Young Audiences Content Fund Greenlights Further Production And Development Awards As First Raft Of Shows Premiere
Skwigly
The BFI has today announced the latest projects awarded through the Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF), including ‘Quentin Blake’s Clown’, ‘Big Boys’, ‘First Dates: Teens’, ‘Generation Genome’, ‘A Bear Named Wojtek’ and two ‘FYI’ spin off shows: ‘Kidversation’ and ‘I Don’t Get It’. The announcement comes as many of the first projects supported by YACF, which launched in 2019, receive their broadcast premiere on free-to-air channels.
Quentin Blake’s Clown
The DCMS-funded YACF has had a hugely positive impact in supporting a diverse community of independent production companies across the UK and exceeded targets for the proportion of projects involving new voices, regional representation and indigenous languages.
The Fund is designed to contribute up to 50% of the production costs for projects that have secured a broadcast commitment from a free-to-access, Ofcom regulated service with significant UK-wide audience reach. YACF has supported independent producers financially throughout this challenging year, allowing them to develop new ideas, and supporting cash-flow to broadcast commissioned productions.
To date YACF has awarded 29 productions at a total of £17.3m, which has leveraged an additional £40.1m of production spend. Totalling £2.64m, 107 development awards have been made. Projects span genres from current affairs and history to comedy and drama, while catering for audiences from tots to teens.
Figures for the first year of YACF show that 71% of projects receiving production awards were set in recognisable UK locations outside London and South East England, with the nations and regions well represented (Wales 29%; Scotland 12%; NI 6%; English regions 24%). Greenlit productions supported by YACF in Year 1 have created an estimated 72,792 days of employment for cast, crew and executives around the UK.
Development awards to date have resulted in an estimated average of 110 days of employment against an average investment of £22,429 per project across a variety of creative roles from writers, musicians, actors, editors, educational advisors, researchers, designers, artists and animators.
Production awardees unveiled within this slate include: ‘Quentin Blake’s Clown’ (Channel 4, Eagle Eye Drama), the eagerly anticipated adaptation of Blake’s novel Clown airing this Christmas; Jack Rooke’s university-set comedy ‘Big Boys’ (Channel 4, Roughcut TV); ‘First Dates: Teens,’ (E4, Twenty Twenty), where a brave bunch of 16-19 year olds have decided to ditch their digital lives and experience a date in-real-life; ‘Generation Genome’ (KMTV,KMTV Creative), a brand new factual series on genetics; ‘A Bear Named Wojtek’ (BBC ALBA/Illuminated Films), which tells the fantastic journey of an orphaned Syrian brown bear brought to Edinburgh, having been previously adopted by Polish soldiers during WWII; and a recommission of educational explainers ‘I Don’t Get It’ and a short form documentary series called ‘Kidversation’ from the makers of the Sky Kids’ news show ‘FYI’, which recently won Best Children’s Programme Award from the Voice of the Listener and Viewer and was nominated for a Rose d’Or Award.
A number of YACF supported shows are now at the point of transmission, with ongoing and upcoming titles including: ‘FYI Investigates’ (Sky News, First News, Sky Kids/Fresh Start Media), ‘Don’t Unleash The Beast’ (CITV/Tiny House Productions), ‘How’ (CITV/Terrific Television), ‘Go Green With The Grimwades’ (Channel 5’s Milkshake!/Doc Hearts), ‘The World According To Grandpa’ (Channel 5’s Milkshake!, S4C/Saffron Cherry Productions) and ‘Sali Mali’ (S4C, Mount Stuart Media ). ‘Letters On Lockdown’ (E4/Afro-Mic Productions) aired earlier this summer.
‘Sol’ (Paper Owl Films) – a YACF ground-breaking public service broadcaster collaboration
The YACF have also initiated a ground-breaking public service broadcaster collaboration to jointly broadcast Sol (Paper Owl Films), a new indigenous language children’s animation about grief aiming to bring light and comfort at the end of this difficult year to families with young children on the darkest day, the Winter Solstice. BBC ALBA, S4C, TG4, CITV, ITV Hub, ALL 4, and My5 will all broadcast the short film on Monday 21st December. Sol also received funding from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund and Screen Fund.
Jackie Edwards, Head of the Young Audiences Content Fund at the BFI, said:
Against the disconcerting backdrop of the pandemic, the Young Audiences Content Fund has proved to be a force for (television) good, providing support to businesses all over the UK, from development funding to gap financing projects, helping them secure the greenlight from broadcasters and keeping shows in production. The resilience of the sector never fails to amaze, and the industry has made sure that the provision of high-quality television for and about this country’s young people has continued even in the most challenging of circumstances.
The Fund’s development pot continues to prove hugely valuable to the industry, not least as it allows for new voices and smaller, regional and underrepresented production companies to come up the ranks and further develop their shows. Due to talent upskilling, feedback details how development beneficiaries are improving the standard of broadcaster commission pitches the channels are receiving. An increased proportion of developed shows are going on to be commissioned and the producers are developing relationships with broadcasters they had not previously met.
Recent greenlit development awards include ‘How To Be Autistic’ (Adapted Pictures), ‘The No Friends Club’ (Kellan Productions), ‘The Heartless’ (Ruby Rock Pictures), ‘Bobbie’s Maker Den’ (Jist Studios), ‘Children of Dance’ (SaGuarda Studios Ltd) ‘Billy’s Band: Lights Camera Score’ (Three Stones Media), ‘Albert’s Islands’ (Tristram Roper Miller Ltd) and ‘Mitten and Shoe’ (Matinai).
Production awards announced on this slate:
Channel 4
- Big Boys (Roughcut TV) – six-part comedy based on comedian and author Jack Rooke’s award-winning live comedy shows, starring Dylan Llewellyn (Derry Girls) as a university fresher trying to find his tribe whilst still finding himself. The funny and heart-breaking university-set comedy centres on the unlikely friendship between Jack (Llewellyn) who is closeted and grieving his father, and his boisterous, laddish new room-mate Danny (Jon Pointing, Plebs)
- Quentin Blake’s Clown (Eagle Eye Drama), the eagerly anticipated adaptation of Clown airing this December, written and illustrated by Sir Quentin Blake and narrated by Helena Bonham Carter
E4
- First Dates: Teens (Twenty Twenty), a new E4 series where hungry for love teenagers go to take their first steps into the daunting world of dating. With the familiar welcome of the BAFTA award winning First Dates, maître d’ Fred Sirieix and his team open the brand-new Manchester restaurant doors to these tender teens. This brave bunch of 16-19 year olds have decided to ditch their digital lives and experience a date in-real-life. For many it will be their first ever ‘first date’, as they try to overcome the awkward silences and discover why they’ve been matched.
KMTV
- Generation Genome (KMTV Creative Productions), a factual presenter-led documentary series, featuring world class research from the University of Kent. The series explores intricate aspects of genome science, as well as exploring the ethical and social impact on society.
BBC ALBA
- A Bear Named Wojtek (Illuminated Films) – the true story of Edinburgh Zoo’s famous resident, Wojtek. A Bear Named Wojtek tells the fantastic journey of an orphaned Syrian brown bear brought to Edinburgh, having been previously adopted by Polish soldiers during WWII. He becomes a beacon of hope and an emblem of their fate. The film crosses subject matters such as friendship, war, immigration, being an outsider, relationships and acceptance.
Development awards announced on this slate:
For teenagers/young adults:
- How to Be Autistic (Adapted Pictures) – a coming of age teen series based on the memoir by Charlotte Amelia Poe “How To Be Autistic”. The series charts Poe’s trials and tribulations, unapologetically revealing what life is truly like for an undiagnosed autistic teenager. This is a show about trying to fit in and discovering you shouldn’t have to. Attached to adapt is screenwriter Alex Clarke, Ed Cripps as Script Editor, Rosie Westhoff to Direct, Fiona Hardingham to Produce and Executive Producer Tom George.
- The No Friends Club (Kellan Productions) – a comedy drama for a young adult audience, this series will centre on an untamed group of teenagers who start a queer underground club night in a post-industrial Cornish town, battling their parents, each other and the neighbourhood watch. Miles Sloman of Kellan Productions (creator) participated in the writer’s room for Bandit Cornwall’s ‘Alien8ed’ as a new voice, and then went on to apply to the YACF to run his own writers room for this project.
- The Heartless (Ruby Rock Pictures) – The Heartless is a young adult character-driven drama set against the electric backdrop of the hedonistic world of the early 00s indie music scene. The series follows four characters – SALLY, MARION and siblings ASHER and ANNA – who are each trying to ‘make it’. Over the course of the series, the trappings of success, fame and money slowly start to make each of them re-evaluate their loyalties and dreams, ultimately forcing them to ask how far they will go to get what they want. Created by Lucie Barât (SPOTLESS) the series is a unique retelling of her experiences in London as a young actress living with her brother Carl Barât – co-frontman of notorious 00s band The Libertines – who is also on board as an Executive Producer. Lucie and Carl are already writing an original soundtrack to accompany the series, to be performed by the fictional THE HEARTLESS.
For children:
- Bobbie’s Maker Den (Jist Studios ltd) – the first Factual Entertainment series for TV from Jist Studios in Manchester. A show about digital making, taking the sticky back plastic era of Blue Peter and Art Attack adapting it for the 21st century with coding, development and engineering challenges inspiring the next generation in Science, Engineering and Technology.
- Children of Dance (SaGuarda Studios Ltd) – a docuseries that follows a young male ballet dancer from Birmingham, Children of Dance will follow a young boy Andre’s journey into the world of ballet, and his trip to Cuba to trace the path of his role model, Carlos Acosta.
- Billy’s Band: Lights Camera Score (Three Stones Media) -covering the widest range of musical skills, abilities and tastes, trumpeter Dan Newell has developed a learning pathway with storytelling at its core. Billy’s Band has made it easy for all children to have a go, to grasp the basic foundation skills and, most of all, experience the joy of making music in an entertaining, educational and social way
Pre-School:
- Albert’s Islands (Tristram Roper Miller Ltd) – Tristram Roper Miller is a new production company made up of writer/director Matilda Tristram (The Adventures of Abney and Teal), director/designer Sarah Roper (Peppa Pig) and new voice, producer Hannah Lee Miller. Albert’s Islands is a pre-school animation with strong public service characteristics, reflective of a UK coastal town and a British sense of humour.
- Mitten and Shoe (Matinai) – Mitten and Shoe is an animated children’s’ series for 2- 4-year olds, following the adventures of a brave little Mitten, a little less brave sports shoe and their playground friends. Quirky, funny and quintessentially British, Mitten and Shoe is an original idea by director Naomi Morris and the project is being created by Matinai, a south west based animation studio.