The five teams of emerging filmmaking talent commissioned through the Scottish Shorts 2012/13 programme were announced today.

Directors Ainslie Henderson and Will Anderson, Ian Waugh, Cara Connolly and Martin Clark, Rory Alexander Stewart and Martin Smith will make their films with producers Cameron Fraser, Richard Warden and Jim Webster, Phoebe Grigor, Paul Ryan and Sarah Drummond.

The Scottish Shorts programme is designed to discover and develop writers, directors and producers with fresh voices and the imagination to create engaging stories to share with international audiences. Films of up to 15 minutes will be produced, with budgets ranging from £10,000 to £20,000.

Individual members of the commissioned teams previous achievements include: Will and Ainslie were awarded  the 2013 BAFTA, Best Short Animation for The Making of Longbird; Ian Waugh’s short Strayed recently competed for the Best Scottish Short award at Glasgow Short Film Festival 2013; documentary filmmakers Cara Connolly and Martin Clark previously co-directed The Boccia Brothers, which broadcast on BBC2 in 2012 and Rory Stewart is an alumnus of the Collabor8te programme alongside Martin Smith, whose previous short Tracks garnered him a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Short Film.

The programme is a collaboration between Hopscotch Films and DigiCult, with funding from Creative Scotland and draws on the experience of producers John Archer, Carolynne Sinclair Kidd and Paul Welsh, who act as executives on the programme. These producers bring an extensive mix of talent and experience to the programme, offering invaluable support and expertise to the chosen filmmakers, helping them to create high quality projects, equipping filmmaking talent with the skills to break into features and promote their work on a national and international platform.

12 teams of emerging writers, directors, animators and producers were considered by an expert panel before the five teams were chosen.

Over the last few months, the talent teams were given the opportunity to work with DigiCult and Hopscotch, plus experienced industry mentors from a range of disciplines, to develop their projects to commissioning stage. 

After a rigorous selection process, five films were chosen by an expert industry panel consisting of Shian Holt (GMAC), Matt Lloyd (Glasgow Short Film Festival), Paul Welsh (DigiCult), Carolynne Sinclair Kidd (Hopscotch Films) and Ross McKenzie (Creative Scotland).

Members of the panel commented on this year’s selections:

Matt Lloyd said:

“It was incredibly hard to choose from such a strong range of projects, all of which deserve to get made, however I'm really excited about the panel's diverse selection - five original and mature projects by significant emerging voices in Scottish filmmaking.”

Carolynne Sinclair Kidd said:

“I'm completely thrilled to find myself working with such an inspiring and talented group of filmmakers on an extremely diverse range of projects. The future of Scottish film is very bright!”

Paul Welsh said:

"The development phase of Scottish Shorts has been really rewarding. After three months of intensive work, the standard across the slate was exceptional.  It was extremely difficult for the panel to select the final five films, such was the high quality of talent in the programme. I'm sure everyone involved has a big role to play in the future of Scottish film."

Shian Holt said:

“It was a real honour to be included in the panel for the Scottish Shorts selection 2013. The projects up for selection were of an extremely high standard, including lots of interesting story ideas and creative approaches. I would like to wish all the filmmakers every success.”

Details of the selected films and talent teams are as follows: 

• Monkey Love Experiments (animation/live action) - Inspired by love, a misguided monkey believes he’s destined for the moon.
  Writer/Director: Ainslie Henderson
  Writer/Compositor: Will Anderson
  Producer: Cameron Fraser (Kolik Films)
  
  Will and Ainslie were recently awarded a BAFTA for their short animation The Making of Longbird. Previously the filmmakers, both recent graduates of Edinburgh College of Art, have contributed on each other’s projects. This would be the first time they’ve collaborated on a project from concept stage.

• As He Lay Falling (drama) - Georgios has come to Scotland from Greece, forced to search for work outside his country. Surviving as a woofer, he digs peat for food and board on Bronte and William’s Highland croft. A ghost in a foreign land, Georgios discovers the difference between disappearance and self-annihilation.
  Writer/Director: Ian Waugh
  Producers: Richard Warden & Jim Webster
  
  Ian’s previous short Strayed recently competed for the Best Scottish Short award at Glasgow Short Film Festival 2013.

• Exchange and Mart (drama with comedy) - A boarding school girl comes of age in the most unlikely of circumstances - during a self-defence exercise.
  Writer/Director(s): Cara Connolly & Martin Clark
  Producer: Phoebe Grigor
  
  Coming from a background in documentary filmmaking, Cara and Martin previously co-directed The Boccia Brothers, which screened on BBC2 in August 2012.

• Wiyuld (drama) - A life in the day of a barmaid who works the long shift at a pub in Edinburgh’s docklands.
  Writer/Director: Rory Alexander Stewart
  Producer: Paul Ryan
  
  Rory recently completed the Collabor8te programme as a writer.

• Seagulls (drama) - When a young showman pitches up in a new town he is forced into making new friends. Seagulls explores the subtle differences in the lives of these teenage boys and how cultural bonds and barriers that are deeply ingrained are never far from the surface.
  Writer/Director: Martin Smith
  Producer: Sarah Drummond
  
  Martin Smith is an award winning filmmaker whose previous short film Tracks won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Short Film.  He recently completed Creative Scotland’s Accelerator programme where he developed his feature film script Shows.

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