Funding Support To Propel Aspiring British Filmmakers

Help is at hand for up-and-coming film-makers who are seeking financial backing for their films. From today a new service is available which links up film-makers with those offering funding.
The team behind Propeller TV, the pioneering short film channel which was launched on Sky in 2006, have developed a web service aimed at enabling film-makers to get access to all funds for which they could be eligible. The TV channel was sold to Chinese Broadcasters Xiking Group in July 2009 as the internet is seen as a far more appropriate channel for the expanded range of services that Propeller4Film will now offer.
The funding information, which will be updated weekly, will include tips from fund providers on how best to apply for finance as well as down-loadable application forms. As at launch date the site has around 50 funds with approximately £2 million available for financing of short films. Any budding film-maker knows that will fund a great many short films, when a £10,000 budget could be considered a blockbuster. However, most film-makers are unaware of the vast majority of these funds.
Propeller4Film will also continue the great show-casing work that the channel was doing on TV over the past three years. In that time more than 2,500 film makers have had their films shown. The video-on-demand channel launches with a catalogue of around 250 of the very best short films and has a target of adding a further 50 each month.
“Our aim is to continue to attract the best new producers and give them a platform to air their films,” said Propeller4 Film Managing Director Carole Dove. “We are also offering, for the first time, a distribution service whereby we will sell films around the world for our film-makers thereby generating a much needed income stream for them.”
Propeller4Film has been designed and developed for a six figure cost by a team from Endemol Digital - producers of Big Brother, which is one of the UK’s most successful cross-platform sites.
The new web service launch is timed to coincide with this week’s Clemont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France, which starts on 29th January and where Propeller4Film will be exhibiting.
Visit the new service at: www.propeller4film.com
(BMcN/BMcc)