Crowd-funded filmaking

Iain Weatherby is a gifted writer. Usually he writes plays – he got through to the last  two on Channel 4’s ‘The Play’s The Thing’ and has been writing and holding festivals, as well as doing the odd bit of copywriting for advertisers and writing various financial institutions’ annual reports. When we’re very lucky, Iain does some has work for us – although this is happening less now he’s got his film off the ground and moved to Dorset. Bastard.

Working with a talented team at Anchovy Pictures Iain has almost finished editing Oscar and Jim, a dark romantic comedy about a couple whose relationship may be past its sell-by date, Emma and Gerry, on a romantic city break dirty weekend in Paris. “Last stop on the tourist trail is the Pere Lachaise cemetery, where the illustrious dead lie round. He wants to see the grave of Jim Morrison. She wants to find the tomb of Oscar Wilde. Their Eurostar leaves in an hour and a half. It’s the end of their first trip away together. Will there be another one?”

Iain has created a very simple community around his blog (created by Dara, who many of us here used to work with) and set up a PayPal account that allows all of us to become an Executive Producer on the film for just £25. That includes a poster, getting invited to a special screening and most excitingly, your name on the credits! Not only is this a great way to raise money for a project like this, it’s also a brilliant way to generate some buzz around the idea and find an audience.

The deadline is Thursday. If you want to get involved you’ll find the Oscar and Jim site (and links to become a producer) here.