EIS specialist Formosa Films has announced details of its inaugural Seed EIS (SEIS) Development slate.

UK-based Formosa Films, the production company behind Clubbed and Twenty8K, is currently developing three titles through SEIS.

They are:

  • Unspoken, billed by Formosa as “Wicker Man set on a Greek island,” a thriller scripted by veteran TV writer Paddy Fletcher. The producers are Formosa’s Martin Carr and Neil Thompson
  • ESP, described as Formosa’s answer to Edge Of Darkness. Neil Thompson and David Kew (the duo behind Twenty8K) are co-directing, writing and producing the eco-conspiracy thriller. The story follows a Lithuanian law student who comes to London looking for her sister, who has disappeared. While in the UK, she blows open a scandal involving the disposal of toxic waste.
  • Guilty, scripted by Scottish writer Claire Duffy, a contemporary film noir set in Boston. This is likely to be on a bigger budget than the other two films. Thompson will be attending the Strategic Partners coproduction market in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in September to look for North American partners.

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Last month’s UK Budget confirmed that the SEIS Scheme will allow income tax relief of 50% for individuals who invest in shares in qualifying seed companies. The investment is limited at £150,000 per company — a small amount relative to most films’ budgets but nonetheless welcomed as a potential tool for film development. What makes SEIS especially attractive now is that the Government is also offering a one-off Capital Gains Tax exemption.

“It’s a great deal for investors,” Neil Thompson, who runs Formosa with Martin Carr, commented of SEIS.

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