UK Animation Opportunities: BBC Ignite, BFI Shorts, YACF and Wildseed Talent Fund

Things are heating up for emerging entertainers across the pond, with a flurry of funds, initiatives and talent drives announced by major UK players over the past week.

Il with the BBC announced an unprecedented initiative to find and develop the UK's next animation hit, supporting and developing both existing and emerging talent within the genre: light on. Earlier this year, BBC Children's & Education Director Patricia Hidalgo pledged to invest in industry development in an effort to create more local shows that reflect the life and culture of UK children.

"We are committed to helping the UK animation industry develop and thrive and I am delighted to be able to launch this initiative," said Hidalgo. We know there is a wealth of creative talent across the UK and we want to give everyone the opportunity to showcase their ideas. But we don't just want to discover the best talent and ideas, we also want to support and nurture those ideas and the talent behind them. "

Ignite will require bold and innovative ideas from both established independent production companies, BBC in-house production and talented individuals looking for a first chance. The first phase will see up to 20 ideas with an initial development funding fund. Additional funding will be awarded in stages two and three for presentations that pass each round. The only creators who make it through the first stage will be associated with a creative team to help build and develop their ideas. BBC commissioners will seek originality of ideas, innovative ways in which children can interact with the show and its characters, the potential to develop the idea for more series, ideas that reach underserved audiences, recognizable storytelling, recognizable characters and international appeal.

Deadline: August 15, 2021. www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/ignite-animation

Ladder

Il BFI open applications for the Animation background in short form, which aims to support growth in the UK animation industry. With prizes ranging from £ 30.000 to £ 120.000 available for successful projects, the Fund, which is now in its second round, is seeking nominations from a wide range of UK animators and will support projects up to 15 minutes in duration representing significant progress in their work, enable progression and open up new opportunities. The Fund is supported by funding from the National Lottery and managed by the BFI Film Fund.

A new development within this round is a partnership with StoryFutures Academy - the UK's National Center for Immersive Storytelling run by the National Film and Television School (NFTS) and Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) - which will contribute with a grant of up to £ 50.000 each to support two animated projects designed to be immersive in nature, through virtual or augmented reality content.

Following the first round of the Short Form Animation Fund, in November 2020 the BFI announced nine supported projects in production, of which two are now nearing completion. Another project, Ladder, has since received production support from the initial Fund.

Deadline: August 16, 2021. www.bfi.org.uk/AnimationShortFund.

The Short Form Animation call was preceded by the renewal of the call for the BFI-administered Fund for young audience content (YACF) to enable production companies and producers to present their ideas to secure funding for projects that meet the Fund's criteria reflecting the lives of children and young people in the UK, projected on public service broadcast channels in clear.

Currently in the third year of its three-year pilot, the Fund is designed to contribute up to 50% of production costs for projects that have secured a broadcast commitment from a free access Ofcom regulated platform, and also support manufacturers to develop new ideas. in this field. Since its launch, the YACF has revived and expanded the committee landscape by offering a distinctive and wide variety of programs, spanning all genres and age groups. Animated projects include Eagle Eye Drama's Quentin Blakeke's Clown (Channel 4), indigenous language special by Paper Owl Films SOL (BBC Alba, S4C, TG4) and Aardman's Lloyd of the Flies, premiered on CITV in fall 2022.

“We are still accepting funding applications through the Young Audiences Content Fund and continue our drive to support projects that connect with young audiences in the UK in a way that has declined in recent years. We have seen the impact of this decline as young audience engagement with public service content has declined in recent years, but fund-supported projects show that when high-quality representative shows are made, young audiences will watch, "he said. said Jackie Edwards, Head of YACF. "The Fund exists for all producers in the television industry, regardless of the size of the production company, position or previous experience in children's programming, provided the idea is exceptional and satisfies our criteria ".

www.bfi.org.uk/yacf

Award-winning independent production company from Bristol Wildseed Studies is relaunching "portal of ideas", inviting creators to submit a project in live action or animation, for a chance to secure up to £ 10.000 ($ 13.800 USD) per project to develop and even pilot their idea before launching it on global platforms. Having successfully identified, developed and produced creator-scripted projects for the first time on Netflix, BBC, Disney and Sky, the studio specializes in ideas that will appeal to audiences under 30, and is therefore looking for projects with a youthful perspective, character-driven stories and a sense of humor.

The submission portal is designed to offer a level playing field - creators don't need to have an agent or have been produced before. Character drawings, videos, graphic novels and manuscripts are also accepted, as are traditional scripts. The first idea portal generated 40 pilot projects in Wildseed, with a collection rate of 60% including animated projects Dodo (Sky Kids), Counterfeit cat (Disney), Tales of the Serengeti e Wolf Jenkins (both BBC3).

"Success in the content business is, now more than ever, driven by passion projects from unique voices and, as we know from joyful experience, when we find raw talent and mentor their creative vision, we find the next generation of success," Jesse Cleverly, co-founder and creative director of Wildseed Studios. “We are also very aware that the industry has so far failed to allow for the full spectrum of creative talent, which is why we are particularly focused on those voices that have not felt represented in the industry to date. Our submission portal is a fair playing field open to all creators and we will particularly focus on providing this opportunity to creative talents who have not felt that the normal ways in the industry are open to them. "

“We are also committed to providing value to anyone who submits an idea to us from the very first contact,” continued Cleverly, “so we are committed to providing constructive feedback on every idea that is sent to us, even if we cannot accept forward. For ideas that we think have the potential to move to the next stage, we'll talk to the creator, and then if we feel we see the opportunity the same way and the idea continues to excite, we'll work with the creator and invest £ 10.000 to develop. their idea so that it is ready to be launched on the main content platforms of the world ".

Wildseed CEO Miles Bullough added, "Wildseed's mission is to find and mentor the hottest new talent in scripted entertainment. We pioneered this approach to talent development because we wanted to find new ones. ideas from people who wouldn't necessarily have accessed through the standard routes. We use our industry experience and know-how to identify and nurture new creative talent towards traditional platform commissions, and judging from the results to date, we know that it works.

https://wildseedstudios.com/submissions