Film London Gets Cooking With Skillset Award For 'Microwave' Project

Film London has been awarded £88,509 from Skillset ‘training into production funding’ towards its new £136,000 Microwave Training Programme, part of the micro-budget feature film scheme, Microwave, which launched earlier this year.
Following 71 applications to the Microwave scheme, 11 short-listed film-making teams will participate in Microschool, a three-day intensive programme of seminars and workshops. At the end of the programme the teams will re-pitch their projects to a panel which will select up to three projects to progress on to the Microwave production scheme.
The selected teams will then take part in the next stage of the training programme which includes bespoke training sessions throughout the production process based on the individual needs of teams, complimented by top-level mentors providing personal support and career advice.
Throughout the production period, a selection of accompanying material will be produced such as documentary footage of the films being made, as well as transcripts of seminars and interviews. This will then be made universally available as an online learning resource for all micro-budget film-makers.
Microwave challenges film-makers to shoot a full length film for up to £75,000 with the option of raising additional in-kind support taking the budget to a maximum of £100,000. The scheme will provide an intensive approach to film-making, with an emphasis on tightly focused scripts, short production schedules and commercial potential. Set to produce 10 films by 2008, the scheme will deliver training through production across fiction, documentary and animation projects.
Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London commented: “Film London is extremely grateful for Skillset's support of the Microwave Training Programme which further builds on the developing partnership between the two organisations. This award recognises the unique and ground-breaking approach of Microwave to low-budget film-making and we very much look forward to developing new work through the scheme.”
There will be a second call for applications to the Microwave scheme towards the end of the month.
(DS/SP)