Vivendi, Canal+, Cannes City Council, and Université Côte d’Azur announced today that they have created the Cannes – Vivendi/Canal+ Storytelling international chair. Financed by Vivendi, this chair will be part of Cannes’ future university complex, and provide top-level training in storytelling and screenwriting in partnership with UCLA TFT (University of California Los Angeles, School of Theater, Film and Television).
Starting in 2018, the chair will set up a first training course in motion-picture screenwriting, the Storytelling Institute, in partnership with the Association Française du Festival International du Film and UCLA TFT (University of California Los Angeles, School of Theater, Film and Television), one of the world’s foremost schools for entertainment and performing arts.
The program aims to attract, train and certify the finest motion-picture screenwriting talent among French, American and international students. For its first session, the Storytelling Institute, which will be based on campus and in municipal facilities, will provide about 10 students with classes and coaching from the leading specialists in screenwriting and movie production.
The students will be required to complete a fully realized first draft feature film screenplay in six weeks.
Other courses will follow, for example in the field of series and team writing.
Vivendi as well as Canal+, French cinema’s prime partner and a movie and series production and distribution leader in Europe via Studiocanal, put talents at the core of their development strategy. Supporting innovative first-class training will help a new generation of creative talent, in particular specializing in the art of storytelling, to thrive and reach new audiences in Europe and beyond.
>> See the full press release.
