Caroline's blog - a look ahead to autumn

by Caroline_Norbury on 17-Sep-10 16:48

With the summer break now well and truly behind us, here at South West Screen we’re looking ahead to a busy few months on the horizon.

Whilst the impact of the announced abolition of the UK Film Council can’t be ignored, we’ve been concentrating our efforts on some major projects closer to home, whilst we wait to hear more from the Government in next month’s spending review.

In just a few weeks’ time we’ll be announcing the three films from the 550 submissions to our iFeatures microbudget filmmaking initiative to be made in Bristol. We’re busy gathering interest from cast and crew who are keen to be part of the three film shoots, which will really shine the spotlight on the city and the South West as a major filmmaking hub outside of London. If you would like to take part, you can go to the iFeatures website to register in one of the iFeatures groups.

iFeatures is one of the projects backed by the BBC-Bristol-Anchor partnership, and as we come to the end of the first year of the BBC’s first city partnership agreement, it’s exciting to be on the verge of this new phase that will see three great films come to fruition, after a long period of development and mentoring for all the teams involved.

In a wider sense, we’re increasingly confident about the offer we have in this part of the country for film and television production. We’re busy drumming up business for The Bottle Yard, the South West’s first dedicated production facility based in South Bristol, which can accommodate major productions looking to film. With inward investment at record levels, space for shooting is at a premium and we look forward to seeing more and more activity on our doorstep.

And on a political note, there have been reassuring messages from Government, with the Culture Minister Ed Vaizey MP acknowledging the value of a presence in the regions and the screen agency’s strengths in representing the wider creative industries remit. This is good to hear and we are continuing to work with Screen England to help the Government shape future plans for the film industry, which will be announced in November. We’ll keep you posted as we know more.

Tagged:Caroline Norbury, UK Film Council, DCMS, iFeatures, Anchor, The Bottle Yard

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