SITGES FANPITCH Showrunners Lab

SITGES FILM FESTIVAL

Program description - 2023

For the ninth year in a row, the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is organizing Sitges FanPitch, its feature film and series production project pitch competition.

Sitges FanPitch is the international pitch competition event focused on feature films and series productions in development with horror, science fiction and/or fantastic themes. The initiative still maintains its goal of discovering the best genre projects and hooking them up with leading companies in the industry. The event will take place in hybrid format on October 8^th and 9^th, 2023 as part of the Sitges Film Festival.

A total of three series and thirteen feature films from around the world have been selected. These will be joined by the projects selected by the Festival at the collaborating Sitges FanPitch film markets. The people responsible for each of the selected projects will have the opportunity to make a sales pitch and meet with each of the participating companies. In addition, the 4 winning feature film projects will be eligible for travel grants for their international circulation. This year, the BIF Market, the section dedicated to the film market at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, joins the Sitges FanPitch market circuit.

In the series category, 1 winning project will be selected, which will be awarded a cash prize for its ongoing development. For the third consecutive year, this edition will be complemented by the Showrunners LAB, an introductory and mentoring seminar on the figure of the showrunner. The selected series projects will be able to receive individual mentoring sessions with the showrunner participating in this year’s edition.

Awards

All selected projects will receive free Industry accreditation for this year’s Festival to be able to attend all industry activities (except private ones), be part of the Sitges Industry Online-Catalan Films platform, and the film screenings included with their accreditation.

The projects selected at Sitges FanPitch will be eligible for the following prizes:

FEATURE FILM CATEGORY

Four travel grants for 1 representative of each project (includes travel and living expenses at the destination):

SERIES CATEGORY

Cash award of 2,500 euros (VAT included) for the project’s development*

* The representative of the winning series project must submit a proposal for expenses as part of the production development plan, which will be approved and paid for directly by the Sitges Film Festival of Catalonia Foundation.

Check all the selected projects here

Programming blocks

The Sitges FanPitch programming is divided into the following blocks: Scripted Series, Feature Films and Showrunners Lab, an introductory seminar and advice on the figure of the showrunner.

SITGES FANPITCH – SHOWRUNNERS LAB 2023

This edition of Sitges FanPitch is complemented with the Showrunners LAB, an introductory seminar and advice on the figure of the showrunner, a key piece in series productions. The initiative invites the three series projects selected in the Sitges FanPitch call to participate in this laboratory, which has the collaboration of two renowned showrunners.

Showrunners Lab
Round Table

Mentoring Sessions

Showrunners Lab: Round Table

Description

This edition of Sitges FanPitch is complemented with the Showrunners Lab, an introductory and advisory seminar on the figure of the showrunner, a key piece in series productions.

The initiative invites the three series projects selected in the Sitges FanPitch call to participate in this laboratory, which has the collaboration of two renowned showrunners.

The two showrunners offer a round table in which they will talk about their experiences as showrunners. In addition, participants will offer one-to-one advice to the three projects and will hold a round table explaining the main characteristics of their projects and their vision of what a showrunner is.