Eight Degrees of Happiness with Advance Party 2!

It's eight degrees of happiness, eight laughs a day to keep the doctor away, and eight moments of joy and resolution for the films of Advance Party 2.

Variety has some news of interest tonight, as the rules have now been announced concerning the films we will be seeing from those involved in the new Advance Party 2 film partnership involving Sigma Films of Glasgow Scotland, Denmark's Zentropa and Subotica Entertainment of Ireland. Sigma's own Gillian Berrie is quoted and says

“Rules imposed from ‘the outside-in’ can be daunting, but the eight filmmakers created these rules to push themselves and each other on, to signal a navigable route towards a first feature,” said Sigma Films’ Gillian Berrie. “Rule-making is mischievous, yes, but we all quickly realized that creating boundaries actually focuses rather than limits the creative process.”


The Variety piece also notes the rules as follows:

"...The various projects to come out of the initiative must be made for a budget less than 1.5 million Euros ($1.9 million), the script must be a maximum of 88 pages, must contain no more than eight characters and that all the scenes must be shot within an eight mile radius of each other.

Most intriguing of all is the rule that “the stories must make the audience laugh, make them cry and give them an uplifting ending.”

Naturally they have to do a bit of editorializing in the news article, as they say its a "tall order" and mention the 'harrowing fare' that is Red Road.

WELL let me interject my editorial and note that the RR followup Donkeys is billed as a comedy, and oh LETS THINK, Sigmas recent entries such as Hallam Foe, WILBUR, DEAR FRANKIE have been marvelous uplifting drama yet lovely funny pieces (albeit a unique and original manner THANK GOD) I LOVE THOSE FILMS AND HAVE EVERY FAITH they could make such a project succeed.
HERE'S TO FILMS WITH HEART

Related: Scottish Screen ran a piece yesterday that has more on the filmmakers involved, with quotes from both Gillian and a rep from Subotica:

Gillian Berrie of Sigma Films says, "The combination of these talented filmmakers and the intriguing and challenging constraints of the Advance Party project is creating an environment for eight memorable and ground-breaking debut features."

"There is a highly creative, dynamic and diverse mix of talent on board this ground breaking project and it is the only first time director scheme of its kind," said Tristan Orpen Lynch, of Subotica Films.