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FOCUS on growth for Scots film and TV sectors

Written by Michelle Rodger

Twenty Scottish based screen production companies are now receiving expert sector-specific business support as part of an initiative to help grow and strengthen Scotland’s film and TV industry.

FOCUS is a two-year pilot project developed to address current market conditions in the screen industry in Scotland. Many screen production businesses operating in Scotland are not of the scale where certain business development and support functions can be afforded in-house. This has had an impact on the ability of those businesses to grow, increase output, and remain sustainable.

FOCUS addresses this by providing subsidised access to specialist business development services. In the initial pilot phase, 20 participating screen companies are working with a business development consultant to create bespoke Business Development Strategies, before moving on to access the sector-specific expertise they require.

Participating companies contribute one third of the costs of the consultancy, with the remaining costs covered by FOCUS, which is co-funded by Screen Scotland and Scottish Enterprise.

Film City Futures, in partnership with Scottish Documentary Institute, has announced further details of screen sector companies participating in the business development initiative, FOCUS.

Scottish companies now receiving support from FOCUS are barry crerar, Black Camel Pictures, Bees Nees, Forest of Black, Heehaw, Hopscotch Films, LA Media, Maramedia, Matchlight, Move On Up, Once Were Farmers, Pirate Productions, Plantation Productions, Red Kite Animation Production, SDI Productions, Selkie Productions, Seventh Crow, Shakehaus, Tripswitch Productions, and Urbancroft Films.

FOCUS is delivered by Film City Futures in partnership with Scottish Documentary Institute. The project is managed by Business Development Manager Rebecca Thompson, who previously created film audience development and crowdfunding consultancy Hot Tap Media, and the film crowdfunding and distribution platform Social Screen.

Rebecca Thompson, Business Development Manager, FOCUS, said:

“These twenty companies are representative of an ambitious screen sector in Scotland, and the selected consultants are well placed to help realise that ambition. We are excited to see what can be achieved by the FOCUS participants, as a result of this expert business support.”

Isabel Davis, Executive Director at Screen Scotland said: FOCUS is an excellent example of Screen Scotland’s drive to support growth in Scotland’s Screen sector. Through the support of FOCUS we hope that these companies will be able to take the next step towards realising their growth ambitions.”

The FOCUS application portal has now closed. However, FOCUS continues to offer a free sector news subscription service, as well as talks and workshops, available for any company working in the Scottish screen sector. Companies interested in finding out more should visit www.filmcityfutures.com.

About the author

Michelle Rodger

Michelle is a former national newspaper journalist who co-founded an award-winning IT business before launching Tartan Cat Communications. A social media and crowdfunding expert she manages media and communications for Business for Scotland.

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