On Form

Who here hates filling in forms?

Me too!

Along with ironing, cutting someone else's toenails and cleaning the loo, it's up there as one of the most odious chores but... Yes, there's a but, it can be a necessary evil.

Most scriptwriters at some point will need money to make their project. It doesn't matter if it's a short, feature, or something for the web. At the end of the day, it all comes down to budget.

Budget means finding funding and funding means either coughing up yourself, crowdfunding or... have you guessed yet?

Forms!

There are lots of places as a writer where you can find help and funding but the main one in the UK is via the BFI (British Film Institute) site which you can access here: http://bfi.org.uk

(You can follow them on twitter if you cut and paste this link:

https://twitter.com/BFI?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor )

There are others like 'Talkies' and 'Shore Scripts Short Film Fund' but some of these can cost you to enter. If you check out Film Bath, they also do a competition to help fund your short as do several competitions on Film Freeway, such as 'Female Voices Rock' in New York and Canada's 'Yes, Let's make a movie' which for a limited time costs one dollar to enter, yes you heard, a dollar i.e. 76p at the current exchange rate! So, don't whine 'I can't afford to enter any competitions', you'll find that in loose change in a month.

You can take a peak here: https://filmfreeway.com/festivals to browse festivals. If it's specifically a short you want made, click the short screenplay box to cut down festivals that only accept films, it will save you browsing time.

Anyway, this week I've had the pleasure of filling in the application for the Scottish Film Talent Network Form to try to get my own short made. If you don't know already, BFI is split regionally to cover Scotland, England and Wales so everywhere gets a fair share of the National Lottery funding that is on offer.

You can find information for Scotland via this link http://www.scottishfilmtalent.com

Anyway, I thought I'd talk you through what was expected. Along with the usual contact details, in order to get funding for Scottish Shorts, you need to have been involved in making a short movie, or have some theatre, or hands on experience. All the guidelines are on the homepage but I figured it can be nice to have an overview if you've never applied before.

In this instance, you can apply to get funding as both a solo writer, or part of a team of anything up to four. This means, you can apply with just your producer, just your director, or with your whole team.

The form asks you to fill out a one hundred word synopsis of your short project and explain if it's an animation, or live action piece. It then asks for a longer breakdown where you can go in for a bit more detail. You need to do a Writer's statement explaining what it means to you to get the project made and why it should be made. If you have a Director and Producer, it requests their statements too. If you don't have people attached to your project, were you to win, they find a crew for you. On top of that, they need a writing sample which you provide by joining the network and uploading your details and sample scripts to BFI, after that, all you have to do is say if you've had any previous funding, that you are not affiliated to anyone who works there, sign and date it. Boom!

You do need to fill out an Equal Opportunities survey so they can get a diverse group to choose from and there is a form that says Registering Interest but it seems like it can be encompassed in the Application Form, so that's one to watch for.

So, that's a wee guide on what you can expect in the Scottish Shorts funding form, hope that helps, knowing me, I've lost one of the pages while ironing, cutting someone else's toenails, or cleaning the loo!

(Don't know why I'm telling you, you're the competition! Good Luck, regardless and if you win remember we're not just kilts, haggis and drunken Glaswegians. Scotland has so much more to offer... and Aberdonians are not tight! We're frugal.)

Now, where did I put that rubber duck?