Rivalry as brothers reach final of film contest

But brotherly love could now turn into a brotherly battle as two tight-knit siblings battle it out in the final of a prestigious film competition.

Both Gavin and Andrew Bryce have become top ten finalists in The Pitch, a contest that offers a chance to turn the trailer into a £30,000 production.

Gavin, a film enthusiast, has entered the competition before and managed to secure the runner-up prize in 2010, while Andrew only decided to give filmmaking a go after he decided his brother’s ideas were “rubbish”.

The theme this year is to take inspiration from a verse, character or story from the Bible.

Gavin, an English and film teacher who runs a small, part-time film business, opted for a tense domestic drama that sees a desperate, childless woman steal a baby.

Andrew, on the other hand, developed a film noir tale about a private detective who must quickly find an authentic dream interpreter for a mob boss haunted by nightmares. His one-and-a-half minute trailer, filmed in Edinburgh, shows snippets of Waverley station, the city centre and Leith.

Andrew, 30, a maths teacher who lives in Leith, said: “Gavin and I chatted about his ideas because he enters every year, but when I told him they were all rubbish he said why didn’t I enter myself? So there’s a bit of a challenge there.

“I’m thankful to Gavin because, although I came up with my idea, he helped me shoot it.”

Andrew describes his film as “a dark sliver of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a bit depressing and with influences from Ian Rankin and Agatha Christie”.

He added: “I’m going down to win, but if my brother makes it, I’ll be delighted.”

Gavin, 32, also from Leith, has entered the competition for the past three years. He took his inspiration from Abraham and Sarah in Genesis for his trailer, which follows a desperate woman who cannot have children. In a “moment of madness” she snatches a crying child from a cafe, then struggles with whether to keep the child or return her to her mother.

Gavin explained: “I wanted to ask the question: is there a way back from doing something like this? The character isn’t 100 per cent evil, she has a moment of madness.”

Talking of his brother, he added: “We are very close and the idea was to enter the competition together. We’ll go down to the show together and we’ve been practising our pitches with each other.”

The duo will travel to Pinewood Studios next weekend to face a top film panel, including the creater of Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park.

The winner will get to make their short film with more than £30,000 of production support. They will then travel to Hollywood and meet producer Ralph Winter – of X Men and Fantastic Four fame – and a host of other industry professionals.

Gavin added: “Even if neither of us win, it’ll be a great chance to network, and the feedback you get is always excellent.”

The brothers film trailers are online at www.enterthepitch.com