Warp X
The UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund and FilmFour have set up the Low-Budget Feature Film Project to build on their existing feature film production activities, and source and nurture a wide range of filmmaking talent with a focus on writers, directors and producers.
Warp X has been appointed as the company to run the project with co-financiers EM-Media and Screen Yorkshire. Optimum Releasing will distribute the films theatrically and on DVD in the UK.
The key aims of the project are to establish a more integrated approach to development, production and distribution for up and coming filmmaking talent and at the same time to provide economies of scale for low-budget feature film production.
The joint objectives of the New Cinema Fund and FilmFour for Warp X are:
- to source a diverse range of filmmaking talent and mentors;
- to develop a more integrated and cost-effective model for the development and production of low-budget films by accessing a core team of production, financing and business affairs expertise and taking into account the cultural and commercial needs of the UK film industry;
- to provide new opportunities to increase participation of groups currently under-represented in the UK film industry such as writers, directors, producers and actors who are female, disabled and/or from black and minority ethnic groups;
- to encourage filmmakers to explore social issues of disability, cultural/ethnic diversity and social exclusion through the content and range of individual film projects;
- to create much-needed progression routes into the UK film industry for identified filmmaking talent, who may have experienced some success through their first feature film or through short filmmaking, but who need further infrastructural and other support to make their next film(s) a success; and
- to provide an opportunity for and to encourage established filmmaking talent to reinvest their expertise in the talent of tomorrow, both in front of and behind the camera.
