First feature film shot with backing from new Wales Creative IP Fund

David Schwimmer, of ‘Friends’ and ‘Band of Brothers’ fame, and Simon Pegg, best know for his role in ‘Shaun of the Dead' and the television series ‘Spaced’, will star in the first feature film backed by the new Wales Creative IP Fund.
A fast-paced, dark comedy titled ‘Big Nothing’ will film in the Cardiff area in January, including a studio shoot on a set constructed in an ex-refrigeration plant.
“We are enormously impressed by the professionalism of our Welsh technicians and everyone at the Cardiff film production company, CF1, which is providing us with crew and equipment” said producer Andras Hamori, who has produced such hits as ‘51st State’ and David Cronenberg’s ‘eXistenZ’.
Operating out of Finance Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government’s commercial funding organisation, and guided by an expert investment committee, the Wales Creative IP fund acts as a ‘gap financier’ to offer deal-clinching investment alongside finance already secured from other funding providers. The other investors in ‘Big Nothing’ are Pathe, one of Europe’s leading film producers and distributors, Ingenious Films, one of the UK’s most prominent producer and financiers and the Isle of Man Film and Television Fund.
Economic Development and Transport Minister Andrew Davies commented: “The IP Fund is both attracting production to Wales and will earn a return on its investment through its share of the film’s takings. Additional value on ‘Big Nothing’ is being delivered by the fact that around three times the amount of the IP Fund’s investment will be spent on Welsh crews, technicians and production facilities”.
The £7m Wales Creative IP Fund is part of the Welsh Assembly Government’s wider initiative for the Creative Industries in Wales.
Support for the creative industries in Wales has been restructured and unified to create a Wales Creative Industries Support Service which will deliver a new level of focused and sophisticated support.
(CD)