Over 500k invested in the creative and digital industries

Over £500,000 invested in the creative and digital industried by Northwest Vision and Media

• Funding will support business and product development to enable growth and boost local economy
• Money used to leverage an additional £500,000 of private investment into the economy
• Over £900,000 total investment made this year

Over £500,000 has been invested into the region’s creative and digital companies by Northwest Vision and Media, which works on behalf of the creative and digital industries in the region.

The funds have been provided to small and medium sized companies through the Regional Attraction Fund (RAF), which is delivered in partnership with the Northwest Development Agency.

Now in its fifth year, the RAF is designed to encourage and promote the development and growth of companies within the TV, film, games, interactive and digital content sectors.

A total of £537,695 has been provided, with funding packages ranging from £10,000 to £50,000 aimed at stimulating growth through developing new products, skills and business models.


The RAF funds have gone to:

Greater Manchester

Bury-based Multimedia company T3D has been provided with £50,000, enabling it to invest in a 3D virtual learning prototype to deliver exciting learning environments for schools.

£40,000 has been provided to Jellylegs Productions Ltd, the production company owned by Craig Cash and Phil Mealey, co-writers of ‘The Royle Family’ and ‘Sunshine’. The funds will be used to appoint a Head of Development to discover new talent and develop new ideas for Jellylegs.

Studio Liddell, which specialises in 3D animation, interactive content, design and illustration has received £40,000. The business is looking to make the transition into games development and the funds will be used to help create a Wii game prototype for one of the two IP’s they are developing for the platform.

London-based production company Glasshead Ltd has received £30,000 to help set up offices in Altrincham. The BAFTA winning company is well known for producing both television and multi-platform content including documentaries, factual entertainment, drama and education. The new offices will give Glasshead a base from which to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the BBC move North to increase its interactive and animation output.

£30,000 has been provided to digital design and virtual world agency Corporation Pop. The money will be used to employ a Head of Digital to manage the new high value clients landed through the company’s last RAF investment earlier this year.

BOX, a production company specialising in animation, motion graphics and postproduction, will use its £30,000 of funding to invest in online business development.

Television company Platform Productions, which produces documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, will use £25,000 of funding to support the creation of a development unit.

£25,000 has gone to TV production company Nine Lives Media. The company secured funds through RAF earlier this year to support a development unit for six months - this additional funding will continue to support the unit through a second 6 month period.

£20,000 has been invested in Influential Media. Originally established to produce music videos, the business has recently expanded into television production. The funding will enable the company to produce ‘DNA Detectives’, a broadcast pilot for a series that tells the stories of crimes solved using modern technology.

Scarlet Television, which produces factual and factual entertainment programmes for major broadcasters including the BBC, ITV and Channel Five, has received £15,000, which will be used to develop a format for the international market.

£14,000 has been granted to production and distribution outfit Urban Canyons to produce a full HD pilot for the second series of ‘URBANATION’, a TV series focussed on urban youth culture.

Production company The Gate Films has received £10,000 to create a development team for Gatelab, an interactive website for creative agencies to develop ideas for film and TV.

The Mob Film Company, which produces commercials, documentaries and films and was behind the recent adaptations of Terry Pratchett's ‘The Hogfather’ and ‘The Colour of Magic’ has received £10,000. This will be used to support the appointment of a new edit assistant within the company’s expanding commercials department.

Merseyside

Video games company Citrus Suite is set to benefit from £50,000 of funding, which it will use to invest into a new Nintendo Wiiware download game.

Liverpool-based Catalyst Outsourcing, a games production service company, has received £40,000. The money will be used to hire a new producer and invest in asset management software.

Digital art production studio Milky Tea, which recently helped to deliver artwork for a high profile computer game for the BBC, will use its £24,900 of funding to invest into a new flash game demo.

Liverpool-based games company Dou Yi Dou has received £24,795, which will be used to invest into developing a digital prototype of a Chinese crossword game.


Cheshire

Warrington-based production company Carbon Digital Ltd is set to benefit from £34,000 of funding, which will enable the firm to recruit a freelance artist and invest in a mentor to develop a marketing strategy.



Cumbria

Kendal-based K2 Media, which specialises in mobile entertainment applications, has received £25,000 which will be used to develop two of its mobile brands into websites.