The co-producer of Grierson Award-winning Once Upon a Time in Ireland and the indie set up by the team behind Bafta/RTS winner 9/11: Inside The President’s War Room are among a cohort of eight nations and regions companies that Channel 4 is backing via its Emerging Indie Fund this year.
Belfast-based Walk on Air Films, set up by Rachel Hooper and Martha O’Kane in 2021, collaborated with Keo Films on BBC2’s five-part series about the Troubles.
The Slate Works, meanwhile, was set up in January last year by Adam Wishart and Serena Kennedy, who collaborated on 9/11: The President’s War Room, effectively replacing the former’s eponymous label Wish/Art Films. It is currently working on a BBC series about the 7/7 London terrorist attacks in 2005.
In its fourth year, the C4 Indie Fund is also backing:
Acclaimed Content, the Birmingham indie behind BBC3’s Queen of Trucks;
Curly Media, a Bristol digital production company run by former Indie Fund coordinator Emma Walker;
Enon Films, a Sheffield company formerly known a Let There Be Light;
Frank Films, a Bristol indie with credits including BBC1’s Trawler Men: Hunting the Catch;
Osprey Television, an indie run out of Shotton, North Wales by former Lime Pictures staffers Chris Wood and Hayley Jones;
Specky Productions, the Glasgow indie that made Channel 4’s The Scottish Island That Won the Lottery
Queen of Trucks: C4 is backing producer Acclaimed Content through its Emerging Indie Fund
Each company will receive a package of financial and creative support that includes access to a C4 commissioning editor, plus head of indie relations Rebecca Thompson, as well as business development and slate development consultants.
Meanwhile, six indies receive discretionary awards that will also give them access to Thompson as well as 4Producers’ networking events, plus development workshops and funding.
These are: Belfast indies Blair Black and Catman Media, Sheffield’s Lunar Lander, Birmingham’s Rock Films and two companies from Newcastle Upon Tyne: Rock Paper Productions and Schnoobert Productions.
