Six of the 151 entries for this year’s New Found Land initiative have been awarded commissions. They will be ready for the Edinburgh Film Festival in August and will be screened on Scottish Television later this year. The commissions are:
BLACKOUT Pr. Barbara Doyle Wr. John Rooney Dr. Stuart Grieve
A Glasgow tower block at night. Rab and Jake are are on a quest to get them through the weekend, Katy’s got a hot date, Mr Murphy’s tied up, Frank can’t be moved from the television. Jimmy and Peter are having trouble moving in and the delivery man is having quite literally a rubbish night! A standard night in the tower block in fact — then the light go out.

LAST LEGS Pr. Gill Parry Wr. Marc Pye Dr. Amy Jenkins
The year is 2008 and the health service is in a worse state than ever. The reason: The Minister For Health Sebastian Menzies has ploughed billions into a pointless microsurgery programme and limb doctor scheme in order to look good in front of the Japanese. Rob is a Big Issue seller and holder of a limb donor card. When he’s involved in a fatal accident he becomes the country’s first limb donor. The recipient is Menzies who receives Bob’s legs with disastrous results.

LEONARD Pr. Gill Parry Wr. Richard Smith Dr. Brian Kelly
Leonard has obsessive compulsive disorder. He lives in a world where everything must be well ordered, tidy and totally routine. How is he supposed toreact when someone shows up on his doorstep claiming to be his son? Especially when this person is the most disorganised sort imaginable?

LOST Pr. Carolynne Sinclair Kidd Wr/Dr. Eleanor Yule
Emma is having nightmares. She is sure someone is in her flat at night when she is asleep. Her husband Paul is dimissive and worried that her strange behaviour is affecting their three children Sam 8, Adam 10 & Caitlin 6. To smooth things over they decide to go for a drive to a favourite spot near a ruined abbey, the place where Caitlin was conceived. However, the magic of their former visit has gone and the bleak surroundings reflect the growing distance between each member of the family. While everyone is caught up in their own petty dramas of loss, a greater loss is occurring when Emma’s worst nightmare is realised. Caitlin vanishes, but the family is given a last chance to come together.

SAVED Pr. Sunni O’Connor Wr/Dr. Christine Winford
A young woman begins her first adult job and is pitched into a defining dilemma. Her instinctive empathy for those in her care brings her into conflict with her new colleagues forcing her to choose between the dictates of her insight and imagination and her need for friendship and professional approval.

SMALL LOVE Pr. David Strachan Wr. Linda Anderson Dr. Morag McKinnon
Spike, a fifteen-year-old runaway is given a home by Esther, a young woman with mental health problems. Esther’s fragile beauty and haunting voice get her a job singing at a city jazz club, but the voices that haunt her threaten their tenuous existence. Spike appears to be the strong one of the partnership but the mistreatment of the baby next door reminds him too much of his own past. He snatches the baby and takes it and Esther home to the west coast island where he must face both his past and his increasing sexual desire for Esther.