The government has ploughed £400,000 into Cornish film and TV to capitalise on the £5m generated by production in the region last year.
The cash injection, from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, will go towards raising the profile of Cornish media, including Cornish-language content, and improving diversity at entry level through an extension of its outreach and talent development programme.
Activity in 2022 included a strategic partnership between BFI Network and ScreenSkills, production companies and Cornwall Council to run filmmaking workshops, while Screen Cornwall works closely with local education providers to build pathways for new entrants to the industry.
Cornwall is home to an estimated 270+ companies active across film, television, video production, equipment hire and digital games.
Screen Cornwall’s first economic impact analysis of production since its formation in 2019 revealed that there were 422 filming days and 101 pre-production days in Cornwall in 2022.
Recent major productions shot in Cornwall include BBC1’s Death in Paradise spin-off Beyond Paradise, which has been commissioned for a second series, CBeebies’ Fred and Pete’s Treasure Tales and Film4’s folk horror movie Enys Men.
Enys Men
Returning productions have included BBC dramas Strike and Malory Towers, ITV’s Doc Martin and Channel 5’s My Cornwall with Fern Britton. HBO’s House of the Dragon and BBC Films/BFI feature film Edge of Summer were also filmed in the region.
Screen Cornwall’s bid for the government funding followed a BFI-funded report published in January, which identified that the screen industry in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly had the potential to become a “cluster of national significance”.
Both Enys Men and director Mark Jenkin’s previous Bafta-winning film Bait were noted as domestic independent productions rooted in Cornish culture, while both House of Dragon and the recommission of Beyond Paradise have provided “a foundation for sustainable growth for businesses, specialist freelancers and creative talent”, it reported.
Screen Cornwall managing director Laura Giles said the £5m sum is “a significant contribution for our rurally dispersed sector”.
She added: “Momentum continues to grow for both location filming and independent production, so this funding boost comes at an important time. A diverse and robust talent pipeline is vital to developing a healthy screen ecosystem, so people are at the heart of our vision for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to become the UK’s most vibrant rurally dispersed content production region.”
