Screen Cornwall Equity Production Investment (SCEPI), a new £2.5 million initiative jointly backed by Cornwall Council and private investors, is being launched today to boost film and high-end television production in the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (CIOS) region. The investment, aims to stimulate further growth of the area’s burgeoning screen industry, creating jobs and opportunities for local crew and creative talent, screen businesses and related services.
The scheme is backed by £1.25m from Cornwall Council’s Good Growth Fund (Shared Prosperity Fund) and match-funded by private investors. 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.
The region has developed a thriving screen industry for homegrown and incoming productions providing opportunities for local crew. Screen Cornwall, which was set up in 2019 to support the development of the sector in the region, reported a record production spend of £16.2 million in its Impact Report for 2023/24. The screen agency is also supporting the development of a range 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 high-end television productions made there 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.
Nada Cirjanic has been appointed Investment Manager, joining Screen Cornwall with immediate effect. She brings extensive experience across UK film and television across finance and public funding, international sales and acquisition, sales, development, production and packaging with a track record which includes lead and senior roles with companies including Film4/Channel 4, Independent Film Sales, Protagonist Pictures, and Granada Media.
The decision-making process on projects applying to the scheme will be led by Cirjanic, alongside Screen Cornwall Managing Director Laura Giles and an Investment Committee of skilled and experienced professionals from the sector who will make final recommendations to the Screen Cornwall Equity Board.
Amanda Pyne, Chair of Screen Cornwall Equity, and production finance specialist AP Media says: “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. I am delighted that Nada Cirjanic has come on board, bringing years of commercial experience in financing, developing and getting films into the international marketplace.”
Leigh Frost, Leader of Cornwall Council says: “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.”
Nada Cirjanic, Investment Manager, Screen Cornwall Equity Production Investment, says: “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.”
