Newcastle, England -- Northern Film & Media today launched a new £100,000 company development scheme, devised in partnership with Pembridge, which aims to help businesses from the North East of England's moving image sector to achieve success.
Creating Success is Northern Film & Media’s key development scheme for securing the future success of North East moving image companies. It provides funding to pair companies with business advisors to enable them to formulate achievable business plans.
Tom Harvey, Chief Executive of Northern Film & Media, said:
“It is Northern Film & Media’s responsibility to build and promote a sustainable moving image culture in the region. The uniqueness of Creating Success lies in its ambition. We are providing North East companies with the opportunity to develop a solid plan for future success by working alongside business experts that are able to offer invaluable guidance and experience. It helps companies plan and set achievable goals, to explore new possibilities and expand their skills base, resulting in growth and sustainability.
“Northern Film & Media ran a version of Creating Success in 2004 and we were incredibly pleased with the outcome, as were the businesses that participated for whom it generated £7.2m of new turn over. It is a scheme with a proven track record. You need only look at how it helped companies such as the Tyneside Cinema and Dene Films in order to recognise its worth."
One notable beneficiary of the original Creating Success scheme is the Tyneside Cinema – a major film hub that has increased its admissions and provided more education and outreach programmes to more people than ever before. The Cinema is due to reopen this year in the heart of Newcastle following a £6m re-development project – something that was in large part made possible through Creating Success.
Mark Dobson, Chief Executive of the Tyneside Cinema, said:
“Creating Success made a huge difference to Tyneside Cinema. The expert consultants from Pembridge confirmed we were on the right course for our business with our redevelopment plans and their back-up enabled us to bring on board a project manager at just the right moment to allow us to realise our vision. Around £30,000 worth of investment from Northern Film & Media’s Creating Success scheme enabled us to draw down in the region of £6m worth of funding.”
In its first phase Creating Success has funding to support the production of development plans, with the help of professional advisors who understand the media business from hands on experience. Successful organisations will secure funding of up to £2,000 towards the cost of consultancy and administration.
Dene Films was another to benefit from the original scheme. Steve Salam of Dene Films comments:
“When Dene Films was offered participation in the Creating Success scheme, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I had a one hour chat with a consultant from Pembridge, and gave some information about the company’s strengths, weaknesses and aspirations. When I received Pembridge’s initial report, I was impressed at the insight they had gained during one brief conversation.
“Early in the process, it was suggested that we would treble in staff and turnover in the space of three years. This seemed like some kind of impossible dream or hype, but it wasn’t. After three years the predicted growth was there in the accounts and we had moved forward in more ways than we could imagine.
“It was the most accurate crystal ball you could imagine; the advice received was priceless. I would recommend any company to at least enter the initial evaluation phase and see whether this process can work for them.”
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