The Yorkshire Dales and the Lakes producer True North, Catching a Killer indie Candour Productions and screenwriter Kay Mellor’s Rollem Productions are among the debut cohort for Indielab’s West Yorkshire TV Accelerator scheme.
Delivered in partnership with the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, which oversees the creative industry in the region, the five-month programme offers 15 indies seminars and masterclasses and access to legal and accountancy services. An additional 11 games companies are also taking part in a parallel Game Accelerators programme.
More than half of the 26 companies are ethnically diverse and/or female led. As well as Rollem - and Candour, which is run by creative director Anna Hall and managing director Julie Heselgrave – these include Screenhouse, co-founded by former ITV producer Barbara Govan, and Lauren York’s factual indie Art of Truth, one of the recent recipients of Channel 4’s Emerging Indies Growth Fund.
Indielab founder and programme director Victoria Powell said indies in the region “have all to play for”.
She added: “Local TV indies are benefiting from the national broadcasters' commitment to invest in the nations and regions in the UK. Working with our partners from across the TV and game sectors, we have designed a growth programme that will provide participants with the knowledge, skills, networks and investment needed to grow their business and produce more content and games with impact at both national and international levels.”
The 15 indies taking part are:
Art of Truth (Leeds)
Beyond Productions (Leeds)
British Muslim TV (Wakefield)
Button Down (York)
Candour Productions (Pudsey)
Clockwork Films (Leeds)
Curley Vision (Leeds)
Fettle Animation (Huddersfield)
Hellfire (Leeds)
New Northern (Halifax)
Northern Imposters (Leeds)
Rollem Productions (Leeds)
Screenhouse (Leeds)
The City Talking (Leeds)
True North (Leeds)
