BFilm Micro: a game-changing business
Paul Green and Pip Piper have recently set up a new business that aims to change the filmmaking dynamic in Greater Birmingham.
Paul has 20 years’ experience within the UK Film industry as a filmmaker, production executive and more recently talent scout for the prestigious National Film and Television School, where he first spotted such notable talents as BAFTA winner Paul Wright and Jamie Stone. He was Executive Producer on the BAFTA nominated short film ‘Bouncer’ starring Ray Winstone and Paddy Considine. His own films have been screened at numerous national and international film festivals.
Pip’s film work, via his production company Blue Hippo Media, (BHM) has taken him to Europe, the Middle East, USA, New Zealand and South Korea. In 2008 BHM won the prestigious special jury prize at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival for its international documentary about world class alpinist and artist Andy Parkin. BHM’s first feature film, a UK/NZ co production with Lord of the Rings producer Tim Sanders, was released theatrically in NZ and the UK and has gone on to win Best Film at the Moondance Festival USA and Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor at the NZ film and TV Awards. Pip has produced two feature documentaries, both of which have received critical acclaim: Last Shop Standing (which he also directed) and Bicycle. Pip also teaches at Birmingham City University on the MA in Film Distribution and Marketing which he helped set up. He is the CEO of The Producers’ Forum.
The Producers’ Forum asked Paul and Pip to let us in to what BFilm Micro is all about.
What is BFilm Micro?
BFilm Micro is a Micro-Budget Digital Film Studio and Talent Development Hub based in Birmingham. We have a number of exciting initiatives in the offing which include the development of high concept, commercially driven micro-budget features offering genuine opportunities for new and emerging talent, plus industry focused Producer training programmes, the first of which we are running in partnership with Birmingham City University. Our aim is to make Birmingham the home of iconoclastic, genre driven, micro-budget movies in the UK and a magnet for outstanding new film talent. The "industry" is already attached to the project in the form of a working partnership with international sale agent/production house Movie House Entertainment which offers an essential ingredient in what we are trying to achieve.
Paul, I understand some inspiration or affirmation of your ideas came from Mark Kermode. How did that happen?
I was reading his book The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex and came across this sentence:
‘Personally I think the greatest boon to young British film-makers would be the resurgence of a thriving exploitation market, producing bankable low-budget titles on which aspiring cineastes could learn both the artistic and financial tools of the trade.’
Both Pip and I felt that the business side of filmmaking was something that new and emerging filmmakers struggle to understand and what better place to learn those skills than on micro-budget movies where literally every penny counts. A huge influence on our approach is maverick Producer Roger Corman who gave a break to some of the greatest filmmaking talent alive today on his slate of ultra-low budget exploitation movies.
How will BFilm Micro approach talent development?
Proactively! For BFilm Micro to thrive we need to search out and develop the next generation of creative talent.
The cornerstone of the BFilm Micro philosophy will be a proactive approach to talent spotting, with links to colleges, universities and writers group as well as attendance at film screenings, film festivals and networking events to identify the very best new and emerging talent in the Greater Birmingham area.
Once we have identified that talent we aim to offer a raft of exciting opportunities appropriate to skills levels and experience.
What will the BFilm Micro slate look like?
We’re committed to producing high concept genre movies with clearly targeted niche audiences. Obvious points of reference would be The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and dystopian movies like the original Mad Max. We’re also interested in lo-fi Sci-Fi and certainly wouldn’t rule out comedy either.
Working on budgets of approximately £150,000 per movie, we aim to produce up to eight micro-budget features in the coming decade. The plan is to kick off our production slate with Augmental, a time-locked tech thriller set in Birmingham.
What will the training programme consist of?
Core to BFilm Micro’s offering is ‘Immersion’, an innovative, industry-focused 15 month training programme aimed at the next generation of creative film producers. Participants will learn the business side of movie making before taking up trainee roles on a micro-budget feature.
We’re currently running a pilot version with Birmingham City University which will run through until July when we plan to shoot a ‘Test of Concept’ trailer for Augmental. All twelve of the current ‘Immersion’ trainees will take up roles on the trailer, giving them valuable experience within a professional film unit.
The overarching idea is to create a steady flow of entrepreneurial talent – some of which will remain within the BFilm Micro orbit – while others will branch out and set up on their own. Either way the skills base of the region will improve radically, leading to an increase in film production in the region.
You speak about a creative eco-system. What do you mean?
Film production calls on a whole host of speciality areas including Music, Marketing/PR, Hair and Make-up, Costume, Graphic Design and Web Design. Our intention is to create an eco-system around which all of the creative industries in the city can orbit, benefiting from inclusion in each film project and gaining global exposure via social media campaigns and marketing around the BFilm Micro brand and production slate.
We’ll therefore seek to link up at an early stage with a range of organisations in the Greater Birmingham area including The Producers’ Forum, local music labels, artists and designers, universities, writers groups and local theatres to form a creative powerhouse of talent.
The pieces of the jigsaw are all there; we now need to join them together to create something unique, dynamic and sustainable in Greater Birmingham.
What is happening right now? Tell us about the pilot project.
We’ve got a really talented cohort sourced from various courses within the faculty of Arts, Design and Media at Birmingham City University. We decided to open it up to alumni as well and we have a couple of talented screenwriters who trained with screenwriter Andy Conway. Andy is also overseeing development of our proposed debut feature Augmental.
We have some really exciting guest speakers coming to Birmingham over the next few months starting with Matt Wilkinson, Producer of The Call Up, which was shot in Birmingham and has been sold in a number of territories. What’s great about it is the fact it’s a high concept, low-budget feature set in the world of gaming so it’s totally relevant to what we’re aiming to achieve here in the city.
In early May we are delighted to be welcoming Bobby Lee Darby and Nathan Brookes, Dudley-based screenwriters who just happen to have cracked Hollywood.
What are you both most excited about?
Paul: I love discovering and working with new talent; it’s absolutely the life blood of this industry. I’m also excited at the challenge of developing some really cool high concept ideas that will appeal to a multiplex audience – albeit on a fraction of the budgets normally associated with these kinds of movie.
Pip: I am really excited about this being an initiative that has grown out of local knowledge, partnership, expertise and passion. It is dedicated to a long term vision for the city and region. It is ambitious, which is something we really need to be. The thought of making six to eight feature films in the city in the next decade with all the associated benefits is fantastic.
On that note we are looking for two or three more core partners to get involved with BFilm Micro both in a financial and support role and also for investors for our first feature film.
How does someone who wants to get involved with BFilm Micro make contact with you?
People can connect with us via our website www.bfilmicro.com
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