Short Film Writers Competition

We talked about this at the lest meeting...

Call for Writers & Filmmakers: Growing Older in the Countryside - Short Film Britain has an ageing population — and rural areas are ageing faster than towns and cities. The Rural Media Company is spearheading a campaign to raise awareness of the challenges facing older people in rural areas. Our target audience is the general public, particularly those who are considering retirement in the countryside.

We are looking for ideas for a short film (5-10 minutes in length). It could be a gentle or black comedy, a drama, a shocking public information film, a film with actors, or told in voice-over, a personal story, a mockumentary, etc: whatever most effectively forces us all to think about how we will survive as we get older in the face of shrinking public services.

For the winning idea, we will commission you to write an original screenplay for a minimum fee of £1,000. We don’t wish to discourage anyone from coming up with a good idea, so if you don’t have much experience of screenplay writing, we will team you up with a professional. In due course, we will also be looking to hire a director and crew, with an appropriate track record for turning the winning idea into an award-winning film.

The finished film will be distributed widely via broadcast, to film festivals, the internet and on DVD, via our partners ACRE and Age UK. See additional notes for information about ageing and rural areas.

How to apply Send your screenplay idea (no more than two sides of A4 please) by 9th February 2011 to Jan Bailey, email janb©ruralmedia.co.uk or post to The Rural Media Company, Sullivan House, 72-80 Widemarsh Street, Hereford HR4 9HG.

We will shortlist three pitches and invite the writers to meet us to discuss their ideas. The film will go into production in spring 2011. This project is funded by The Nationwide Foundation. Our partners are Age UK and ACRE (Action for Communities in Rural England)