£1 million for screen skills

8th September 2015

Funding to strengthen training and development opportunities.

Twelve organisations are to receive funding totalling £1 million to deliver skills development and training opportunities in the Scottish screen industry, Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced today.

Individual awards of up to £230,000 will be made to organisations including Screen Academy Scotland, the Centre for the Moving Image and Voluntary Arts Scotland to support the development of skills in the sector including production, visual effects and screenwriting for those already working in or considering a career in screen.

The £1 million Screen Skills Fund was announced earlier this year by the Culture Secretary and forms part of a wider package of public sector support to stimulate growth in the screen industry.

Other measures introduced this year include a £2 million Tax Credit Advance Facility and a £1.75 million Production Growth Fund to encourage more film and TV production in Scotland.

The Screen Skills Fund is administered by Creative Scotland and addresses some of the key priorities set out in their Film Strategy 2014-17. Skills Development Scotland have played an advisory role to ensure the Fund is aligned to their Skills Investment Plan for the Creative Industries, which was published at the end of June.

Speaking from a conference in Edinburgh, at which policy makers and industry representatives are considering the next steps for Scotland's creative industries, Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said:

"The creative industries employ more people than the oil and gas industry in Scotland and generate a higher GVA than the life sciences sector. There is no doubt that the creative industries bring valuable economic benefits to individuals, communities and the country as a whole.

"The Scottish Government and our agencies are firmly committed to strengthening support for the creative industries in Scotland to flourish. The awards announced today demonstrate the Scottish Government's commitment to developing skills and nurturing talent so that we can secure the future success of the sector. Through the Skills Investment Plan, published this summer by Skills Development Scotland, we have set out exactly how we will achieve this.

'Yesterday I visited the set of Bannan on Skye and met talented young trainee directors who were learning their profession working on the series, receiving the sort of valuable training others will now receive thanks to the awards I am making today.'

“The £1 million Screen Skills Fund forms part of our commitment to growing the Scottish Screen Sector. It builds on our work to encourage film and TV production through the new £1.75 million Production Growth Fund and the funding we’re making available to producers through our £2 million Tax Credit Advance Facility.

“I look forward to seeing the real difference this funding is going to make to people’s careers, and the screen sector as a whole."

Natalie Usher, Director of Screen at Creative Scotland said:“The twelve awards made from the Screen Skills Fund add to the series of steps taken since publication of our strategy, Creative Scotland On Screen 2014-17 which sets out our shared ambition to generate the conditions necessary to enable the screen sector to grow and compete meaningfully at home and on the international stage and our focus on talent and skill development.

“This £1 million fund is also a strong indication of our Government’s determination to create the best possible environment for the screen sector to thrive, so that we can look ahead with greater confidence and build a stronger future for the sector in Scotland."

The Screen Skills Fund supports programmes and initiatives, in partnership with industry and other public bodies, which directly address four priority areas across the screen sector, including development, production, exhibition, and distribution. They are:

Advanced career development, building entrepreneurship and leadership skills
Business development and management seminar and workshop programmes
Bespoke skills development, including traineeships and apprenticeships
Access routes into the industry focusing on employability, encouraging and increasing workforce diversity and emerging talent development programmes.
Announced in February this year, and open for applications from 19 April, the Screen Skills Fund received 22 strong proposals covering the entire range of the screen sector’s activity. The 12 successful proposals are:

Market Leaders - Initialize Films - £99,900

Supporting producers who have projects at a sufficiently advanced stage to meet financiers and others at key film and television markets throughout the year.

Ian Davies at Initialize Films, said: “We are delighted to be working with Creative Scotland again on the Market Leaders programme which is now in its fifth year. With films like ’71, Sunshine on Leith, Starred Up and Under the Skin Scottish producers have gained strong international interest in their work and we look forward to supporting that further through the Market Leaders programme.”

Fix Visual Effects - £99,279

Specialised training for the Visual FX industry. Supporting skills development in VFX, with the aim of sustaining a new VFX facility in Scotland.

Colin Kennedy, said: “We are delighted to have received such strong support from Creative Scotland and our other partners in bringing this new facility to Scotland. We look forward to strengthening the foundations for film and television production with new jobs and skills in a market that is vastly underserved in Scotland to date.”

Screen Routes - Edinburgh Napier University (Screen Academy Scotland) - £230,000

Supporting skills development in new & existing film and television craft, technical & production grades.

Step Ahead - Centre for the Moving Image and Film Hub Scotland - £65,000

Step Ahead provides a bespoke skills development, internship and mentoring programme supporting the growth and sustainability of Scotland's film exhibition and film festivals sector.

Ken Hay, Managing Director at CMI, said: "Scotland's film exhibition and festivals sector is growing fast, so it's fantastic that Creative Scotland is supporting the development of the next generation of cinema and festival programmers and curators, marketers and event organisers. The CMI and Film Hub Scotland are delighted to have received support for Step Ahead, the bespoke skills development, internship and mentoring programme, developing the pipeline of talent for Scotland’s film exhibition, film festival and events sector."

Cinema For All (British Federation of Film Societies with Voluntary Arts Scotland) - £57,905

Cinema For All, with Voluntary Arts Scotland, will deliver a bespoke skills development package to train and support voluntary arts organisations to deliver film screenings in their local community.

Make Your Market Lab: Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) and We Are The Tonic - £80,000

Scottish training and trainee initiative for 8 producers (4 projects) and 2 marketing/business graduates to jointly develop marketing and distribution strategies for their films.

Deborah Rowland at We Are The Tonic, said: “Tonic is really excited to be working with SDI on this pilot that focuses on such an important area of the industry. Together, we have developed a truly innovative programme that uses live projects, combined with tutorials, forward thinking panels and workshops, and tailored mentoring – to give participants the skills, knowledge and experience to release their films to audiences in the best way possible.”

Noe Mendelle at Scottish Documentary Institute, said: “SDI is delighted to collaborate with We are The Tonic on the launch of a new lab "MAKE YOUR MARK-ET” This exciting initiative will inspire and guide Scottish producers to discover new tools and resources and reconceptualise how we think about distributing our films. We are pleased to be supporting the development of new marketing and distribution talent for Scotland.”

Front Runner: Film City Futures - £52,694

An Executive Coaching programme designed to work with Business Leaders to build their entrepreneurial and leadership skills. A bespoke programme highly focussed and results driven, targeting existing roadblocks to success.

Tiernan Kelly, Director of Film City Glasgow said: “The Screen Skills Fund award will allow us to expand our skills and training offer through Film City Futures. The key objective of our ‘Frontrunners' initiative will be to create longitudinal impact, targeting those with the ambition to grow both their personal and business profiles, with a particular focus on scale and internationalisation.

“All of our training initiatives are delivered from Film City Glasgow, a hub of screen industry professionals and related businesses, which uniquely provides a supportive infrastructure that can provide facilities and expertise to our current and future training programmes.”

Film Industry Network and Diversity (FIND) - £110,000

Led by Screen Education Edinburgh, Station House Media Unit Aberdeen, Glasgow Media Access Centre, and including all members of the Film Access Network Scotland. A national training programme supporting young people (16-24) from varied backgrounds, creating opportunities for increased access into the film industry contributing towards a high quality, more diverse, ‘industry ready’ workforce.

Graham Fitzpatrick, Creative Manager at Screen Education Edinburgh said, on behalf of the project partners involved: “Screen Education Edinburgh, GMAC Film and SHMU are delighted to be working together on this innovative programme supported by Creative Scotland, building on the work of our respective organisations to progress young people from diverse backgrounds into the film and TV sectors.”

European Training Courses & Market Partnerships - £35,000

Strategic partnerships with key European and international talent development programmes. (e.g. Berlin, Rotterdam and Toronto talent labs).

Development Programme for Writers - £34,222

Screenwriters residency programme with supported development of existing screenwriters and writers from other forms, playwrights/novelists that wish to move into screenwriting.

Jump Cut - £50,000

JUMPCUT Production Company is an intense film and TV training programme for 16 – 25 year olds living in Scotland. The company simulate all aspects of pre-production, production and post-production under the guidance of industry professional mentors.

Outlander (Training & Skills) - £86,000

Support for the valuable and extensive trainee programme of Outlander's series 2.