Anna Mannion wins pitch contest at Venice Film Festival

Irish Film & TV producer Anna Mannion from Tri Moon Films has won the fictional series pitch contest hosted by Netflix and the European Producers Club. This contest is a joint initiative to create more opportunities for European women producers, and was open to any EPC producer working for a women-owned company.

"Women producers are more scarce in the general landscape. We felt the need to open new opportunities and improve their accessibility to the market. We are excited that the outcome of the scheme gives high visibility to women producers from a broad range of countries from Romania and Bulgaria to Ireland, Germany and Spain and many others,” explained Gudny Hummelvol, President of EPC.

The contest was launched at Series Mania in March, and allowed finalists to pitch their series ideas to Netflix's Content Team. A jury made up of Cia Edstrom, Francine Raveney and Olivier Kohn decided and announced the names of the winners at the Venice Film Festival on Friday.

Winning first prize and €50,000 was Anna Mannion of Sligo-based Tri Moon Films. Second prize and €20,000 went to Ada Solomon of Microfilm based in Romania. Third prize and €5,000 each went to Mariela Besuivesky of Tornasol Media, Martichka Bozhilovia of Agitprop, Gabriele M. Walther of Caligari and Olena Yershova of Tato Film.

"Congratulations to the winners! It was exciting to see pitches from women producers from across Europe and it’s been great to partner with the European Producers Club to empower women. We know how important representation behind the camera is for representation on screen, which is why we support initiatives like this one with Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equity," added Chris Mack, Director of Grow Creative at Netflix.