British and Forgein Bibe Society
The Pitch Film Fund
The Pitch offers funding for two short films, falling broadly under the categories of Comedy and Drama, through an annual pitching process.
It invites film-makers in the UK to upload a two-minute pitch to the website, using the Bible as their primary source of inspiration. The pitch can take the form of a direct piece of story-telling to camera or a two-minute version of the proposed short film. It is an adaptation exercise with the judges looking for a contemporary version that is true to the emotional heart of the original story.
Following a development process including masterclasses and internal shortlisting, 10 finalists - 5 from the Drama category, and 5 from Comedy, win the experience of pitching live to a panel of industry professionals over a weekend in January (formerly at Pinewood Studios, this year at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield). As part of their development they also enjoy a residential course in the Lake District to hone their story and pitch. Westhill's financial contribution helps the pitch take their expertise to emerging filmmakers year round, by supporting the development and delivery of mentorship schemes and leadership courses for a diverse range of filmmakers.
Previous judges have included director of NFTS Jon Wardle, CEO of IMDB Col Needham, actors Rebecca Callard, Toyah Wilcox, David Suchet, David Oyelowo, Ray Panthaki and David Gyasi, directors Debs Paterson (Africa United, Strikeback), Destiny Ekaragha (The End of the F****ing World) Nick Park (Wallace & Grommit), Francis Annan (Escape From Pretoria), and Stuart Hazeldine (The Shack, Exam), critic Linda Marric, script editors/creative consultants Laurie Hutzler, Lucy Scher and Justine Hart and Producers Alison Sterling (Eric, Ernie & Me), Jasmin Morrison (Boarders) and Anna Cox (multiple BBC documentaries).
This year The Pitch’s panel sees several new judges joining the community: Development Executive Amy O’Hara (Film 4), Producer Martin Gentles (His House - Netflix), Actress and Writer Gbemisola Ikumelo (Famalam, The Last Tree), and Writer Charlotte Macleod (Script Factory).
In previous years, there has been one overall fund of £30,000, which is awarded as a production budget, as well as additional development and production support to make their film. From 2022, however a £40,000 budget will instead be split to spend between two short films. The resulting short films are also entered into film festivals both nationally and internationally.
Now, more than 10 years on, our winning short films have already been screened in China, Singapore, USA, Canada and Europe, with many Festival awards, including a BAFTA Cymru nomination amongst the accolades. White Gold, our 2019 winner, was awarded Best Short Narrative at the Pan African Film Festival, and was longlisted for the 2021 Oscars. Hollow, our 2020 winner, was awarded Best Cinematography at Rhode Island International Film Festival.
We’ve been excited to see some of our alumni like Rob McClellan (Rahab), Harry Lighton (Leash) and Vanessa Perdriau (The Widow’s Last) going on to further success; Rob working with Hammerhead VR, Harry with a feature and TV series with the BBC, Vanessa with a feature in development with a US producer. Aurora Fearnley’s short (Pulsar) starring David Gyasi and Jesse Buckley has now been watched over two million times on the on the Dust Youtube channel. We’ve also had a BAFTA Cymru nomination for Andy Toovey’s Only Child.
For more information see:
The Pitch Website
The Pitch Twitter
The Pitch Instagram
