The Funds, made up of £400,000 of BFI administered lottery money, will go towards the development of feature films and organisations which promote filmmaking activities in the UK regions.

Creative England has unveiled its two BFI lottery backed Funds - a £250,000 Development Fund and a £150,000 Film Networks Fund – aimed at supporting talent in the regions.

The Development Fund is open to individual writers, writer/directors and/or producers, as well as writer/director/producer teams, based in the English regions for the development of all types of feature films, including animation and documentary.

Awards will range from £2,500 to £25,000, to be made on a rolling basis.

The Film Networks Fund is open to networks and organisations whose work “supports and promotes filmmaking activities in the English regions.” 

That will include funding towards editorial and technical support for emerging talent looking to produce work, delivery of networking, screening and industry speaker events and master classes, and provision of peer-to-peer support, mentoring, training and advice.

Awards will again range from £2500 to £25,000. The deadline for applications is January 30 2012.

Creative England’s head of talent development Chris Moll, who will continue to be based out of the South West Screen office, also plans to launch a new nationwide microbudget programme next year – an extension of the Bristol  based iFeatures scheme which he spearheaded at South West Screen - as well as providing advice and practical help to film-makers.

The talent development team now consists of Anna Seifert-Speck, who has been appointed to the role of senior talent executive, central (based in Nottingham), Haley Mellor, who takes on the role of talent coordinator, national (based in Manchester), Dan Lawson who will manage the Advantage Media Production Fund and project director for Film Nation Shorts and Simon Flynn,project manager for Film Nation Shorts.

Still to be appointed are the roles of senior talent executive (north) and a natonal talent manager.

Moll said: “We’re targeting our Development Funds at those unique regional voices with great new stories to tell, combined with the skill to drive their project forward both creatively and commercially. We’d like to hear from applicants from all around the country, so that we can reflect the real diversity that is out there in the regions.”

Eddie Berg, the BFI’s director of partnerships, added that the funds would “complement the talent development activities of the BFI’s Film Fund which benefits applicants throughout the UK. We are absolutely committed to supporting the UK’s emerging filmmaking talent and Creative England is a key delivery partner in fulfilling this commitment; we look forward to working closely together in supporting distinctive, diverse and exciting filmmaking talent in the English regions.”

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