Scottish docs sought
Screen Scotland and Sky have announced a new strategic development initiative to broaden Sky’s supplier base in Scotland for documentary series and films.
Sky Documentaries and Screen Scotland, with support from The National Lottery, will contribute £50,000 each towards the joint initiative to increase Scottish content on the network.
Proposals are sought from Scottish independent production companies for narrative-led feature documentaries and limited series which tell a compelling story with a strong creative vision.
These can include ideas covering a vast range of subjects – crime, scandal, politics, biography, sport, definitive takes on newsworthy events, stranger-than-fiction stories – but not limited to these.
Proposals are not currently sought for current affairs, presenter-led or constructed documentaries. Diversity is strongly encouraged as part of any proposal, both in front and behind the camera.
Submissions are open until 6pm on Monday 21 December 2020, with shortlisting to follow in January.
A minimum of six Scottish production companies will be invited to pitch development ideas to Sky commissioning executives with a minimum of four of these companies progressing to a period of paid development. Final funding award amounts will be project dependent.
Interested production companies can find more information here.
Glasgow-based training provider TRC will host a Creative Zoom with Sky’s Director of Documentaries & Factual, Poppy Dixon, and Screen Scotland’s Head of Unscripted, Dani Carlaw, to discuss the new initiative and answer questions directly from Scottish indies. The event will take place online on Friday 27 November at 12pm. Companies can register their interest in attending here.
Dani Carlaw, head of unscripted at Screen Scotland said: “This is a tremendous joint initiative to support Scottish production companies in honing their creativity, for a potential new market opportunity. Opening up relationships with Poppy and her team and bringing fresh stories to Sky is very exciting, and we look forward to seeing the projects and ideas that come from Scotland’s growing documentary talent base.”
Poppy Dixon, director of documentaries & factual at Sky said: “Sky Documentaries is dedicated to championing premium documentary storytelling. I am excited to support Scotland-based talent through this joint development fund and to build on our relationships with the nation’s filmmakers and indies.”
Image: FreeImages/Chris van Es.
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