£3.3m fund launched by Screen West Midlands

Screen West Midlands are seeking applications from companies across the globe for a share of the £3.3 million pound Screen Fund.
The fund is split into production funding of £3 million (for three years), a development fund of £300,000 this year alone and a script development fund of up to £80,000 for this year also.
Film Minister Estelle Morris praised the agency’s work: "The Screen Fund will help attract more film and television production to the West Midlands and the UK. Screen West Midlands is to be congratulated for giving the film and media industry a real boost."
The Screen Fund is comprised of £3 million pounds of European Regional Development Funds and a concoction of existing monies that the screen agency has drawn down from: Advantage West Midlands and The Film Council’s Lottery funding.
In addition to this the agency is set to add a new Training fund, worth £750,000 of Learning and Skills Council money.
Screen West Midlands’ funding is set to change the nature of film, television, games and animation in the West Midlands, and will be ploughed in to developing the next slate of Brit Flicks or video games, supporting production including television dramas that want to film in the West Midlands, and developing scripts to support future production.
The Screen Fund was previewed to European producers during a Euro conference in September, in a bid to attract future Euro-West Midlands film and TV programmes and to attract companies across the globe to apply to the money. Representatives from Screen West Midlands have now been invited to promote the fund further in Europe, as well as being used to strengthen the British film, television and other creative screen industries.
Krysia Rozanska, Chief Executive Officer of Screen West Midlands, explained why the money is open to those outside the West Midlands: “British feature film and television co-production is at an all time high and we want to capitalise on this. We are also really keen to hear from games companies and animators. We want to strike up some deals and make sure that the money we have can be used to attract production of all types as soon as possible. We want to get the ball rolling.”
(GB)