Gov.uk: Membership of new Creative Industries Taskforce announced
// Caroline Norbury // creative industries // UK Government
Creative Growth Finance, the specialist lender for the creative industries, is delighted to announce a £500,000 investment in award-winning UK independent production company, EMU Films. This marks the latest stage of the ongoing collaboration between EMU Films and creative industry experts Creative England, who established the Creative Growth Finance Debt Fund in 2020 with Triodos Bank UK.
Based in Manchester and London, EMU Films’ relationship with Creative England began in 2014, when they received an £150k loan from the company to enable them to continue to develop, increase capacity and grow. That same year saw EMU Films named in the top 10 of the Creative England 50, which recognised individuals and businesses from across games, TV, film and digital media industries, for their talent, ingenuity and ability to turn bright ideas into commercial successes.
EMU Films and Creative England have worked together on productions including The Goob, which won a British Independent Film Award for Best Production, Jawbone, which was nominated for 7 BIFAs and a BAFTA, and the acclaimed BBC and Amazon Prime series Small Axe. EMU Films were associate producers on Steve McQueen’s BAFTA and Golden Globe winning anthology, a Turbine Studios and Lammas Park production. Creative England also supported the production through its location services and West Midlands Production Fund. Most recently Creative England collaborated with EMU Films on Terence Davies’ feature film Benediction, the story of English poet, writer and soldier Siegfried Sassoon, which receives its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday 12 September 2021.
EMU Films’ success in recent years has driven its international reputation as a bold and truly independent production company. The investment from Creative Growth Finance will enable them to hire another highly experienced development executive, grow the company and expand its development slate further.
Michael Elliott, Founding Partner at EMU Films, said:
“We are very grateful to Creative England for once again showing faith in EMU. This investment will allow us to continue to grow the company and build our infrastructure. We are now in the process of seeking out a proven top-end development executive to add to the team as we move into higher budget feature films and high-end television. We look forward to working again with Creative England.”
Paul Ashton, Head of Film at Creative England, said:
“It’s fantastic news that our long standing relationship with EMU Films is continuing through Creative Growth Finance’s investment. EMU has an enviable track record of development, production and delivery for the screen, and we can’t wait to see what they do next.”
Mehjabeen Patrick, Chief Financial Officer at Creative England, said:
“EMU Films is precisely the type of company our Creative Growth Finance fund was designed to support and we’re proud to have them in our portfolio of exceptional creative sector companies. Our investment will help EMU grow, add jobs and make even more exceptionally beautiful and culturally relevant content.”
Matt Boggan, Senior Business Banking Relationship Manager at Triodos Bank UK, said:
“EMU Films is a fantastic example of a filmmaker that’s unafraid to tackle social issues and encourage change – something that we believe arts and culture should do and one of the reasons we actively look to lend in this area. It’s also exactly the kind of business that we want to help scale up through the Creative Growth Finance fund.”
Find out more about Creative Growth Finance here.
Find out more about EMU Films here.
