Scottish Screen announces new Lottery Funding procedures

Scottish Screen has announced that a quicker and more transparent Lottery Funding application and decision making process is to be implemented on March 1 2005.
From this date all applications for Lottery Funding in excess of £25,000 will be assessed at Lottery Funding Meetings (LFM), to be held every six weeks (as opposed to every three months, as is currently the case), thus reducing the time between submission deadlines and notification of decisions.
The LFM will be chaired by a member of the Scottish Screen Board who will ratify the decision taken by the panel of Scottish Screen Officers and a small group of external assessors. The external members of the panel will be drawn from a pool of industry practitioners, including writers, directors, producers, sales agents, distributors and broadcasters, who will attend on a rotational basis.
Claire Chapman, Head of Production at Scottish Screen, said: “We are indebted to the members of the Scottish Screen Lottery Committee who have been so instrumental over the years in developing a film industry here in Scotland. It is now time to respond to the demands of this maturing industry and become more proactive in our procedures. We believe the changes will make the process much more efficient, transparent and accessible for all concerned.”
The specific detail of the new process of assessment and decision-making will be announced on March 1 2005, when revised application forms and guidelines to reflect the re-designed system will be available.
The deadline for submission of application forms for all Lottery Funding will be March 18 for the first LFM on April 29 2005, when all funding applications below and above £25,000 will be assessed.
Any current schemes, initiatives or projects with Scottish Screen funding will continue to be overseen, monitored and executed as normal.
(GB)