A pot of funding will allow young people to film a documentary with Manchester band The Lottery Winners.
The scheme will see 22 young people given the opportunity to create a feature-length film about the band, originally from Leigh, to mark the build up to their homecoming gig in May.
Wigan Council, alongside its cultural partners, will also invite 10 young people to meet leaders in the film industry and create a short film about growing up in Leigh.
Filming fees will be reinvested back into the town, according to Wigan Council.
Councillor Keith Cunliffe, deputy leader of Wigan Council said: “Leigh is a brilliant place full of young people who have so much to offer and so much potential”.
The Lottery Winners are set to play Leigh Sports Village on 30 May – the first time the band have been a headline act at a stadium.
The documentary plans to chart “the highs and lows of touring” as the band fine-tune their route to the gig.
Since forming in 2008, the band have seen two of their albums reach No.1 in the charts whilst also having supported Robbie Williams across his UK and EU stadium tours this summer.
Natasha Hawthornthwaite, co-founder of Northern Heart Films – the production company assisting the creation of The Lottery Winners documentary called it a “perfect coming together of screen, film and music”.
“At the moment there are limited entry points to the industry for aspiring talent, yet, this industry contributes £125 billion to the economy.
“It’s really encouraging to see Wigan Council reinvesting 100% of the profits into supporting local aspiring filmmakers [and] I’d love to see other areas follow Wigan Council’s lead.”
As well as the documentary project, Wigan Council has donated to local arts organisation, Curious Minds, to offer ring-fenced grants of up to £500 to young people aged between 11 and 18.
The band’s documentary will soon feature at international film festivals.
