Screen Yorkshire aims for ‘crucial role’ in Creative England despite snub
MANCHESTER rather than Leeds looks set to be the Northern home of Creative England, the new body for creative industries that will replace England’s nine screen agencies.
The move could leave Leeds-based Screen Yorkhire, whose 20 staff have supported productions such as This is England 86, Red Riding and The Damned United, vulnerable as funding is channeled to the Manchester office which will also cover Northern Film & Media’s North East patch.
Culture minister Ed Vaizey announced last week the formation of Creative England as part of wide-ranging changes to the way the government supports the UK film industry, following the abolition of the UK Film Council, much of whose work will now be carried out by the British Film Council.
The current structure could no longer be afforded, he said, and the new body would work out of three regional hubs – North, Central and South. In the North this means the merger of Manchester-based Vision+Media, Screen Yorkshire in Leeds and Newcastle-based Northern Film & Media. But he refused to specify exactly where the regional hubs would be based.
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However, papers filed at Companies House showed the bosses of the screen agencies based in Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol, were named as directors of the newly formed private company behind Creative England.
And a statement from Alice Morrision, Vision+Media’s chief executive who is to step down in January, also underlined the role Manchester will play in the new organisation.
She said: “There is a rationale around exploiting the growth and creative activity in the economic centres of London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol that allows these centres to operate as crucial and cost effective hubs for industry support across England.”
But Sally Joynson, chief executive of Screen Yorkshire, insisted no firm decision had been made and said her organisation will seek to play a “major role” in the new Creative England structure.
She said: “Screen Yorkshire has been a very successful screen agency, especially in TV and film production, having financed and supported productions such as This is England 86, Red Riding, The Damned United, Andrea Arnold’s new version of Wuthering Heights, Paddy Considine’s Tyrannossaur and the Warp X low budget slate. Therefore we aim to play a major role in the new Creative England structure.”
A spokesman for Vision+Media insisted the changes did not mean the end for Screen Yorkshire. “They are their own private companies and we hope their expertise will be involved in the creative North,” he said.
The new arrangement has been described as a “hub and spoke” model which suggests the regional hubs could continue to work with the other offices – or spokes, but this is not yet clear.
Ms Joynson added: “There are many aspects yet to be decided, such as governance, structure and what a hub or spoke is.”
