ArtsFest 2010 (10 – 12 September 2010)

ArtsFest is open for film submissions. ArtsFest is the UK’s largest free arts festival and takes place in the heart of the country, Birmingham.

Last year ArtsFest featured over 80 different shorts (and a few feature films) ranging from music videos to animated comedies to live action dramas.  The films were shown in one of Birmingham’s premier venues located in the centre of the city, The Crescent Theatre.  This is to be the venue again for the film strand in September 2010.

Films should be submitted on a playable DVD and sent to:

ArtsFest, Sam Groves, 129 Northfield Rd, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B30 1EA

Eligibility Guidelines

The film needs to have some connection to the West Midlands; this can come from a variety of avenues. For example, the filmmakers/actors etc may come from the region or have family that are/were based in the region. The filmmakers/actors etc may have studied in the region. The film may have been shot within the West Midlands. The film may have been shown in the West Midlands over the last 12 months. If you are unsure as to the strength of your connection to the West Midlands, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Sam Groves (contact details below).

The film can be of any length and of any genre.

Deadline:

Saturday 17^th July 2010

For more information contact:

Sam Groves, ArtsFest Film Strand Co-Ordinator

Sam.groves@hotmail.co.uk

07779 255 779

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=134364893257446&v=info&ref=ts

MICRO BUDGET, MASSIVE SUCCESS – Professionally Handling Constraints Of Microbudget Filmmaking To Achieve Maximum Success

DATE: Monday 28th June 2010

TIME: 09:30-17:00

LOCATION: Light House, Wolverhampton, WV1 1HT

INFO: A few break through films are resurrecting the microbudget spectrum of the market. With filmmakers facing tougher times and the inability to compete with studio films at the box office, how does a small film find its way to an audience via sales agents and distributors.

The Producers’ Forum in association with The Light House Media Centre & Women in Film and TV presents a panel event with highly regarded indie filmmakers Elaine Wickham and Jan Dunn. With their company Maeve Films, they are now veterans of 3 theatrically released, award-winning feature films which they refer to as their Microbudget Trilogy. They created this term in the hope that they can finally draw a line under their self enforced restraints having proved themselves in a volatile and closed-door industry. They will discuss how best to make films that could put you on the national, if not international, map and allow at least a dip of a toe into the water of the British Film Industry. They will conclude the discussion with a case by case study of each of their films.

SCHEDULE:
09:30 Arrival and coffee
09:45 THE CALLING screening
11:35 Break
11:50 Q&A with Jan Dunn and Elaine Wickham
13:00 Lunch Break
13:45 Afternoon Case Studies and workshop
16:15 Break
16:30 HD Presentation by The Light House
17:00 Close

COST:
Full member: both sessions £0
Associate member/WFTV Member/Light House: morning session £0
Associate member/WFTV Member/Light House: both sessions £25
Non-member: morning session only £50
Non-member: afternoon session only £50
Non-member: both sessions £80
(Prices exclude VAT)

REGISTRATION:
Spaces on this event are limited. To reserve a place please email Rebecca on info@producersforum.org.uk or call 0121 265 7145

Paid Opportunity: £15 – £20 per hour

mac, Britain’s liveliest arts centre re-opened its doors in May 2010 following a £15m makeover. We have welcomed people back into our much loved, newly refurbished cinema, showing major releases and the best in independent film programming.

As part of our creative learning programme we are looking to recruit experienced Artist Tutors for a number of subject areas, including Cinema Studies, to teach Film Theory and are seeking a leader for mac’s Film Club.

Applicants should have a minimum of two years experience in delivering creative participatory activities to the public in either arts, community or educational settings and be able to provide a stimulating learning experience that enables participants to achieve their creative potential.  Deadline for applications is 28^th May.

For full details and how to apply please visit the job opportunities page of our website: www.macarts.co.uk

Film Forum’s next meet up will be on Thursday 29th April @ The Victoria Pub from 7pm.

The idea of these meet ups is to give filmmakers a networking platform from which they can meet people involved in different aspects of filmmaking from directors to actors to editors in order to source equipment, make contacts and flourish.

The entire evening is very INFORMAL so therefore it is really up to you if you approach it as a casual drink or an opportunity to network and get projects off the ground.

Address: The Victoria Pub, 48 John Bright St, Birmingham, B1 1BN

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117517881598352

We have tables reserved in the backroom near the bar.

See you there.

The challenge is to create a site-specific production for multi-lingual audiences while retaining some of Shakespeare’s original text. The productions need to be interactive and to work together, so we’re looking for 10 people aged between 16-25 who are comfortable and skilled in front of the camera as well as behind it.

To apply for ‘Living the Dream’ or for more information about the project, please visit www.ideastap.com.

Applications close on Monday 5th April 2010.



Fancy helping out at Flatpack? This year’s festival runs from 23-28 March in venues all over Birmingham, and the whole thing wouldn’t be possible without hordes of dedicated volunteers. (See a nice writeup from one of last year’s team here.) Responsibilities will include front-of-house, venue installation, technical support, marketing and bar work, and all volunteers will have the opportunity to make good use of their festival passes.

If you’d like to get involved, please drop us a line at info@7inch.org.uk with your contact details before 22nd February.

Also keep in mind that our briefing meetup will be on Weds 3rd March, from 6:30pm.

DATE OF EVENT: Feb 1st 2010 (UK) ONLINE – 28TH Feb 2010

DETAILS: Teams will pick a random theme & title which they must turn into a 70min B movie in 28 days!!

VENUE: ICA

FORMAT: You can return your film on DVD format,
please email for more details on ratio for screening & Sound.

ENTRY FEE: £30 per team (Entry Funds for Venue Hire)
For more info on format or questions please email: oddballtv@yahoo.com

WEBSITE: http://www.oddballchallenge.com

Further details on their Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=211607357663

Muckyduckmedia is a fledgling independent television company based in Birmingham and is made up of five very enthusiastic and hard working third year media students from Birmingham City University. Meeting through our degree and building a strong working relationship we are now working on our final project. We have decided to produce a short film of around 10 – 15 minutes long and need a script writer to work with to produce an original and unique piece.

We want to collaborate with a West Midlands based script writer with the aim of working together to create a drama that will encapsulate modern society and the essence of Birmingham through locations, themes and characters. Birmingham is a great place and brilliant location and we’re looking for a story that will really capture and celebrate this city, of which is largely under represented in the television industry.

In terms of the actual story and style that’s up to you! What we’re looking for is simply a great story with detailed and interesting characters that we can really develop and bring to life on screen. We would love the chance to explore the parts of Birmingham that aren’t often seen which could be inspiration for your work, for example the canals, high rises, railways, industrial areas and beautiful architecture.

We want a story that can really explore human kind in way that either reveals a part of society not yet explored or tells us more about relationships and people that the audience can relate to. These are just guidelines however and we’re very open to any ideas you may have and relish a challenge so feel free to be experimental with you’re ideas and themes if you wish.

This project will not only provide a chance to see your idea realised but also has at least two screening events in Birmingham. We are working with a new PR company in Birmingham who are relaunching an online hub for people either trying to break into the media industry or who want to actively produce their own work by working with others in collaborations.

This short film will be screened at the event as an example of the kind of work that could be produced through this on line hub. The film will also be screened at our end of year show. Both these events will have professionals in the region attending, providing a great opportunity to network and a chance to discuss your work.

Your ideas don’t have to be fully conceived as yet; we’re looking for a strong voice and an interesting concept to develop further. We very much look forward to hearing your ideas!

To enter: Please send the following to Script, 107 The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham, B9 4AA, or catherine.edwards@scriptonline.net*:

• an outline of your idea (no longer than 1 side of A4)
• up to five pages from the screenplay
• cover sheet with your name, address, telephone number, email address, date of birth
• writers’ CV

The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Friday 29th January 2010

Up to 6 writers will be invited to a Writer’s Lab to be held on Saturday 6th February to workshop ideas and to make the final selection.

*If using Microsoft Vista, please ensure that you convert the documents to Office 97-2003 prior to emailing your entry.



LOCATION: The Electric Cinema, 47 Station Street, Birmingham, B5 4DY

Increasingly independent filmmakers are finding the best way to get their film made is under microbudget principles. The more entrepreneurial a producer can be in financing their film, the more likely it is they will get it made.

Numerous microbudget feature initiatives have been established during the last five years such as Microwave, Warp X, Slingshot Studios, Digital Departures and IFeatures. There are also many producers making microbudget films outside of these schemes. But what are the challenges? How do you make your film safely, legally and with high enough production values to ensure the films are successfully distributed?

Join us for a day all about microbudget filmmaking and find out some of the top tips from filmmakers who have been there and done it!

The day’s schedule is as follows:

Schedule:

09:30 – 10:00          Registration

10:00 – 11:30          Screening of Ruby Blue

11:30 – 11:45          Coffee break

11:45 – 13:15          Q&A with Elaine Wickham, Producer and Jan Dunn, Director. Chaired by Deborah Aston

13:15 – 14:00          Lunch (provided for people on all day course)

14:00 – 16:00          Microbudget Panel with Anita Lewton, Lincia Daniel & Simon Wood. Chaired by Natasha Carlish

Prices and payment:

Full member: both sessions £0
Associate member: morning session only £0
Associate member: both sessions £25+VAT
Non-member: morning session only £50+VAT
Non-member: afternoon session only £50+VAT
Non-member: both sessions £80+VAT

Payment to be made before admission is permitted.

You can’t afford to miss this day! We look forward to seeing you there.

To register or for more information please contact Rebecca: info@producersforum.org.uk or visit our website

Tuesday 23^rd and Wednesday 24^th March 2010
The Bond, Birmingham

THE ENGINE ROOM PITCH is an intensive 2 day proposal development and pitching workshop to help you prepare your factual project for UK and international funding.

The workshop is a high-level project development opportunity and includes an introduction to MeetMarket and all Marketplace activities at Doc/Fest and to wider opportunities in international documentary funding and markets. Delivered by international marketplace specialist Christina Burnett, of Wide Eye Pictures, this is also a unique chance to pitch your project and get feedback from two UK commissioners as well as Charlie Philips, Doc/Fest Marketplace Producer. Commissioners from BBC, Channel 4, Britdoc and CBA-DFID Broadcast Media Scheme have taken part in previous workshops.

THE ENGINE ROOM PITCH is suitable for all levels of experience, from senior producers and directors to new entrants.  You can attend either as a pitcher with project, or as an observer.

Applicants must be West Midlands-based filmmakers. The cost of the workshop is £30 for all attendees.

To express interest, email Doc/Fest Marketplace Producer Charlie Phillips via charlie@sidf.co.uk with a one-page proposal for a factual/documentary project (single, series or cross-platform doc) and brief information about yourself.  Projects can be at any stage of development, for any platform, as long as it is a factual project.

See http://sheffdocfest.com/view/pitchworkshops for full information.

Saturday 7^th November 2009 (10am-5pm)

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Suite

£50 (£40 concessions)

From the traditionally structured TV and film stories that attempt to appeal to wide audiences (which ITV controller Peter Fincham termed ‘3G’ – three generations watching together), to the 3D structures of games and online drama, this day-long course looks at new opportunities offered to writers by the rise of digital technologies.  Suitable for writers, film-makers and drama practitioners interested in looking at new ways of telling stories across screens of all sizes. Participants:

Graham Joyce is the author of fourteen novels and has won numerous awards for his writing, including five British Fantasy Awards and the 2003 World Fantasy Award. He has also written screenplays of his novels and has recently been hired by the creators of Doom 4 to help develop the storyline potential of the computer game.

Neil Mossey worked solely in television and radio before writing on Season 2 of the daily interactive web drama KateModern (storylining over 26 weeks, and scripting 74 webisodes). The series ended in July 2008 clocking up 66 million video views, the largest UK online production to date. As a comedy producer at the BBC he was responsible for developing new formats and drama in the Comedy Entertainment department with writers and performers. His freelance writer, script editor, and producer credits include My Parents Are Aliens (ITV1), Freefonix (BBC One), Blackout (Channel 4), SuperNormal (ITV1), The Worst Witch (ITV1), Hedz (BBC One), and The Morning After Show (Channel 4).

Claire Ingham is a producer and film and television script developer. She works on projects at all stages of development – currently ranging from the adaptation treatment of Eoin Colfer’s bestselling novel The Wishlist to the final draft of Helen Cross’ original feature Stratford Road. Claire has previously worked for a number of film and television companies in development roles. She was Head of Drama Development at Impossible Pictures for four years where she headed a small team, commissioning and developing a range of TV and film projects for all the major broadcasters, including Jed Mercurio’s contemporary retelling of Frankenstein and Michael Chaplin’s family film Pickles.

For booking and further information, please visit www.scriptonline.net/screen.html

Or email catherine.edwards@scriptonline.net

The event is presented by Script, the regional development agency for dramatic writers in the West Midlands, offering advice, training and mentoring via industry-led partnerships.

Casting call from Matt and Vince of Rapid Pics:

Short spoof of those glamorous, stylised perfume adverts, filming on Monday 23rd November in Stoneleigh, near Coventry (West Midlands).

We require a MALE and FEMALE, both very attractive, to play opposite each other. No dialogue.

This will be a professional piece, and will make an excellent addition to your showreel. We will pay £50, plus travel.

We will be holding auditions for short-listed talent. Models with a base in the West Midlands are preferable.

To find out more, please go to: http://www.facebook.com/l/501fa;www.mattandvince.com

If you think you may be suitable, please contact matt@rapidpics.com

Hello there,

Film Forum’s next meet up will be on Tuesday 13th October at the Victoria Pub on John Bright Street in Birmingham from 6pm.

For those that haven’t been to a meet up yet, here’s what happens! We meet up each month to get people from all aspects of filmmaking in the Midlands together to chat and start building networks of friends and contacts.

It’s very informal and is really up to you if you approach it as a casual drink or an opportunity to make new contacts and get projects off the ground. Contacts made through the social evenings have helped film projects to flourish and the variety of creative types attending has been very encouraging.

So, come on down, say hello, tell us what you are up to and hopefully we’ll all benefit from some interaction.

Here’s the address: The Victoria Pub, 48 John Bright St, Birmingham, B1 1BN

Here’s the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142120700881&index=1

I hope to see you there.

Birmingham’s Flatpack Festival is set to arrive once again this coming March from the 23rd – 28th, this time seeking a helping hand behind the scenes!

The festival organisers are looking to appoint somebody in the role of ‘Festival Coordinator’, if you are thinking about applying be quick though as the deadline is 28th Sept 2009. Further information about how to apply on their blog.

Submissions Wanted! Flatpack Festival are also calling for short film submissions, so if you’re a filmmaker and you would like to send in a short film, simply fill out the form which is available here.

The genre is period drama/romance. The story is called The Singers and is set mainly in 1960. It is about a jazz singer and an aristocrat and their romantic involvement with each other.

The script has gone through 3 drafts and has two metors, John Humphreys and Adam Hamdy. It made the Screen WM script grant short list twice before this draft but I plan to do the scriptment and the synopsis in my own time without any funding.

When complete, I also plan to get some kind of production team together.

If you feel you can help Gillian, get in touch with her at gillianstapleton@hotmail.com

We’re looking for a sound engineer to work a sixteen day shoot. The engineer must have some portfolio work to show and have experience.

We’re also looking for a makeup artist with skills in special FX, blood guts and gore. The more portfolio work or reel cuts you can show us of this sort of work, the more likely we are to take you on.

Same terms of contract apply to both jobs. The work is unpaid, on a low budget film. However contracts will specify a percentage of profits to be given when distribution is acquired for the title.

Person/s must be able to get to the West Midlands, Wolverhampton area. Lifts available.

Email: dtook@transientinnovations.co.uk with name and contact details + experience.

If you want to see more about us, go to Spooked Films Limited. Dead Time productions is an arm of Spooked Films Limited.

Local filmmaker, Olly Jones of Better Feeling Films is looking for an actress in her early to late 20s for 5-6 days during August for their feature, Lost in the Headlights. Expenses and food will be provided. The film centers on a rock band who have to deal with the tragic loss of one of there members.

They are also looking for extras for gig/pub and party scenes, as well as still being in need for a DoP.

Contact Oliver Jones for more details at: betterfeelingfilms@gmail.com

You can find more details about Lost in the Headlights here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86061531543

http://viewaskew.com/theboard/viewtopic.php?t=68419

Here’s Tony’s explaination of the scenes:

• A spaceship in space – there’s some narration about emotions, and different parts of the ship light up accordingly; and there is a face in the middle of it that reacts to the different emotions. The spaceship would look something like the ELO album cover, if you know the one I’m talking about, and the camera would move around it. Originally thought this would be 3D modelled, but I’m sure it would look just as good in Flash.

• A Doom-type scene, first person perspective – a guy walks around in the dark with a big gun, until he bumps into other people (traffic warden, Big Issue seller, little girl with a balloon), screams and runs away firing wildly. Some designing of characters, but as they are sprites they only need a few frames of animation each.

In terms of quality, it’s simple and effective rather than detailed and involved – I wouldn’t want people working away for weeks. If it’s recognisable and it moves, it’s fine. Both scenes are approximately sixty seconds long. I could pay you £75 each scene. Not a lot I know, but I’m trying my best.

The scenes don’t really work as standalone pieces as the animation tends to support the narration in the film. I can send through the pages if you’re interested.

So if you are interested contact Tony Wilkes at: tonywilkes@hotmail.com

You can go in to the ladies loos and talk to a complete stranger about anything, knowing the moment you walk out you’ll never speak to them again. We are now looking for pairs and groups of girls to be filmed on their nights out. If you always seem to have a dramatic night out and someone ends up in the loos crying, or arguing, or worrying about boys, then maybe you could be part of the film! So if you’ve got a birthday or hen do or just a big night out please get in touch and be part of our short film!

Ladies interested in taking part in the film should email Nerina Villa at: villaspeedy@aol.com

I would love to have someone on board who I can work closely with. It’s collaborative, not paid, but we might able to sort something out. We also need someone for sound.

We have a weekend shoot on the 11th /12th July zombie shoot (a film within the film) then the main shoot is from the 4th-22nd August. So it’s quite intense but we are only doing 6-7 hr filming days. The shoot also involves music videos and short zombie/film and TV segments (it all makes sense).  So it should be a fun shoot.

If you’re interested and would like to get stuck into a project over the summer get in touch with Oliver at:

oliver_jones_37@hotmail.com