Idea Submission

Nano Budget Feature Films

Take a new play from Manchester's 24:7 Theatre Festival, mix with the best of the region's film talent, make a world class feature film.

Submitted by Keiranflynn.

Manchester’s newest production company Pylon Pictures has been laying the groundwork for an exciting new way of making independent British films in Manchester. Film making is traditionally an expensive and slow process. Our idea is to flip tradition on its head and make a quick, inexpensive feature film without compromising on quality at all. We call it the ‘Nano Budget Feature’.

How? The script is key. We take some of the best new writing talent submitted to the annual 24:7 Theatre Festival and intensively develop one of the plays into a 90 minute screenplay. Then we shoot it on inexpensive HD video in a week and edit it in a month. The total production budget is £10k. The soundtrack to the film will be created by musicians, bands and composers from Manchester. Within the space of a few months the film will be completed to a level where it can be submitted to international film festivals and markets to be sold worldwide.

The writers, cast and crew involved will share in a percentage of the net profits generated by the film. Pylon Pictures will use a portion of its share of the profits to start the process again and make the next film. Conceivably there could be several new Manchester made original feature films being released from the scheme every year.

The Nano Budget Feature scheme has the ability to unite the wealth of creative talent that thrives in Manchester and focus it towards a single goal. Writers, photographers, actors, artists, musicians, technicians, students and many more will all be invited to participate in this vibrant and exciting scheme. By keeping the costs of production as low as possible but keeping the creative elements as high quality as possible the Nano Budget Feature stands a much better chance of making a profit in the international film market than other more expensive British made films. This is to be a sustainable film production model which has the potential to project Manchester to the forefront of innovation and creativity in the UK and beyond.