London authorities yesterday launched an initiative to boost the capital as a film-making centre. Unveiled by Film London, which is part-funded by Film Council, the Filming London Partnership (FLP) comprises more than 60 bodies including the Mayor's office, local authorities, police and transport leaders and members want to cut out the red tape that has traditionally plagued productions. FLP chiefs want London to compete with the likes of New York and other European sites such as Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, where sophisticated studios and generous tax breaks are attracting international producers in droves. Lord Puttnam is heading up a task force to investigate what can be done.

Peter Jackson and partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens - widely regarded as the most sought-after film-making triumvirate in the world following the Lord of the Rings trilogy - are in talks to adapt Alice Sebold's bestseller The Lovely Bones. The story concerns a murdered teenage girl who watches her family and killer from heaven. Jackson and his two collaborators are currently being paid $20m to update King Kong, which is due to be released in December 2005. That Jackson and co should take on such a downbeat, naturalistic project after four fx spectaculars is even more surprising considering who they are to replace at the helm. The adaptation had been slated for Scottish indie auteur Lynne Ramsay.

Peter Weir, who earned a best director Oscar nomination this year for his seafaring adventure Master and Commander, is in talks to direct the thriller Pattern Recognition. Variety says the story is based on a novel by William Gibson, the author of Neuromancer and godfather of cyberpunk, and centres on a marketing expert who becomes ensnared in an internet investigation.