The production outfit behind Spin The Bottle - the highly anticipated closing film of this months's Galway Film Fleadh (July 8-13) - has been named as one of four companies to receive backing from the Irish Film Board.

Grand Pictures is one of the participant companies in the Film Board's second Company Development Scheme (CDI). The other companies are: Subotica Entertainment, whose acclaimed Song For A Raggy Boy had its world Premiere at Sundance this year; Distinguished Features, whose first feature production, Dead Bodies, was released by BVI Ireland in April; and the young animation studio Cartoon Saloon.

The Film Board's first CDI, launched in 2001, was set up in co-operation with Anglo Irish Bank and five Irish audio-visual production companies received a development funding commitment until 2004.

The purpose of the scheme was to provide "access to additional development capital for established companies who demonstrated a strong prospect of significant company development over the relevant period." Participant companies include LittleBird, Octagon, and Treasure Films.

The second CDI scheme will "focus on producers who are at an early stage of company development, and are therefore likely to have more restricted access to working capital. Specifically, the Board wishes to support a number of producers who can demonstrate significant growth prospects by funding part (50%) of their overhead costs over a two-year period."