts this is bad news as each sector is now faced with key funding and advisory avenues either being either axed or decreased. Overall cuts to the film industry have been estimated to be well over 50% (excluding the Lottery funds and the British Film Institute, BFI), and the BFI itself has seen its budget cut by 15%, leaving the BFI with a budget of ÂŁ13.6m, down from its current pot of ÂŁ16m. Furthermore due to the abolishment of the Film Council, the BFI has been doubly burdened as it has been expected to absorb the majority of the remit that had been previously carried out by the Council. With other Regional Screening Agencies also being axed or seeing their budgets cut too, fears have increased over the future of the British film industry. The theatre sector is also under stress, with the Arts Council latest announcement of cutting 100% of their funding to 260 organisation, with the biggest group of organisations being situated in London, 49 out of the 206 and with seeminly the visual arts groups followed by the combined art and theatre groups being the most affected. Although the council has been limited in cutting its budget to its regularly funded organisations, such as major orchestras and theatres organisations this still might see the closing down of many theatres nationwide. Undoubtely this has created a growth of concern, with theatre experts worried about the overall impact this will have on the cultural life of the country.
In an article published earlier this year by the Official London Theatre website, Nica Burns, West End producer and President of the Society of London Theatre, (SOLT), responded to the cuts by commenting: “The British theatre is an extremely well run, lean, highly successful industry, creatively the best in the world. It makes an essential contribution to the cultural heart of the nation. For a current investment of £450 million via the Arts Council we generate over £3 billion for the UK economy. Whilst we accept the need for cuts like everyone else, 30% is very hard for us to bear and will undoubtedly cause long-term damage. As we already raise large amounts in sponsorship and private investment, this public investment is not replaceable. Given the amount of money we return on investment in the theatre industry, cuts this severe are a poor business decision.” Further into the article Rachel Tackley, President of the Theatrical Management Association, also commented. “The UK arts are a huge success story, a source of national pride and the envy of the world. Every pound of public subsidy invested in the arts is returned three fold back into the public purse. In the process of turning £1 into £3 the arts engage, entertain and enrich the lives of millions of people. As recipients of public money we must, of course, share the burden of reducing the budget deficit, but to disinvest now in a lean, well run industry that makes a net contribution to our national debt seems short-sighted in the extreme.” The cuts to the DCMS and the Arts Council will also affect the music industry, which now has growing concerns on whether the Government will be able to deliver its promises to protect intellectual property and battle piracy. This fear is fed further with the axing of quangos such as the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property, leaving the music industry vulnerable to copy right law infringements. In addition to this fear of lack of protection, a recent article published by ‘Music Week’ revealed that the Arts Council has been slashing or stopped cash grants to many orchestras, news that have not gone down well with , Shadow Culture Secretary Ivan Lewis and many other organisations, such as the St George’s Bristols concert hall, have also received a 100% cut from the Council. It will also be large cross-cultural national events that have a strong music remit, such as the Manchester International Festival that will also feel the effects of the Arts Council as in the past the Council has been a big supporter.
In response to these cuts the music industry has the same concern as those in the theatre and film sector, with the UK Musicians Union calling the measures “devastating to music and culture.” (Billboard Biz. 22nd October). Despite this we at CAIN have seen many times that the creative arts industry is a driver of the UK economy, one that pulls tourist to the capital and other large cities of the UK every year. It is also an industry that despite harsh economical climates has managed to blossom and produce astounding results over the past years it is an industry already accustomed to struggling to find funds but still managing to produce great results. So, although we agree with the above comments, that this industry has been unjustly hindered and fear about the cultural impact it will have on the nation, we do see this as a growing opportunity for private equity investments as it is a resilient sector with a solid track-record.
Every cloud has a silver lining In an environment where everyone is struggling to find new funding opportunities producers are left to explore new ways to finance their projects. CAIN sees the opportunity for the private equity sector to grow and exploit this ‘weakness’ to demand better terms.
CASH IS KING For years the creative arts sector has been blamed for not looking after its private investors and although it is not true for many cases, this has given the industry the bad reputation that is often associated with it when it comes to making an investment. This in turn has pushed private angel investors away from the sector. Even these days the producers will often place investors at the back end of the recoupment chain, meaning angels wont see their investments coming to fruition much later than others involved with the funding. However this looks set to change, as producers will now be left with bigger financial gaps to fill. It is now the time for those armed with cash and the power of negotiation to invest into the sector to ‘save it’ from its forecasted gloomy existence whilst also gaining better deals. This could well be a turning point and perhaps the beginning of a new and improved partnership between those individuals investing into the creative arts and those turning the investments into works of art.
SLOimage as the next media art?
Jackie Balchin, CAIN’s Marketing and Events Manager, talks to Martha Fiennes, the creative force behind an exciting and fascinating new media art technology,
SLOimage. Imagine a painting that changes over time unpredictably that is able to self-generate its own changes and evolves continually over time. A digital painting if you will, that represents art imagery but within a richly innovative and powerfully compelling new format. This is a SLOimage. A SLOimage in technical terms is an image that can be projected or displayed on any screen media and be of any dimensions though possibly the best effect would be on a large digital flat-screen where the image is projected on; in essence the screen replaces the traditional canvas. However, unlike traditional paintings, the image self evolves unexpectedly. Like a painting on a digital canvas SLOimage is a representation of art in a new iconic way and now later this year SLOimage is getting ready to launch its first-of-its kind piece called the ‘Nativity.’ The ‘Nativity,’ promises to be a world-class creative and technological artwork innovation and will be launched, unveiled and exhibited over the period of November and December in a busy central London area, yet to be confirmed, with the aim to attract a high level of publicity and press in the run up to Christmas. As the name suggests the image will contain many of the classic associations of the Christ Nativity. At its core level it will represent the image of mother and infant child with associate onlookers. The initial styling of the people and architecture will be traditional, as one would expect. However, as this is no ordinary digital image, it will proceed to move through many ‘states’ where the architecture might turn into a disused modern-day parking lot, or it may start to decay over time and the clothing of the people might also mutate into a modern day mix of hooded clothing with sandals and cloth. Unlike any other painting before it, the figures will change and evolve, they might also move, leave the picture, and enter it – while many further manifestations of all kind may occur within the image, such as birds crossing the sky, or the child being passed around or waking up. This exciting image promises to captivate the audiences’ imagination and awaken curiosity and the inner child within. As an already great enthusiast of this project, and having been privileged to witness a fraction of its potential it excites me and as I truly endorse this idea I struggle to contain my excitement as I eagerly await the finished product.
This is a true conversion of art and technology and SLOimage as an art form has the potential to compel the viewer and blur the line between reality and the magical/supernatural world. The more I explore the true meaning of what a SLOimage can offer I can’t help but associate this with the ones hanging on the halls of world-famous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where the protagonist of the hanging paintings are free to navigate from one painting to another, leaves fall from trees or flowers wilt, and colours change depending on the time of the day. It is no surprise to me to discover that behind this incredible use and blend of technology and art is much acclaimed, visionary director, Martha Fiennes who already has a celebrated track record in the field of moving imagery. Fiennes is already an awardwinning film and commercials director who has directed two high profile movies, her first the sumptuous Russian period piece ‘Onegin’ 1999 starring Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler, which won her the ‘Best Director’ award at the Tokyo Film Festival, a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film and the London Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer. Her second feature, the highly original ‘Chromophobia’ was applauded for its powerfully contemporary style, ‘icy and superb script’ and dazzling visual language. ‘Chromophobia’ both written and directed by Fiennes closed the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. As a true avant-garde creative it was her inspiration and conviction of the untapped creative potential within moving imagery that made her determined to explore and devise an idea which could challenge the conventions of film and TV editing. Since becoming fascinated with this idea that images could become unpredictable, innovative and a visual art in their own right, Fiennes has partnered with Pete Muggleston who is highly experienced in working in creative advertising production. A founding member of the UK’s top contemporary animation studio ‘Blink,’ Pete has also worked for many of the top advertising agencies including, HHCL, voted agency of the millennium by ‘Campaign’ Magazine. Although the ‘Nativity’ will be the first official piece for SLOimage, earlier this year to mark the start of the Chinese New Year and welcome the year of the Tiger, Fiennes exhibited a trial installation at the Shanghai
Tang Chinese new year’s party. The installation was a video exhibit that presented a self-generating tiger image that evolved over the course of the evening. It was a very successful night for Fiennes to test the water and the feedback proved to be very positive, with many very interested to see what the future holds for SLOimage. The future of SLOimage seems very promising and, already since being introduced to this technology and as someone who has only scraped the surface of this huge potential, it is clear to me that there is a huge amount of scope and numerous possibilities across many markets. I can easily see this in contemporary hotel lobbies, in restaurants, up-market luxury department stores, or even at concerts. As Fiennes would suggest “the potential is as powerful as the vision and ambition allow.’ As my mind wonders off imagining this fascinating world that SLOimage has introduce to me where images can truly become alive, I become almost certain that this new technology has opened the doors to a new way of thinking of how to converge technology and art, breaking down barriers and opening a new road and future to what technology can really do to uncap our imagination and bring art alive. And as Fiennes states it simply SLOimage “aims to bring forward and invigorate the moving image world bringing it firmly into the 21st century.”
Fiennes is currently looking for sponsors, patrons or production partners to realise the ‘Nativity’ piece. SLOimage is offering in return, the full ownership and installation of one Limited Edition ‘Nativity’ SLOimage piece. There is already a high level of interest, with serious anticipation for international potential with regard to the piece’s symbolic impact. If you are interested in owning the first SLOimage and becoming part of an exciting new art technology please get in touch with the CAIN office by either emailing admin@cainuk.com, or phoning 01869 337269.
Is now the time to invest in creative arts?
Additionally as cash is king, investing into the sector now can potentially give investors the power to negotiate better deals, such as higher ROI percentages and/or being better positioned in recoupment chains.
The creative arts industry as an alternative investment
This year the creative arts can also offer better investment deals as there are good news for angel investors, from the Government. Since angel investing in 2008-09 was worth around £430 million to the UK, the Government has finally realised the potential and importance in nurturing this pot of funding.
I
t is now estimated that active investors are putting approximately 10% of their wealth into alternatives, a recent report conducted by Strategic Insight suggested that investors are “clamouring for more options
for their portfolios, with the largest inflows seen in long/short, market neutral, commodity and currency funds.” It is becoming clear that investors are becoming wary of traditional investment models as they are too correlated with the markets, making them less reliable, and more risky. This in turn has made investors more prudent and less confident leaving them to consider new alternatives for their investments. What is usually meant, as an alternative investment is art, antiques, gold and surprisingly wine. The reason in this shift of investing pattern usually falls down to the alternative investment being uncorrelated with the market. Therefore alternative investments are being sought out by individuals as a way to vary their portfolios, and provide different performance characteristics to traditional investment classes. Alternatives offer a non-correlated return to diversify some of the risk seen with traditional investments. At CAIN we see the creative arts sector as a great opportunity for alternative investments for many reasons: The success of the sector is not dictated to the market; it is in fact one of the few sectors that manages to in bad economically challenging markets. In May 2010 we published in our newsletter how well the sector was doing, with staggering figures. For example, in 2009 The Society of London Theatre reported figures of £504,765,690 for total box office revenue, a 7.6% increase on a like-for-like basis on the previous year. 2009 also marked the seventh consecutive year of record-breaking attendance numbers, which passed the 14 million mark for the first time. It is also a sector that has historically proven to be recession-proof. There is evidence that indicates that it is in fact one of the few industries that performs well in times of a recession as it offers a form of escapism to the public from the grim reality and provide a reward somewhat to the customer, a mini luxury from all the hard work.
Earlier plans last year, published by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, reported changes to tax-advantaged equity schemes, and the creation of new forms of co-investing funding and after such promises were made we are now happy to see the changes being put in place. Below is an extract from the 2010 report, “Financing a business growth: The Government’s response to Financing a private sector recovery that pinpoints key planned changes: “The Government recognises that Business Angels are an important source of early stage investment for small businesses. The Government will encourage business angel groups and the Government’s SME investment arm – Capital for Enterprise Ltd - to put together a bid to the Regional Growth Fund for a Business Angel coinvestment fund. If successful, this will support angel investments into high growth potential early stage SMEs, particularly in areas worst affected by public spending cuts. The Government believes this is the kind of activity that would be well placed to take advantage of the Regional Growth Fund application process.” It would seem for now that the Government has kept to its words, as already in the Finance Bill 2011, changes to the Entreprise Investment Shceme, (EIS) announced on the Finance Bill 2011, stated that investors will now receive a 30 per cent rate of income tax relief given under EIS. This is up from the past 20 per cent, with effect from 6 April 2011.
Looking further into the future, both the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trusts will see more changes in 2012, Subject to State aid approval, as legislation will be introduced in the Finance Bill 2012 making changes to the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCT) which will have effect on and after 6 April 2012: The currently proposed changes are: • an increase in the thresholds for the size of qualifying company for both EIS and VCTs to fewer than 250 employees and to the company having no more than £15million of gross assets before the investment; • an increase in the annual amount that can be invested though both EIS and VCTs in an individual company to £10million; and • an increase in the annual amount that an individual can invest through EIS to £1million. The Government will consult on further changes to the schemes including proposals to give additional support through the EIS for seed investment. (This information has been taken from the HM Revene and Customs Report: Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Venture Capital Trust (VCT) - Reforms). The were further reasons to celebrate as the Government launched The Regional Growth Fund (RGF), a new £1.4bn, three year Fund that will operate across England to stimulate private sector led sustainable economic growth and employment.
Extract taken from the BIS website; “The Regional Growth Fund is a discretionary £1.4bn Fund operating for 3 years between 2011 and 2014 to stimulate enterprise by providing support for projects and programmes with significant potential for creating long term private sector led economic growth and employment and, in particular, help those areas and communities that are currently dependent on the public sector make the transition to sustainable private sectorled growth and prosperity.” At CAIN we are thrilled with these changes and hope to see more angel investment into the creative arts in light of this good news. This is a perfect time for those looking for non-market driven alternaives with huge economic benefits to enter into the realms of the creative arts industry. Angels now have the power to make a difference whilst investing into a resilient sector and having new Government measures to reduce risk and facilitate and improve benefits on their investments will hopefully see a rise in interest and investment into our sector over the coming months and years.
CAIN at Cannes 2011 This year’s annual trip to the Cannes Film Festival proved a useful and rewarding exercise for CAIN as the Network secured several new investor members and sourced three fantastic new film projects to present to our members over the coming months. New contacts were made and relationships strengthened within the film financing community, and with Sales Agents and Distributors in order to extend and widen the networking opportunities and benefits of membership of the Network for our investor members and also for the production companies we work with. Despite the undoubted glamour of the World’s most famous film festival, it’s hard work participating in all those meetings, lunches, cocktail parties, etc. Ahh, I hear you say, poor CAIN …. So we’ve put together a few numbers to give you an idea of the arduous task we undertake each year:
Spent 5 Days at the Festival; Attended 19 Meetings, and spent 24 hours in the meetings, drank 19 coffees and bottles of water and ate eight delicious croissants. Made 31 New contacts, and walked an equal amount of miles up and down La Croisette. Attended 7 glamourous parties, sipped 20 gorgeous cocktails and boarded 4 yachts and boats. Slept 24 hours, watched 2 films. Secured 2 investors and 3 new projects for the Network and finally watched 1 Football match (don’t ask!)....
Approximately 365 days left till we do it all over again next year!
CAIN Goes Footloose... Earlier this year CAIN was delighted to announce it had secured investment for the UK tour production of 80’s classic hit movie, Footloose. Based on a true story, Footloose talks about a community crisis in 1979. When outsider city boy, Ren, arrives in small town Bomont, he leads college seniors to plan a prom, bringing dance back to the heart of a town held back by a tragic memory, banning dancing within city limits. Footloose tells the stories of the seniors finding themselves going head to head with City Council members, proclaiming ‘dancing is a tool of the devil.’ This tempest that rocked the community was set to bring a storm of controversy and roll to the rest of America too, when the 1984 smash hit movie, Footloose, based on their story, set the nation dancing…. Max Milner starring as Ren McCormack leads the cast for this musical remake. Max theatre credits include: Troy Bolton in High School Musical (Asian Tour); Robin Hood (New Theatre, Cardiff); Raindogs (Trafalgar Studios) and The King and I (London Palladium). Other cast members include, Carys Gray, Steven Pinder, Karen Ascoe, Lorna Want and Jodie Jacobs. CAIN founder and Managing Director, Nicki Hattingh, commented: “We are delighted to have secured investment for Footloose The Musical. It is such a revolutionary and pioneering story, with such wonderful iconic music. It has been a pleasure to work with Tristan Baker Productions and we hope this will be the beginning of a relationship to secure many more future successful investments.”
Tristan Baker, Footloose The Musical producer, said: “It was a pleasure to work with CAIN on this project. It was a quick and easy process, and we look forward to working with them and their investors on many future theatrical productions.” Footloose The Musical started its 2011 tour earlier this year will complete it’s UK tour on the 2nd July at the Leeds Grand Theatre. For more information and for your last chance to check if Footloose is coming to a theatre near you, visit the official website, www.footloosethemusical.co.uk
For further information on CAIN please contact: CAIN - Creative Arts and Investment Network PO BOX 662, Banbury Oxfordshire, OX16 6GT Tel: 01869 337269 Fax: 01869 337269 Email: admin@cainuk.com Web: www.cainuk.com Or follow us on Twitter @CAINangels Or find us on Facebook: Creative Arts Investment Network