The production fund is jointly backed by Cornwall Council and private investors

Screen Cornwall has launched a £2.5m initiative to bolster film and high-end TV (HETV) production in the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (CIOS) region.

Screen Cornwall Equity Production Investment (SCEPI) is jointly backed by Cornwall Council’s Good Growth Fund (Shared Prosperity Fund) – putting in £1.25m – and private investors, who are match-funding.

Projects will be required to contribute significant production spend to the local economy and have strong creative links to Cornwall. The scheme is open to UK production companies with narrative feature film projects, and high-end scripted drama or comedy projects intended for television or streaming.

Nada Cirjanic has been appointed investment manager, joining Screen Cornwall with immediate effect. She will lead on the decision-making process on projects applying to the scheme, alongside Screen Cornwall managing director Laura Giles and an investment committee of experienced professionals from the sector who will make final recommendations to the Screen Cornwall Equity Board.

Cirjanic said: “I am delighted to be joining the team and excited by all the opportunities SCEPI investment brings to the industry and to the region. SCEPI will offer experienced producers a source of equity for high end audience facing projects which shoot in Cornwall, answering a need for new finance in the market, but also drawing on the resources and experience in the region after many years of high-profile film and TV shoots here.”

Amanda Pyne, chair of Screen Cornwall Equity, and production finance specialist AP Media, added: “As an equity investor in the right projects, the region has a real opportunity to further grow its success as a destination for high-end television and film production. We can provide producers with vital access to capital and at the same time increase the number and scale of projects being made in the region.

Leader of Cornwall Council Leigh Frost stated: “We are proud of the success that our film and television production services have achieved for the region. We have invested in this initiative to drive jobs and career development opportunities for locally-based talent and crew and to strengthen and retain our diverse and highly skilled workforce.

“Supporting stories and storytellers with natural links to the region also promotes Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly at home and abroad as a dynamic place to live, work and invest in through on-screen cultural and geographical representation to audiences worldwide.”

Regional film office Screen Cornwall was set up in 2019 to support the development of the sector in the region, and reported a record production spend of £16.2m in its Impact Report for 2023/24.

The screen agency is supporting the development of schemes for new entrants and experienced crew to address skills gaps and catalyse the development of the local workforce; the region is also being supported by the new BFI Places Fund which invests National Lottery in areas that have evidence of a growing screen production industry.

Film and HETV productions made in the area include Mark Jenkin’s feature films Rose of Nevada, Bait and Enys Men, Chris Foggin’s Fisherman’s Friends along with the recent TV series Playing Nice and Down Cemetery Road, and the long-running series Doc Martin and Beyond Paradise.