New £15m fund for Yorkshire and Humber developers

Screen Yorkshire has launched The Yorkshire Content Fund, which will offer £15 million worth of investment to games, digital content, TV and films produced within the region.

"The advent of ubiquitous broadband has opened up huge opportunities for video games developers to self-publish their titles and, in doing so, retain the lions' share of the revenues - Yorkshire, in particular, has a large number of successful, independent developers who find themselves in a fantastic position to grasp these opportunities," said Charles Cecil or Revolution Software, who is also a Screen Yorkshire board member.

"To capitalise on these opportunities upfront investment is required and can be very challenging to secure in this tough financial environment. The Yorkshire Content Fund will address this issue and also lead to significant job creation."

The fund is made up of £7.5 million of investment from the European Regional Development Fund and future matching contributions from private sector investors.

In the past Screen Yorkshire has invested in Broken Sword, as well as a number of high profile films such as Kill List, The Damned United and This Is England.

"The Yorkshire Content Fund marks a new era for the region's creative businesses and for Screen Yorkshire as an organisation," added Screen Yorkshire CEO Sally Joynson.

"These are difficult times and access to capital is still limited so to secure such a major pot of investment for the creative industries in Yorkshire and Humber is an incredible win for the region and for Screen Yorkshire. The fund will also create hundreds of jobs across the supply chain, which is so critical at the moment."

The fund applies to operations based in the Yorkshire and Humber region. All investments are made on market rate commercial terms. Interested developers can apply at the official site.