Yorkshire And Humber Top Producer Of Indies

Yorkshire and Humber has been identified as the number one producer of independent productions for network distributions by a report due out this month.
The Production Report for Out of London surveyed independent companies outside of the M25, measuring trends of volume and estimated value of network television production.
Yorkshire and Humber produced almost 500 hours in 2006, 100 hours more than 2005 showing an increase in popularity for the regions productions with the nations broadcasters.
Jim Farmery, Head of Innovation for Yorkshire Forward said: “This is great news for our regions producers but also the quality of UK Television. However a greater representation of the regions is still needed to pull together the best of British talent, much of which is sitting outside the boundaries of the M25.”
Out of the £1.88 billion combined production industry revenue in the UK, Screen Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Forward funded regional screen agency for Yorkshire and Humber, brought £23.5 million of inward investment to the region in 2006/7 and has supported 279 productions with locations, crewing or financial investment.
TV dramas such as ‘Lost in Austen’, ‘Housewife 49’, ‘Mansfield Park’ and ‘The Bad Mother’s Handbook’ have been shot in the region with Screen Yorkshire’s support. Movies shot in the area are ‘This is England’, Oscar nominated ‘Atonement’, ‘The Cottage’ and ‘Brideshead Revisited’.
Over the past year, Yorkshire Forward has created and safeguarded more than 27,000 new jobs, helped create and attract more than 1,100 new businesses, provided nearly 66,000 learning opportunities and attracted more than £333 million private sector finance.
(DS)