Time to write your screenplay: Hawke's Bay film office gets council funding to help wannabes

Eastern Screen Alliance manager Patrick Sherratt and Campbell McLean have a plan to encourage more film writers in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland

Do you have an idea for a short film? Hawke's Bay's Regional Film Office is calling on wannabe screenwriters to submit their short film ideas.

Regional Film Office Eastern Screen Alliance has recently received Hastings District Council Creative Communities funding and is looking for people in Hastings with short film ideas.

Manager Patrick Sherratt said Campbell McLean, who he knows through the Hawke's Bay Screenwriters group, thought it would be great to get a project going to support new screenwriters in the region.

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They put an application in to the Hastings District Council Creative Communities fund based on the idea of promoting screenwriting to new writers.

People residing in the Hastings District who have never written a screenplay before and have an idea for a short film can submit a one-page synopsis.

The short film should have a good storyline, interesting characters and be set in Hawke's Bay, to showcase the region.

The screenwriters' group will collate a pool of the synopsis and select five and provide the writers with a free subscription to the Final Draft scriptwriting software.

Hastings people with a short film idea who have never written a screenplay before are encouraged to submit their ideas. Photo / Warren Buckland

It's not a competition but a foot in the door for those who are interested, and from there it is up to the writer what they do with the short film idea.

The writer's group can support them in the writing process and Eastern Screen Alliance can connect them with the right people if the project progresses.

"It's an incubation to get people thinking about whether they would like to be working in the screen industry as a writer. This is a starting point.

"It could be young people, it could be anyone who is wanting a shift in career, it could be writers of novels who want to write for the screen."

Sherratt said as far as he knows this hasn't been done before in the region.

The submissions will be considered throughout June and Sherratt says what they are looking for "really comes down to the story idea".

The deadline for submissions is May 31. A printed synopsis can be sent to PO Box 8671, Havelock North, 4157 or sent online at www.easternscreen.com.

Eastern Screen Alliance has been working to build the film industry in Hawke's Bay and Sherratt believes the region is comparable to film destinations such as California, with its climate, weather, food and wine industries and location.

The film office recently set up its new website and "things are progressing slowly" with production studios coming to the region.