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by james macgregor | 30th November, 2001 | contact: james@netribution.co.uk

£200K Boost For Scotdocs

A NEW fund dedicated to documentary making - the first of its kind in the UK - has been launched in Glasgow.

The Scottish Factual Development Fund, worth £200,000, is a partnership between Channel 4 and Scottish Screen. The two organisations recently co-funded Gas Attack, the drama-documentary which won the Michael Powell award at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.

The scheme will benefit four companies in Scotland who can demonstrate they have factual projects in various stages of development, focused on major television networks and international documentary markets. Companies will receive around £50,000 support for one year to develop their work.

Factual programme production in Scotland is estimated to be worth in excess of £10 million per annum. However, London-based companies dominate the UK documentary-making market, and a new Scottish fund has been broadly welcomed as a counter balance.

Seona Robertson, of Glasgow-based Caledonia Sterne and Wyld, said: "If companies are going to break into the big markets, they need a depth of production.

"Research and development backing is critical to build up that kind of pattern, enabling Scottish companies to grow," added Ms Robertson, whose company has just completed a series on Scotland’s regiments to be broadcast on BBC2 next spring.

Steve McIntyre, chief executive of Scottish Screen, said the scheme was a means of building the technical infrastructure within the screen industries: "To be successful in this genre it is important to build companies with a sound financial base and sound business strategies. The importance of this initiative is its support for companies with ambition to develop their work at the UK and international level."

Stuart Cosgrove, Channel 4’s head of programmes, nations and regions, said: "We are keen to promote the growth and competitiveness of independent production companies in Scotland. One way to achieve this is to encourage them to aspire outwards to bigger audiences - not to make programmes that only have limited appeal to Scotland."


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