Geraldine Abrahams meets film makers who are investing in themselves.
Last week's news about the construction of a new #5m film studio in Glasgow, the natural home of the Scottish film and television industry, is good news for everyone in the sector in Scotland.
It is only a year since the first report to examine the possibility of a film industry in Scotland was commissioned, and the latest report proposing the new studio was one of the last acts of the Scottish Enterprise Film Unit which, with Scottish Screen, has been instrumental in presenting film production as a credible, potentially profitable business.
It has always been important to view the industry from that standpoint but it has been equally vital that film-making's creative side should be preserved.
Glasgow Film and Video Workshop (GFVW) in Albion Street has been instrumental in providing training, support and showcasing for low budget productions and the number of applications for Screenworks '98 is proof that Screenworks, First Reels, Prime Cuts and Tartan Shorts are essential platforms for Scotland's emerging film talent.
Screenworks, a residency scheme which gives aspiring filmmakers a valuable opportunity to develop their ideas without any broadcast or commercial pressures, received a grant from the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery New Directions.
The scheme offers professional training, seminars, access to free production and post production equipment and production expenses, and the opportunity to work with other filmmakers and technicians.
From 214 applications, the GFVW directors selected eight winners to make two documentaries, two dramas, two experimental films and two animations.
Jim Leishman's film Shadow Boxing is based on the subject of female boxing. A former architect, Jim was desperate to pursue his passion for filmmaking.
''My 15 minute Screenwork is about the changing attitude towards women's boxing,'' he said. ''It focuses on one boxer, Lourdes McDermott, from Inverness, and follows her story.''
Another winner, Tim Cullen, will make an animation. He became interested while he was studying environmental art at Glasgow Art School and became interested in physical technology.
''My passion had always been on the digital side, working with drawing programmes and moving images which I then developed into animation through Cafi Flicker (at GFVW), '' he said.
Cullen has equipment at home, including a PC with viewing facilities. His Screenworks project is an animated black comedy Elizabeth Rex, set in a vet's waiting room. It will be filmed like a drama with actors and set then taken through the computer.
''I am looking forward to it because I will be using my own equipment,'' he said. ''It is a tremendous opportunity, with funding to build a crew, and has allowed me to write for the first time with the help of a script editor. There's no money for wages but there is some for expenses, and as anyone will tell you, the most important thing is to feed the crew well. They will get a lot of training by working on this film, using the technology of the next generation of the industry.''
Another Screenworks winner, Asim Ullah, moved to Glasgow from the Western Isles to study computer science. He works full time in visual animation and visualisation, writing scripts in his spare time and has already had a drama commission for the BBC's new-writers' series Mind The Gap. He is writing one of this year's Prime Cuts, with a director from the Workshop.
Shaggy Dog Tales is Ullah's Screenworks, a five-minute drama about a day in the life of the city told through the eyes of a stray dog.
''Even if I spend some of my own money on this short, it is like an investment in myself and everybody around me. We are doing it for personal development and so the next short I do after this will build on the experience that I will have gained.''
Aimara Reques, projects co-ordinator at GFVW, reinforces the difficulty in funding new filmmakers.
''It's a shame that all of these people have to work for no money but at least it is an opportunity,'' she said. ''We struggled to get funds for Screenworks and the only money available is through the National Lottery.''
Former Screenworks winner Saul Metzstein has run a two-day training course for the winners, analysing his own work and demonstrating how his own career has evolved.
He is proof that the award can lead to other opportunities, having gone on to make television documentaries, some short films, a Prime Cut. He is working on an advertisement.
Another former architect, he worked on films in London before directing shorts and documentaries. ''I survived by having tolerant parents,'' he said. ''I could explore because I was staying at home, but it takes time before you make money.''
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