Bridging the Gap, is another documentary talent initative which, like Five Films, offers training alongside production. Now in its fourth year it is commissioning seven documentaries with an £8k cash, £8k in-kind budget. Although the scheme and associated training is based in Edinburgh and Angus in Scotland and is managed by the Scottish Documentary Institute, it is open to filmmakers anywhere in the UK.

The Knight Foundation have launched the 'Knight Brothers 21^st Century News Challenge', investing up to $5 million in its first year in web 2.0-style community news projects that best use the digital world to connect people to the real world.

The News Challenge is looking to fund new ideas, prototypes, products and leadership initiatives that use innovative news methods to help citizens better connect within their communities. The competition is open to anyone, not just the journalism community. Although the fund is based in the US, it is open to individuals, corporations and no-profits anywhere in the world.

 

Is Sumner M. Redstone crazy like a fox?

Movie industry executives may be forgiven for thinking that the Viacom chairman was mad to let Tom Cruise go after a 14-year relationship simply because Mr. Cruise seemed a little off balance. After all, the movies made by Viacom's Paramount Pictures studio and the actors production company earned more than $2.5 billion at the box office.

Yet, if you ask economists and other academics that study the movie industry, Mr. Redstones decision was, in financial terms, spot on. The best reason to get rid of Mr. Cruise or, for that matter, Mel Gibson, or Lindsay Lohan, is not their occasional aberrant behavior. They, like most marquee names in Hollywood, are simply not worth the expense.

 

Aiming For £100M Asset Pot

A film finance fund is expecting pace of business in the film industry to accelerate as filmmakers recover from the loss of UK tax breaks two years ago. Pacific Continental Film Opportunities Fund, launched in 2005, is to embark on a marketing campaign in 2007 and could eventually hold up to 100 million pounds in assets.

  Industry Makeover For New Investments

 

Strategic Research Institute's Summit is scheduled for November 27-28 in Los Angeles, CA.

The entertainment industry is getting a face lift with the infusion of new investments, creative distribution outlets, and consumer behaviour evolving to "industry-wide standards." A better looking industry has attracted Wall Street -- investments in content and intellectual property as a new form of asset-backed transactions, in distressed debt, and with hedge funds for guarantees on capital.

 

Employ Industry Analysis Tools To Show What Must Be Done

"It is a paradox that the film industry, through the cowboy genre, has taught the world the essentials of finance and yet Africa's film industries have not put these essentials into practice," said a film executive from South Africa, speaking in Windhoek, Namibia.

 

 

 

Hard Drive Sinks For Troubled River Queen Firm

The film company behind the troubled movie River Queen has left a trail of debts in Queenstown after the collapse of its latest venture after only six weeks. Silverscreen Films (HD) halted pre-production work on Hard Drive, a car-chase stunt movie, two months ago leaving about 30 individuals out of pocket, New Zealand film insiders say.

 

Bookseller Follows Coffee Shop Into Film

Internet retailer Amazon.com is making its first foray into the big-screen movie business after buying an option to develop a film from Keith Donohue's fantasy novel "The Stolen Child."

Amazon said it will not co-finance the film, but it plans to meet with studios and potential partners who can put the story, in which fairies steal a young boy and replace him with a changeling, on the silver screen. The book currently ranks No. 62 in Amazon's list of 100 top sellers.