Gaëlle Maes (VML) is a Streamz Academy finalist and is counting on your vote!
Antwerp, 25th of January 2024. Streamz knows that it's not easy for young talent to break into the industry. That’s why the Flemish platform organised Streamz Academy. From the 534 entries, it selected 8 talents to present their fictional idea at Film Fest Gent. But only three of them made it to the final finals.
Gaëlle Maes did it!
By day, Gaëlle is a strategic planner at VML. But after advertising, it is time for TV! For Streamz Academy, she wrote a new fiction series herself. And her story struck such a chord with the professional jury of Flemish film producers at Film Fest Ghent that she managed to secure a place among the three finalists.
"As a strategic planner, you collaborate on a TVC script but you don't get to be on set or in an audio recording. Thanks to the Streamz Academy, I was able to experience this, and it definitely makes me want more!" (Gaëlle Maes)
Diafragma, starring the VML team
Gaëlle has been a film fan since childhood. It was when she was clearing out her room and came across her old analogue photo camera that the idea for her own fiction series Diafragma was born: an unsolved case about the disappearance of a Ghent student is reopened when, five years later, a photo camera with suspicious pictures from the night she disappeared turns up. What role did her roommates play? And will friendship, or ultimately the truth, prevail?
Production company Panenka signed on to make the professional-looking trailer and the pitch deck, and for this Gaëlle went in search of the necessary twenty-somethings to act as extras. Among others, her VML colleagues Molly Waeytens and Alexander Kolenberg enjoyed making their debut in the 'Diafragma' trailer.
"It's great to see that everyone at VML is so enthusiastic about my participation in the Streamz Academy. They are giving me the flexibility I need to make this project a reality. I am sure that my experience as a strategist has helped me to pitch my story." (Gaëlle Maes)
Vote for the new Streamz Original
Gaëlle already has VML's full support. Sophie Steyaert (Managing Director VML Belgium): "We are delighted to be able to give young talent like Gaëlle the space to combine writing her first fiction series with a job as a strategic planner at VML." But to vote Diafragma into first place by 2 February, Gaëlle is also counting on your support:
Go to the website and vote for Diafragma by Gaëlle Maes as the new Streamz Original!
For more information on the competition and the participants, visit https://www.streamzacademy.be/