Hey, Let's Make A Malaysian "Slumdog"..

Oh...I have a dream. Many dreams actually. One of which is to make a movie. I already have the script and my buddy, Fatimah Abu Bakar has promised to look at it. She is waiting for me to give it to her.
We even have the actors/actresses in mind.
Maybe we'll even have cameo roles.

But I am such a perfectionist that I can't seem to stop myself from making changes to the script, here, there and everywhere....

Now my point here is that all you prospective film makers (with production companies) should start forcing that creative adrenalin flow and make a movie.

I mean...get a load of "Slumdog Millionaire"! Not that you should be making a movie of our slums and slumdogs....(though that's an idea but that won't be original) but imagine the possibilities.

Why am I suddenly so interested in getting you interested?

Check out what our SME Bank can do to make it happen:

BANK Perusahaan Kecil & Sederhana Malaysia Bhd (SME Bank), which manages the RM50 million government fund for filmmakers, has disbursed RM35 million to 36 production companies since the fund was launched in 2007.

However, only three companies have successfully had their movies released and begun making repayments to SME Bank, said the bank operations head Abdul Jalal Atan.

The other borrowers of the motion picture financing scheme (SFPC) are facing various problems such as unfinished productions or very low ticket collections, he said.

In a meeting with film producers in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Abdul Jalal said the fund's balance of close to RM15 million is still available and SME Bank acknowledged that many are still not aware of this facility.

People do not know that the bank does not require any collateral for producers to tap into this fund, unlike direct financing through other commercial banks," he said.

Abdul Jalal added that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently hinted that to further develop the local movie industry, there is a possibility that the fund size will be increased.

Earlier, the meeting with SME Bank was organised by the Film Directors Association of Malaysia (FDAM) and sponsored by the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas) to explain to FDAM members of the requirements to apply for the financing.

It was also a forum for producers to express their grouses and hardship in getting financing.

Present at the meeting were FDAM president Ahmad Ibrahim who complaint that Finas has somewhat failed to efficiently inform those in the industry of the criteria required by SME Bank to be eligible for the financing.

To apply for financing under the SPFC fund, an approval from Finas has to be obtained first and Ahmad said a lot of people do not know how the "pitching" of Finas' approval works.

Another drawback, he added, was that Finas did not scrutinise the background of the producers carefully as he claimed the committee formed for this purpose lacked of experience in the nitty gritty of the movie-making industry. - NST

So, what are you waiting for..get off your butt and make a movie!