Virgin Filmmakers Offered Big Break

NORTHWEST filmmakers are being given the chance to take their next steps up the movie-making ladder, after winning £2,500 each from regional screen agency, Northwest Vision and Media, which works on behalf of the region’s TV, film, radio and digital content industries.

Twelve new producer/director/writer filmmaking teams will be given the cash, which they’ll use to produce a short, ten-minute film under Vision and Media’s Virgin Shorts 2008 scheme.

“As the title of the scheme suggests, this opportunity is for filmmakers who have yet to receive funding from us, so its great that we’re able to make contact with the region’s fresh, new filmmaking talent,” explains Tom Gabbutt, Talent Development Executive at Northwest Vision and Media.

“We had a tremendous response to our call for new filmmakers to get in touch with us, so it took us quite some time to interview and short-list potential movie-makers.

“In fact, usually we’d only be able to fund up to 10 new filmmakers, but the standard of entries this year was so great that we felt duty-bound to find additional funding, which has enabled us to support 12 new, talented filmmaking teams,” adds Tom.

A total of seven production teams from Manchester, four from Liverpool and one from Carlisle made it to the final of the Virgin Short scheme.

Each filmmaking group will now receive one-to-one support, as well as being invited to attend workshops with industry experts, who will help them write and produce their short films in either drama, animation or documentary.

“Virgin Shorts is a great way for us to get to know about the fantastic, fresh new film talent out there in our region,” explains Tom. “We would hope that the experience everyone gains from the Virgin Shorts Scheme will encourage the filmmakers to progress to the next stage of filmmaking, perhaps taking advantage of Vision and Media’s Digital Shorts Filmmaking scheme, which offers funding of up to £12,500 to filmmakers.”

Find out who the winning 12 projects are