Dave's Progress. Chapter 40: Hollywood Here I Come (Again).

So, we at the Pathways Group (a local support group for those affected by long-term mental ill health) have decided once again to pool our creative resources and make another film. The last short film we made, which was a sometimes harrowing but ultimately hopeful depiction of long term mental ill health, was such a great experience for us all that we have decided once again to have a brief foray into the movie-making business. For those of you who would like to read about the making and eventual screening of our first film, "The Search", please go to my blogs, entitled "Hollywood Here I Come", Parts I,II and III, respectively.
So, at the moment we are in the very early, embryonic stages of going about making our new film, our efforts at the moment concentrating on securing some funding so that we can actually get it made. As we are relatively new to this process (the last film was funded by the council as part of the "Ward Stories" project) we have enlisted the help of MAGMH (The Media Action Group for Mental Health) who can hopefully guide us through the process and help us with the economic side of things. At present we are applying to the local council for funding for our project, but if we are not successful there we may have to look elsewhere, like the lottery fund or perhaps even Comic Relief. However, we are quite hopeful at this stage that we can secure funding from the council, as our project would seem to fit all the criteria that they ask for.
Also, we have decided to create our own web site, which should be up and running within a few months, perhaps earlier.
Our last film seems also to have done quite well. After being shown at the Edinburgh film festival for mental health, it, I believe, is now going to be used as an educational tool in Scotland. Our dreaded rivals, The Pathways Group at the Greenfield Centre (another group for those recovering from mental ill health, this time depression) seem to have done even better, winning an award for their short-film, "Nimbus". Needless to say, those of us from the Pathways Group at the Bennett Centre felt somewhat bitter and twisted about this, as we felt our film was much better than that of our closest rivals. It's all cut and thrust competitiveness in such a creative, arty environment dear, don't you know.
So, wish us all luck as we plunge ourselves once again into movie land and your normal, average, paranoid and delusional man cries out, "Hollywood here I come- once again!"