FILM-MAKERS of the future will be able to get a helping hand after a scholarship was set up in memory of Tyneside director Tony Scott.

The North Shields-born 68-year-old jumped from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles, California, on August 19 in an apparent suicide.

Now the family of the Top Gun director, which includes his brother, Gladiator director Sir Ridley Scott, have announced they will honour his contribution to cinema with a special scholarship fund named after him.

Based at the American Film Institute, the fund will offer cash to budding film-makers for new projects.

Family and close friends gathered over the weekend for a private memorial.

Mourners are being encouraged to donated to the institute.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, relatives said: “The family ask that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the fund to help encourage and engage future generations.” Tony Scott was famous for action-packed blockbusters such as Days of Thunder, Enemy of the State and Beverly Hills Cop II.

The last film he directed was 2010’s Unstoppable.

He leaves behind his wife Donna Wilson Scott, twin sons and his brother, who was also born in North Shields.

According to his death certificate, Mr Scott was cremated and his widow Donna will keep his remains at their home in the Los Angeles area.

The document does not include a formal determination of the cause of Mr Scott’s death. A coroner is treating his death as probable suicide, but officials say it will take several weeks to investigate the circumstances.

Mystery surrounds the incident and his body was later recovered from the river at Long Beach.

It was reported the next day that the director had been suffering from an inoperable brain tumour, but his widow was quick to denounce this as “absolutely false”.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Ed Winters said neither note explained why Mr Scott took his own life.