Writer-director Richard Jobson is re-teaming with HamishMcAlpine's Tartan Films on his next project, The New Town Killers, dueto shoot in Edinburgh early next year. This will be the third collaborationbetween Jobson and McAlpine following on from 16 Years Of Alcohol and A WomanIn Winter.

The £1 million thriller is set against the backdrop of Edinburgh's prosperousNew Town. Two private bankers in their 20s, both ex-pupils at elite publicschool Fettes (Tony Blair's alma mater) have devised a bizarre new night-timegame: hunting and killing people. Their victims are from the lowest end of thesocial spectrum. The latest target is Sean, a young rent boy awaiting theresults of an Aids test.

The bankers are ultra-privileged. "They have more money than they can everneed at that age but the one thing they can't do is hunt because the Governmenthas quite rightly banned fox hunting with dogs. They look for another way ofhunting - they hunt people," Jobson told ScreenDaily.com. Heacknowledged that the film is likely to be "extraordinarily violent"but added that the film will also expose the glaring social inequality incontemporary Edinburgh.

The film is based on a 120-page novella by Jobson. He and McAlpine will shareproducing duties on the movie, which will shoot on high-def. Tartan will handleUK distribution.

Jobson's most recent feature A Woman In Winter premiered at a charityscreening in Edinburgh in the summer in the presence of Chancellor GordonBrown. It will screen in late October in the New British Cinema section of TheTimes London Film Festival.