Spies, superheroes, fairies and the man who thinks he's a dog spark new film scripts from British film writers

London:  Animation, comedy and horror film scripts from first-time writers to established talent characterise new National Lottery awards made to new British film projects by the UK Film Council's Development Fund.

The projects and talent being funded include:

Blowback, a spy satire from film and television writer Rupert Walters (True Blue, Restoration, Spooks). Stephen Garrett (Pure, Spooks) and Paul Webster (Pride and Prejudice, The Motorcycle Diaries) are set to produce for leading independent Kudos Film & TV. The title Blowback refers to the intelligence term given to an operation that creates a threat that is worse than the one that it sets out to counter.

Independent UK distributor and producer Vertigo Films (Football Factory, The Business) for Bad Dog, a highly innovative and extreme UK horror.  Award-winning writer/director Sam Walker (Tea Break, Duck Children) and co-writer Rob Morgan (Monsters, The Cat with Hands) are at the helm with Allan Niblo and Brock Norman Brock producing for Vertigo. Bad Dog tells the story of Adam who is bored with his mediocre life and who is under the thumb of his marriage-hungry girlfriend. However, all that turns out to have been a luxury when he is drugged by a family of French maniacs who torture him into submission and use him as the family dog. 

Hero Trip, a first feature script from James Henry, one of the leading writers for Channel 4's acclaimed comedy series Green Wing. An all-American superhero, The Defender, is forced to drive his captured arch-nemesis, Annihilator across America to defuse a bomb set to destroy the entire planet. Forced together on this unlikely road-trip, The Defender attempts to persuade Annihilator that humanity is worth saving, but close proximity with the public makes The Defender start to wonder if either of them are really the right men for the job.

Fizzle, a new family animation script by writer Richard Vincent (Casualty, Frágiles) has been picked up by award winning Cosgrove Hall (Dangermouse, The BFG, Postman Pat, The Wind in the Willows) from the Development Fund's 25 Words or Less scheme. Cosgrove Hall, the UK's most established animation company, brings unrivalled expertise and facilities to the project.

Fizzle is a tomboy fairy, allergic to her own sparkles, which the fairies use to make themselves beautiful. But when her entire fairy village is kidnapped by a cosmetic company who want the sparkles for human products, Fizzle must find the strength to lead a band of misfit friends into the city to rescue all that she holds dear.

Development Fund awards:

Information on all awards made is available on the UK Film Council's website, www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/information/awards.

For press enquiries please contact
Chloe Lola Riess / Tina McFarling
UK Film Council press office: T: +44 (0)20 7861 7900/7901
E: chloe.riess@ukfilmcouncil.org.uk / tina.mcfarling@ukfilmcouncil.org.uk

Notes to editors:

The UK Film Council is the lead agency for film in the UK ensuring that the economic, cultural and educational aspects of film are effectively represented at home and abroad.   We invest Government grant-in-aid and Lottery money in film development and production; training; international development and export promotion; distribution and exhibition; and education.   Our aim is to deliver lasting benefits to the industry and the public through:

• creativity - encouraging the development of new talent, skills, and creative and technological innovation in UK film and assisting new and established film-makers to produce successful and distinctive British films;
• enterprise  - supporting the creation and growth of sustainable businesses in the film sector, providing access to finance and helping the UK film industry compete successfully in the domestic and global marketplace;
• imagination - promoting education and an appreciation and enjoyment of cinema by giving UK audiences access to the widest range of UK and international cinema, and by supporting film culture and heritage.

The UK Film Council's Development Fund aims to broaden the quality, range and ambition of UK film projects and talent being developed, bringing together screenwriters, script editors, directors, producers and a mixture of other creative talents to increase the number of quality scripts moving to production.  With £12 million to invest over three years the fund is building creatively focused relationships with a breadth of talent from 'first-timers' to experienced practitioners and is enabling British film companies to grow their businesses. 

Projects supported by the fund include The Other Boleyn Girl (dir. Justin Chadwick, wr. Peter Morgan), And When Did You Last See Your Father? (dir Anand Tucker, wr David Nicholls), Becoming Jane (dir Julian Jarrold, wrs Kevin Hood & Sarah Williams), Red Road (dir. Andrea Arnold, wrs Andrea Arnold & Anders Thomas Jensen), The Proposition (dir. John Hillcoat, wr. Nick Cave); Kidulthood (dir. Menhaj Huda, wr. Noel Clarke); Anita & Me (dir. Metin Hüseyin, wr. Meera Syal); The Magdalene Sisters (wr/dir. Peter Mullan); Severance (dir. Christopher Smith, wr. James Moran & Christopher Smith); A Woman in Winter (wr/dir. Richard Jobson); The Dark (dir. John Fawcett, wr. Simon Maginn and Stephen Massicotte); Straightheads (wr. & dir. Dan Reed); Life & Lyrics (dir. Richard Laxton, wr. Ken Williams), and Sparkle (wr/dir. Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter).