“Not the End” A Filmarket Hub Success Story
Learn everything there is to know about one of the film projects that got picked up by a production company and distributor thanks to Pitchbox & our online market at Filmarket Hub.
A standing out project from Sitges Pitchbox’s 2015 slate, Not the End by brothers Jose and César Esteban Alenda came to be first as a short film. The last years its directors have made the jump into feature film directing, having presented the film at the last Málaga Film Festival.
The brothers talked about their experience at Sitges Pitchbox, as well as at Filmarket Hub’s market and how they came up with the project.
How did you come up with the idea for the project?
The idea came out of the necessity we have of telling stories. We knew we wanted to tell a great love story. We want that NOT THE END becomes an emotional experience for the audience. That it touches them. Past and present divides us between what we were and what we are (and what we dream of being), and that is something very complicated to tell, and sometimes even cruel to face ones past, realizing that we aren’t that same person anymore.
What is the story about?
Javier travels from the future to change the last day he spent with María. To do so, he decides to revisit that magical first day in which they met years back, visiting the same places, with the objective to recover that happy and joyful María, who wanted to conquer the world and who turned his world upside down.
What has been the journey of Not the End up until now?
From the start, we thought strategically of first doing a short as an experience, to work and prepare the style for the feature, to try out a lot of new things, especially with the main actors, Javier Rey and María León. The short film premiered in 2014 at the Gijón International Film Festival, because it won the first prize at the Movistar+ Premio Proyecto. The short is still doing the rounds at film festivals, and has won over 20 prizes. The feature film has the support of TVE (national Spanish broadcaster), Canal Sur TV (local southern TV station) and the ICAA (the Institute for Filmmaking that gives out the public funds for film in Spain), as well as national distribution and an international sales agents, Filmax.
Define Not the End and what do you think makes it a special project.
NOT THE END is a love story mixed with time travel, which talks about the incapacity of the human being to learn to turn the page, to accept reality as it is and how to get over past trauma. The film constructs around the premise that we all, in a certain moment of our lives, have regretted not having a second chance to change our lives. What if I said something to that person… what if I came back … what if I dared … what would’ve happened if … in real life we can’t change the past, in the fiction world yes. We think there are good examples in the Spanish cinema, at least the one made in the last 25 years, about love stories involving time travel. NOT THE END wants to follow the road paved by other young directors in the genre and sci-fi cinema “Made in Spain” — like Kike Maíllo, Nacho Vigalondo, Jorge Dorado — a type of cinema that, eventhough hasn’t yet found a big audience in Spanish cinemas, it has so outside our borders.
What would you stand out from your time at Pitchbox?
Pitchbox was the first pitch we did for NOT THE END. This allowed us to recognize its strong points, which has also contributed to the growth of NOT THE END, having been able to making it a reality.
And what about your experience at Filmarket Hub?
It was very positive. Especially, it has allowed us make the project visible.
What do you think you need to prepare more for a pitching of these features?
Pitchings are fundamental because they oblige you to learn your project inside out and to be able to synthesize and communicate with clarity the more important facets of it. The most important, I believe, is to prepare your pitch as if it were a script. Work the structure of the pitching, make it interesting, give it a bit of emotion if necessary, include plot twists, look for buzzy lines so that your audience stays with your project in mind well after the pitch. Above all, give all the information producers and distributors need.
How do you think your pitch went?
We are very happy how the pitch went. I think the teaser we presented, with images from the short film, was decisive for producers and distributors and broadcasters, to become interested in the project, as they could clearly see the type of film that NOT THE END is.
How should one go into networking?
Calmly, but being proactive and having done your homework. Try to get to know as much as possible about each participating production company.
What was the experience talking to producers after the pitch?
Generally, the most complicated part is sparking the interest of producers and distributors, the difficulty then there is, once the pitching is over, to keep that interest alive and, ideally, get to an agreement that will favour your project.
What expectations did you have about the event, the day of the pitch?
I was very nervous, as someone who has poured its life into this project, I wanted to be able to capture and express that vital need of telling that particular story to everyone who is going to listen to it. And that is, that NOT THE END is the film we’ve always wanted to make.
What was the most surprising thing about Pitchbox?
For us, it was the number of attendees and the quality of the projects.
Did you get approached by production companies, did they ask to read the script?
Yes.
Have you kept in touch with producers that you met at Pitchbox for other projects?
There we met Filmax, the sales agents and distributors for NOT THE END.
What do you think events like Pitchbox bring to the industry?
I think it is fundamental that this type of events exist and that they bring together creators and industry.
What advice would you give to someone who is going to participate at a Pitchbox event?
I would say, believe in your project, put yourself in the producers and distributors place and ask yourself tricky and difficult questions, which they will do so the day of the pitch.
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