Slingshot wins £100,000 grant from Skillset.
Grant will fund development and training programme for up to eight digital filmmakers
slingshot, the all-digital film production and distribution company, has won a £100,000 grant from Skillset to fund an innovative development scheme for writers, directors and producers.
The “Training and Development into Greenlight” scheme is a master programme on digital filmmaking and the slingshot model. It is designed to develop the skills of a new generation of filmmakers as creative professionals whilst simultaneously developing their low budget feature film projects towards production.
slingshot’s scheme turns the Greenlight to production ON at the beginning of the development process. Filmmakers will learn about the entire value chain of filmmaking, from development through to distribution, and address both the creative and commercial concerns of their projects.
The multi-faceted scheme will be delivered by slingshot with the support of its training and development partners Metropolitan Film School and PAL. It has been developed with slingshot’s training partner the Metropolitan Film School who lend their expertise as the UK’s leading digital film school. It consists of taught courses, a residential film foundry, script editing mentors, commercial and creative workshops, test shoots, the provision of film-makers’ office space and symposia.[i] The scheme borrows techniques from other industries including peer-to-peer review and iterating ideas through different approaches.
The scheme formalises slingshot’s current development process, the success of which has led to its first project SUGARHOUSE LANE, starring Ashley Walters, Steven Mackintosh and Andy Serkis which is currently in post production.
Over 12 months, slingshot will put up to eight projects through the programme. The first intake of projects is scheduled for October. Selection criteria will encompass originality of idea, strength of story and strength of talent with compatibility with the low budget film-making model and market appeal.
To qualify for the scheme, applicants will require at least one of the following credits:
· A commercial, feature film or TV programme that has been broadcast or distributed in the UK
· Two short films that have been shown at a UK or international film festival
· A theatrical production that has been reviewed by the national press
To submit a project visit http://www.slingshot-productions.com/submissions.
Commenting on the award, Rachel Connors, Co-Founder and Head of Development at slingshot, said:
“This award from Skillset is industry recognition of slingshot’s innovative approach to developing talent. Nurturing the best projects also means supporting and investing in the people that we work with.
“Crafting and communicating strong stories also means addressing their commercial concerns and finding the audience that the film will ultimately resonate with. These outcomes require different types of training and support – more than just script editing or leaving a writer alone in a room. “
slingshot is committed to drawing a diverse range of participants to the scheme. In sourcing projects, the scheme will be marketed to a wide range of film-making communities and “transition talent” (professionals who have proven themselves in one skill or medium and want to transfer to film, i.e. writers and directors who have distinguished themselves in theatre, television, short films or commercials, actors who want to creatively produce and writers who want to direct) and will approach selected Regional Screen Agencies, theatres and minority led creative organisations.