The British Film Institute’s new commercial fund has made its first investment, injecting almost £1m into a production company founded by a former head of Channel 4.
Wonderhood Studios was launched early last year by David Abraham, a few months after he stepped down from a seven-year stint as chief executive of public service broadcaster.
The BFI, a government-funded charity that promotes UK film-making and distribution, set its fund up six months ago in an effort to help the country’s production companies meet demand from Netflix, Amazon and other big streaming groups that have been snapping up British content.
The fund benefits from the government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme, which offers tax breaks of up to 30 per cent to encourage investments in high-risk companies.
It is the first time the BFI has collaborated with the private sector to stimulate funding for the roughly 300 independent film and television production companies it estimates are in the UK.
Wonderhood, which has made programmes for the BBC and Channel 4 as well as campaigns for the likes of Nike and Netflix, is hoping to tap into brands’ growing interest in co-financing productions.
“More and more brands are looking to co-fund high-quality content as traditional [advertising] breaks don’t work when people watch digital TV,” Mr Abraham said.
Mr Abraham’s co-founders include Aidan McClure, who helped set up the BBC’s in-house creative agency, and former BBC Studios producer Samantha Anstiss.
Calculus Capital, the independent manager of the BFI fund, will gain a seat on Wonderhood’s board as part of the deal.
Calculus chief executive John Glencross said the fund, which hopes to raise £20m in its first year, planned to invest in five or six more companies and that it expected to sign its next agreement by January.
Amanda Nevill, chief executive of the BFI, said Mr Glencross and the fund’s media adviser Stargrove Pictures had “identified a strong pipeline of investment opportunities” in the British film and TV industry, which she said was growing to meet international demand for “UK creativity, innovation and talent”.
