06/02/2012

British regional screen agency Screen Yorkshire has announced a £15 million fund for the film, television, games and digital sector within the Yorkshire and Humber areas. The Yorkshire Content Fund has locked £7.5 million of investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) that will be matched by private sector investors on a project-by-project basis.

The fund is being launched on the back of a number of acclaimed projects which previously received Screen Yorkshire investment including Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Ben Wheatley’s Kill List [+see also:
trailer
interview: Ben Wheatley
film profile], from Sheffield’s Warp X and Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Arnold
film profile].

Screen Yorkshire CEO Sally Joynson said, “The Yorkshire Content Fund marks a new era for the region’s creative businesses and for Screen Yorkshire as an organisation. These are difficult times and access to capital is still limited so to secure such a major pot of investment for the creative industries in Yorkshire and Humber is an incredible win for the region and for Screen Yorkshire. The fund will also create hundreds of jobs across the supply chain, which is so critical at the moment.”

Mark Herbert, Managing Director of Sheffield’s Warp Films, said, “Yorkshire has virtually everything you need to produce TV and film– stunning and diverse locations, skilled and experience crew and now the new Yorkshire Content Fund. Finance is always a critical part of the jigsaw of getting TV or film made so this fund can only help in increasing production levels and creating jobs within Yorkshire.”