Action film commission for North East production companies
Film4 backs filmmaking co-production to take gritty, female-led feature into development
Film4 has commissioned development on SCRUM, an action feature from up-and-coming screenwriter Bethan Moore, produced by Newcastle’s Eight Zero Three Media and Gateshead’s Candle and Bell.
The film began life through New Writing North’s Genre Feature Lab, a pilot programme funded by the North East Combined Authority and run in partnership with Film4 to nurture ambitious regional genre storytelling.
SCRUM follows a women’s Rugby Sevens team on tour in Costa Brava as they hunt down a gang who have kidnapped one of their teammates.
Described by its creators as a film about the violence of love, it explores the complexity of female relationships – particularly between queer women – and throws those dynamics into a “bombastic, bloody and muddy” action setting.
As part of the Genre Feature Lab, Bethan was paired with Newcastle-based producer Andy Malone (Eight Zero Three Media) and Gateshead-based Maria Caruana Galizia (Candle and Bell) and received mentoring from executive producers Ivana Mackinnon and Emily Leo of Wild Swim Films.
After an intensive residential lab and six months of development, the team pitched SCRUM to Film4, who have now committed to further development.
Bethan, who is based in the North West, said: “I am so excited to be working on this with Maria, Andy, Emily and Ivanna over the upcoming months. They and the teams at New Writing North and Film4 have been so supportive of this mad venture, and it’s been so encouraging to be working on an original, British, female led genre film.”
Andy added: “From the very first chat with Bethan about SCRUM, we were in. With Film4 now backing the development, we’re buzzing to drive this queer, high-octane story one step closer to the big screen.”
Maria said: “Developing SCRUM with Bethan has been a hugely rewarding experience, and we would never have had this opportunity without the Genre Feature Lab… schemes like this make a real difference to regional producers.”
Roxy McKenna of New Writing North said: “We are thrilled that Film4 have recognised Bethan’s talent and are taking this exciting genre film into development… I can’t wait to see it on a cinema screen in the future.”