Film London Secures €1.9m For EuroScreen

Film London has been awarded an Interreg IVC grant to launch EuroScreen, a project which aims to capitalise on the major economic and cultural opportunities presented through screen tourism, working in partnership with eight organisations in seven EU regions.
The €1.5m grant from the highly competitive Interreg IVC fund, plus €400,000 match funding from all partnership organisations, provides funding for interregional co-operation. EuroScreen intends to improve the effectiveness of policies between the screen and tourism sectors within participating regions and drive growth in both sectors.
Film London is the official lead partner of EuroScreen, which will run from 2012-2014, and will work in close partnership with regional development agencies, local government, film commissions and a higher education institution: Apulia Film Commission (Italy), Bucharest – Ilfov Regional Development Agency (Romania), FTZ - Fondazzjoni Temi Zamit (Malta), RARR – Rzeszow Regional Development Agency (Poland), Municipality of Ystad and Lund University, Department of Service Management (Sweden), Maribor Development Agency (Slovenia) and Pro Malaga – Local Public Agency for Economic Development in Malaga (Spain). Film London will also be assisted by European financing and project experts Peacefulfish and Otravista to maximize delivery of the project and fully explore its potential legacy.
Adrian Wootton, Chief Executive of Film London said: "Film London has long been an advocate of the value and unlocked potential of screen tourism. We have seen visitor figures to some destinations in the capital soar after being used as a filming location on big budget movies. EuroScreen enables us to take this knowledge and experience to the next level. Working with our partners across Europe we aim to develop feasible business strategies and bring together the production and tourism industries to the benefit of our cities and I thank Interreg IVC for the opportunity to do this important work."
EuroScreen's mission is to take advantage of the screen industry as a proven catalyst for tourism development. This relates to tourism encouraged – either directly or indirectly – by a destination or attraction being viewed on screen, including film, TV, video and the internet. The project will see new collaborations between partner agencies and local SMEs to capitalize on the economic potential available when film commissions effectively work with the tourism sector. EuroScreen will also publish policy material and a baseline study as well as organise a series of events to exchange best practice and share existing knowledge and successes. EuroScreen will disseminate results of the partnership work at a conference in Malaga (Spain) in 2013 and at a final conference in London (UK) in 2014.
(CD)