Applications now closed – West Midlands IP Fund: Narrative
The West Midlands IP Fund: Narrative is a new fund of project funding for narrative scripted and unscripted screen projects in the region.
- Project funding of up to £20,000
- Available for scripted and non-scripted narrative projects for film, TV and animation
- Applicants must be SMEs based in the West Midlands
Webinar with Q&A
Watch back our webinar, which covered the offer of the fund and opened up the questions from the audience.
Applications are now closed.
The West Midlands IP Fund (WMIPF) is funded by West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and delivered by Creative UK (CUK) in collaboration with Create Central (CC). The purpose of the fund is to support production companies based in the West Midlands Combined Authority area in their development of original screen IP.
This project is funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
What can I apply for?
What can I apply for? Project development funding is available for substantive scripted and non-scripted narrative projects for film, TV and animation – from single fiction and documentary films to series. However, the fund will not support short-form development such as stand-alone short films. Development may include option costs, treatment development, script/story development and writer fees, design/artwork development, pilot production, early-stage project packaging costs or other activities which creatively and substantively contribute towards project development.
The project does not yet have industry (eg broadcaster, distributor, financier) backing – can we still apply? Yes. We encourage industry engagement/commitment as early as possible, but we understand that substantive development often happens first in order to secure that industry interest. We ask applicants to clearly indicate potential partners, financiers/commissioners and target audience/platform at the point of application. We are looking to support viable broadcast-standard content which is designed for the equivalent of a substantive broadcast, streaming and/or theatrical audience. We appreciate that screen production budgets and funding tariffs are under ongoing strain – but we are looking for applications from SMEs with industry-standard projects rather than lower-budget and/or niche content designed for self-release online.
Funding awards are each expected to be up to £20,000 in total. We ask applicants to consider what they really need and for what specific development purposes; we ask you to break down and budget the stages of development and to request an amount of funding accordingly, specifying all the fees and costs involved. If we are unable to support the entire development process, we may still be able to fund a given stage of that process – details of those different stages will therefore allow us to make the best funding decisions possible.
We can only support one award per company through this ‘Narrative’ round so please apply with what you believe to be your strongest project which is at the right stage to be supported further through a development process.
Who can apply?
The intent of the fund is to support and help sustain local, homegrown screen production companies to develop their own originations and IP at a challenging time in the industry.
The fund is targeted at SMEs. Eligible producers and production companies must be based in the WMCA area of Birmingham, Solihull, Sandwell, Dudley, Coventry, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Companies must be registered trading entities at Companies House; companies should be registered or trading in the WMCA region, or alternatively lead producers must be permanently resident in the area.
Producers/companies should have in place at the point of application the creative team which is due to undertake the development process. Teams must include a lead project producer and in addition should include one or more key creative, for example: writer, writer/director, director, animator, designer. This list is not exhaustive – please specify the key creatives you need for the development process you are asking us to fund.
The fund is not designed for new or very early-stage talent and as such creative teams must be able to demonstrate a collective level of emergent experience in their given field – or in another related field (for example, ad/commercial producers developing a film project). Relevant experience might include full writing/directing/production/animation credits, professional writing commissions/engagements and in-house or freelance creative roles (for example at production companies/houses or broadcasters).
