U.K. Regional Film and TV funder Screen Yorkshire Corals $11.8 Million From Europe

LONDON – Screen Yorkshire, one of the U.K.’s regional agencies set up to push for film and television activity, is aiming to attract private investors to match the £7.5 million ($11.8 million) it has coralled from the European Regional Development Fund.

Dubbed the Yorkshire Content Fund, the cashpool aims to total £15 million ($23.7 million) and be used to invest in content creation by Yorkshire based companies.

It is also hoped it will attract productions looking to establish a base for a film within the English country that takes in cities such as York, Sheffield and Leeds.

The fund will be managed by Screen Yorkshire and any investments will be made on a commercial basis, with the intention that returns will produce a legacy fund to support content development and production in Yorkshire in the future.

Screen Yorkshire’s investment resume boasts cash injections for Paddy Considine’s British Independent Film Awards’ winner Tyrannosaur, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List and Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights.

Screen Yorkshire was one of a minority of agencies who chose not to fold into new regional uberbody Creative England back in October 2011.