Pact offers leg-up to north-east indies

Pact is offering up free membership and business advice to ten indies in the north-east to accelerate activity in the region.

The indie body’s Future North East initiative is an extension of its Future30 scheme.

Developed with North East Screen, it will provide participants with a tailored development programme, including access to industry experts who will advise on ways of developing and growing their business.

Whether the indies are currently Pact members or not, they will automatically get two years’ membership.

Pact announced the programme at the Creative Cities Convention, held this year in Newcastle.

To apply, indies will submit a video pitch that will be judged by a panel of producers and experts.

Submissions open on 5 May and the winning 10 will be announced at the end of the month.

To register interest, companies should email talent@northeastscreen.org

Channel 4 debate

Channel 4's potential move into in-house production was also in the spotlight at the convention, with Pact chair John McVay describing the government's proposal as a "distraction" for the broacaster and a move that could impact its smaller suppliers in areas such as daytime.

"They need to focus on commissioning the best shows, not worry setting up a very expensive production arm," he said, adding that Pact "has got to think about who comes next at C4, and what they will want to do".

All3Media chief operating officer Sarah Geater, a former Pact chair, said that to protect the sector, C4 would need to introduce in-house production gradually, and capped at 15%.

Urging caution, she said: "It’s expensive to set up independent production, and there’s no guarantee of success."