A letter from the CEO
The new year begins with declining case numbers, but also the uncertainty of what the mutant can do in this pandemic. EPI's top priority remains working tirelessly to assist the industry with advanced education, providing perspective and building resilience for the individual and within companies.
More than 1,100 people completed 3,200 hours of our advanced education courses in 2020 - much of it online, hybrid or on site with hygiene concepts since the pandemic began.
Our work last year also included practical support for the industry to navigate Corona aids, international knowledge exchange on working safely in pandemic conditions, and a tremendous programme of workshops and useful online seminars. Many took the opportunity to learn new things, refresh existing knowledge and expand their - virtual - network. In the evaluations we read the EPI events were "a lifeline", "a good orientation" and "a ray of hope". That's what drives us.
EPI for the industry 2021
Our new seminar programme for the compact seminars starts in March with topics such as Production Contracts, the Writers' Room, Clearing Music Rights or Platform Deals, among others. Tickets can be reserved now. To be more accessible for the industry throughout Germany, we have decided to offer all compact seminars to be always hybrid, even if they can take place in on site again. So, you can participate from anywhere.
A great overview of our entire programme is also provided by the new virtual brochure, available Feb 18th 2021. We will send you a separate newsletter on this.
Our new international Series' Women programme to support female series producers generated a lot of interest at the beginning of the year, which confirms our work over the past years and drives us to continue developing the program in the future. It will start in March 2021 and end at Séries Mania online or in Lille.
We are now sharing our expertise in female leadership programmes with the cultural sector in form of our new shift_culture programme, starting in March. The cultural sector too is suffering from the current situation. With this programme, we are glad to be able to foster resilience and a ray of hope for the future.
Recent studies indicate a fall back to traditional role models due to the pandemic period, which underscores the importance of such programmes. Feel free to forward this programme to your colleagues in the cultural sector. Application deadline is Feb 11th 2021 (today). With the possibility of late open spots, however, it is still worth applying at: www.epi.media/shift_c
The female leadership programme shift|F is also already starting its third and final year at the end of February. If you are interested, find out about any late spots here: www.epi.media/shiftF
We are already starting the fifth year of our MBA and LL.M. programme in October. At our virtual kick-off in January, alumni and current students came together. This wonderful network has been growing steadily for years and is firmly anchored in the media industry. The next online info session will take place on March 4th 2021: www.epi.media/master_infoabend
For the first time in 2020, we launched the Film Production Management and Assistant Director certificate courses (3 modules, 4 days each) with great success, making our contribution to addressing the shortage of workforce. In March, Filmproduction Management will go into the second year and you can apply until Feb 18th 2021 here: www.epi.media/fpm
Looking toward the future
The long-term impact of the pandemic is yet to be seen, but we are keeping an eye on developments. Looking to the future and the rise of productions by the major platforms, the shortage of skilled workers is staying. An answer to this is not only finding and nurturing young talent, but also training those who want to cross-train from a related industry or return after a career break due to parental leave or caregiving.
We cannot do our work without your support - we thank you for participating in our programmes each year, the regional funders who support participation in our programmes, the state of Brandenburg with the Ministry of Economics, Labor and Energy who fund the conceptualization phase for selected skilled worker programmes, and the EU with the ESF and MEDIA programme.
Your commitment underlines our work in building a skilled workforce for the German and European media industries. You cannot create a great audio-visual production without investing in people. And no matter what changes we face, personal and professional development is always the right answer. We are here for you!
