Ridley Scott announces new film production fund for emerging creatives with Outernet Global

The Ridley Scott Creative Group has announced its partnership with soon-to-open London entertainment complex Outernet to create a new development and production platform for emerging UK creatives. Called Tomorrow Now, the scheme will fund early-stage scripting and storyboarding for filmmakers and other creatives, focusing on immersive mixed reality and audio-visual ideas.

Due to open at the end of 2020, Outernet is a new 3,150 sqm entertainment complex that will be located on the corner of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road. It will include a hotel, shops, restaurants, offices and an underground club but also the world’s largest surface area of LED screens (a whopping 2135 sqm) housed inside a huge cube. Rather than functioning as a normal digital billboard, the floor-to-ceiling screen space will premier news, films and branded content.

As part of the partnership The Ridley Scott Creative Group and its music and creative production wing Black Dog Films will scout new talent and commission creative projects. The production company's curatorial reach will involve supporting work for the 8K Screens within Outernet's cube, but also for its social media platforms.

Outernet’s chief executive Philip O’Ferrall said in a statement: “Outernet’s extraordinary audio-visual capabilities provide a brand new canvas for storytelling, so we need a new breed of storyteller to deliver truly immersive narrative experiences.”

Sir Ridley Scott added: “Filmmaking is a collaborative process and we’re always looking for new talent and new ideas. We are a company that unites creativity with technology to push the boundaries of what entertainment can be and Outernet shares that vision so I think we will do something very special together.”