Funding for WASP - Jack Storer, Caroline Robertson

Project name

‘Wasp’


Who is the applicant?

Cowboy Films


What is the project?

A 23 minute short film. Zoe a single mother is in search of an evening escape with an old flame but her romantic aspirations are hampered by her four small children waiting outside in the pub car park.


Who gave the money?

UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund


What was the grant programme?

The ‘Cinema Extreme’ short film scheme co-financed by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund and Film Four. The scheme was created in 2002 to encourage and develop directors with a distinctive directorial voice and cinematic flair.


How much was given?

The project received a total production budget of £53,250, fifty per cent of this amount was awarded by the New Cinema Fund and the remainder by FilmFour. Additional funds were made available by the UK Film Council to clear music rights and promote the film at international festivals.


Where is the project located?

The film was shot in and around Dartford, Kent. The ‘Cinema Extreme’ scheme is open to filmmakers and production companies based in the UK.


Why was the project so good?

The completed film has enjoyed enormous critical success and won 36 awards at international film festivals, including the 2005 Oscar® for Best Live Action Short Film.



It has firmly established director Andrea Arnold as one of the most interesting up-and-coming directing talents from the UK. At its premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival the film attracted the interest of Denmark’s Zentropa and Scotland’s Sigma Films who subsequently commissioned Andrea to work on her debut feature ‘Advance Party’.



‘Wasp’ also helped to launch the career of Nathalie Press who stars in the film as Zoe. Nathalie has since drawn huge acclaim for her role in ‘My Summer of Love’, stars in Martha Fiennes’ ‘Chromophobia’ and is appearing in the BBC’s ‘Bleak House’.

this was all found on the national lottery funding page in discussion with WASP by Andrea Arnold.



This is a short clip from the film Wasp, as you can see they have used a short depth of film as we are planning to, this is one of our inspirations for the final piece.