Funders: Ceri's story
This is an email from one of our first funders, Ceri, to friends asking them to get involved - way back in 2005:
Hi everyone,
I don’t know if any of you have seen Drowned Out (2002), a film which follows an Indian family who choose to stay at home and ‘drown’ rather than make way for the Narmada Dam in India or McLibel, inside story film about the McLibel Two, in the news again this week. These films were directed by Franny Armstrong, whose film company Spanner Films is committed to putting human and civil rights on the screen.
With zero backing from the UK TV industry, Franny’s films have now been seen by more than 48 million people around the world (!) They are currently looking for investors for their new project, Crude, a five-story narrative about lives run by, for, with, without or in spite of Oil.
Crude will cost £50K for Development and approximately £400K for Production, which is incredibly cheap because the crew will work at 1/3 fees but a % of profits, the production company will not take a production fee (usually 10-15% of the budget), spanner films will donate all of their resources to the project and Franny must be the UK’s leading expert at making high class documentaries with no money.
If it all goes to plan, filming with start in June '05 and go onto Dec '06, post production will take place Jan-April '07, the premiere will take place June '07 and repayments on the loans will start in April '08, almost 3 years from now (Ed: The best laid plans of mice etc...).
If Crude has a similar income to recent The Corporation, repayment on a £500 loan will be £1,500. If income is similar to that of Super Size Me, repayment will be £7,000 and if it is similar to Fahrenheit 9/11, the repayment is £56,000!!! Of course, the project could take a nosedive at various points along the way and the money could be lost, which is why I’m saying goodbye to my £500 and then I might be in for a nice surprise at some point in the future. I’m just letting you know in case you were interested in alternative funding plans for the arts, especially the rarest breed of arts committed to human and civil rights.
If you are, get in touch with crude@spannerfilms.net
Please forward to anyone you think maybe interested.
Love,
January, 2005
