UK Writers: FrightFest Wants Your New Blood!

If you're 18 or over, a United Kingdom resident, and love writing weird scripts, an awesome opportunity was recently announced. FrightFest is teaming up to produce scripts with MPI Media Group --- as well as with genre titan producer Travis Stevens of Snowfort Pictures, Barbara Crampton, Dominic Brunt, and Giles Edwards, Head of Acquisition and Development at MPI.

 

This could be a fantastic opportunity for talented writers looking to bring your work to screen. Jump on it now --- you have until August 4th to get those scripts in!

 

 

From the press release:

 

HORROR CHANNEL FRIGHTFEST, MPI MEDIA GROUP, DARK SKY FILMS & SCREEN INTERNATIONAL JOIN FORCES IN TALENT SEARCH FOR GENRE SCREENWRITERS

 

Barbara Crampton, Dominic Brunt and Travis Stevens named as mentors.

 

Are you a writer concocting fiendishly fantastic ideas in the witching hours? Have you hidden away your script in the deepest darkest catacombs but are now ready to unleash it onto the unsuspecting world?

 

As an innovative addition to this year’s main event, which runs from Aug 24 - Aug 28, Horror Channel FrightFest has teamed up with international production and distribution company MPI Media and their sister production company Dark Sky Films to create NEW BLOOD, an initiative which aims to find new genre writers and nurture their projects from script to screen. This initiative has the support of the UK’s leading film industry magazine Screen international.

 

MPI/Dark Sky Films, with its proven track record in producing and distributing a wide array of genre features including THE INNKEEPERS, STARRY EYES, STAKE LAND and IT STAINS THE SANDS RED, is on the search for exciting new ideas to develop into feature films budgeted below $1m for an international market.

 

The successful shortlisted applicants will have the opportunity to explore their ideas and scripts in a group setting under the mentorship of top industry professionals and genre experts including Travis Stevens, acclaimed producer of Starry Eyes and We Are Still Here; actor, producer and horror icon Barbara Crampton, actor / director Dominic Brunt and Giles Edwards, MPI Media’s Head Of Acquisitions & Development.

 

The NEW BLOOD event will be held on Thursday 23rd August, the opening day of this year’s festival, at the Radisson Hampshire Hotel.

 

Giles Edwards, MPI Media’s Head of Acquisition and Development, said today: “We are looking for original scripts or treatments for feature films which would appeal both critically and commercially to a global audience hungry for bold, diverse new voices in the realm of daring, thrilling, fiercely entertaining genre cinema. We want to unearth the UK's Julie Ducournau or Ti West, Jennifer Kent or Simon Barrett, Jordan Peele, Ana Lily Amirpour or David Robert Mitchell. We know you're out there, so don’t hold back. If you think your idea is original the chances are we will too. Suckerpunch us with your brilliance.”

 

Applications are now open through submission forms. The deadline is Fri 4th August. All successful applicants will be notified by Mon 14th August. All participants are expected to pay for their own travel and accommodation.

                                                                                                                                         

FrightFest

Dubbed “the Woodstock of Gore” by director Guillermo Del Toro, FrightFest was created in 2000 by film producer Paul McEvoy, journalist and broadcaster Alan Jones and film distributor/booker Ian Rattray. Greg Day, the festival’s long standing PR, became a joint director in 2007. From its cult roots at the Prince Charles Cinema it has grown to become one of the genre’s most vibrant, credible and recognisable brands, helping to launch the careers of directors such as Simon Rumley, Christopher Smith, Eli Roth, Neil Marshall and Simon Hunter. Apart from the annual 5-day event in London, FrightFest has an ever-growing strand at the Glasgow Film Festival, hosts a nationwide Halloween horrorthon and showcases special screenings throughout the year. It recently teamed up with Icon Films Distribution to release FrightFest curated films under the banner ‘FrightFest Presents’.

 

MPI Media Group

MPI Media Group is a leading producer and distributor of films, television, and more. MPI works with top filmmakers and partners to produce original, director-driven films that enjoy strong festival play and critical acclaim as well as commercial appeal. Recent original productions and co-financing projects include TIFF world premiere Catfight, Sundance Film Festival selection Tickled, anthology horror Southbound, and Sundance documentary Call Me Lucky. MPI has co-produced films in the Netherlands, Ireland, Mexico and across the United States with partners including Syfy and the New Zealand Film Commission.

Dark Sky Films

 

Dark Sky Films is an independent film production and distribution label founded in 2008, working with emerging talent as well as established veterans to develop, package, produce and finance feature films and episodic television projects. Representing films from some of most talented directors working today, such as Ti West’s THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL and THE INNKEEPERS, and Jim Mickle’s STAKE LAND, Dark Sky continues to identify original talent and projects. Dark Sky brings a vibrant slate of films to the world market with original productions and releases such as WE ARE STILL HERE, DEATHGASM, EMELIE, CATFIGHT and the upcoming BITCH and M.F.A.