Editors Keys founder and MD Mark Brown has donated $1,000 to film studio Future Artists for their upcoming feature film, The Lost Generation, funding 25% of the film company’s investment project.

The money raised will go towards an editing suite for the artists collective, Future Artists Co-op, the in-house studio of creatives who work together on various projects they organise as equal members of the group.

Editors Keys produce and retail editing keyboards and recording equipment to some of the world’s biggest broadcasters, recording studios and media companies, including the BBC and Universal – from its hub in this great city of Manchester.

After celebrating a string of industry successes, which saw the company’s turnover grow by 150% over the last year alone, MD Mark Brown is now looking to give back to the creative and technology communities – big and small – which his business is at the heart of.

Mark Brown has already begun by becoming an Associate Producer for the Manchester and Salford feature film ‘The Lost Generation’ – a thriller based on the world’s most ruthless reality TV show where staying alive wins you £1,000,000 – and failing means death. The film takes a searing look at our idea of celebrity culture, and even the idea of the thriller genre itself.

The Lost Generation was filmed across Greater Manchester, Salford and even in Future Artists’ pub, Your Black Lion, featuring local artists and actors.

“I studied media production at university and worked as a floor manager at ITV before I started Editors Keys, so I’ve always had a big passion for the film industry. There’s such an amazing buzz around the Manchester creative industry, and when I saw the trailer for ‘The Lost Generation’ I knew I had to get involved. It’s amazing what Future Artists have created so far and I’m proud to be supporting their film,” said Mark Brown.

Future Artists are currently in post-production for the movie, and thanks to Editors Keys’ support, the film will now have a professional editing suite in order to complete the film on time for its apocalyptic release – that is, on the 20/12/2012.

What is Crowdfunding?

Future Artists have begun a ‘crowdfunding’ campaign – which is media speak for fundraising. Where arts grants and film council have been destroyed, filmmakers who want to go it alone are, as well as working full-time jobs, are pretty much placed in a position where they must raise funds by simply asking for them, in return for perks, DVDs, cinema tickets and even executive producer credits.

Jenny Inchbald of Future Artists describes this form of film funding as a microcosm of what happens in with the big players in the world’s largest filmmakers, including Hollywood, Hong Kong and Europe.

Jenny said: “Crowdfunding is part of a film finance structure within the independent scene where directors have no choice but to work on microbudgets – and rely complete on their audiences to support them. Audiences are, essentially, producers themselves too.

“Whether you realise it or not, all of us movie-goers are multi-skilled producers, too. We use social media, we know how to market the films and music that we like simply by endorsing it on our networking profiles – and crowdfunding is a natural reaction to a multichannel environment an a multitude of cinema choice out there.”

The Lost Generation is Future Artists’ long-awaited feature film, which Mark Ashmore has been working on since the inception of Future Artists.

“As a film director,” Mark says, “I think it’s hard to say whether you’re free from your political context. I certainly am not free from that, but I think that goes for some of the biggest directors whose heroes exist in a storyworld where not only themselves, but they need saving. The Dark Knight Rises is going to be a great example of that, and hopefully my film will be, too.”