The Visit Knoxville Film Office, in partnership with the Knoxville Film Festival, has announced they will be offering a $20,000 Grand Prize to the winner of this year's Knoxville Film Festival 7-Day Shootout competition. The 7-Day Shootout provides filmmaking teams with 7 days to shoot a 7 minute film. The films are then judged by various industry experts. 

The Grand Prize winner will be required to use the funds to expand their winning short film into a full length feature film within 1 years' time. The production must be filmed entirely in Knox County and consist of 70% Knox County crew and talent.

"I've been developing this idea for a while now", said Curt Willis, Visit Knoxville Film Office Director. "I've wanted to do something to develop feature film production in our community. There are so many talented filmmakers in the Knoxville area that haven't had a chance to shoot a feature and have been doing some great work with no budgets. This will provide them an opportunity to really showcase their abilities and also showcase the production talent and locations we have to offer throughout Knox County. When I shared the concept with Keith McDaniel, the Knoxville Film Festival Director, he suggested that we incorporate it into the 7-Day Shootout. It's a great fit and perfect venue for this event." 
$15,000 of the Grand Prize money will be provided by the Visit Knoxville Film Office while the remainder will be provided by the Knoxville Film Festival. The Knoxville Film Festival takes place September 17th through the 20th.

For more information on the Knoxville Film Office visit their website www.filmknoxvilletn.com and for more on the Knoxville Film Festival visit their website www.knoxvillefilmfestival.com.

The mission of the Visit Knoxville Film Office is to strengthen Knoxville's economy through the promotion of the city as a premiere filming location. By attracting motion media companies to Knoxville through the marketing of our locations, accommodations, services, crew, and talent, we can foster the creation of jobs in the area, stimulate business opportunities and generate exposure.