Creative Wales Young Content Fund

The new Creative Wales Young Content Fund will focus on supporting the development of bilingual projects from Wales-based businesses, to stimulate the provision and number of programming for children and young audiences up to, and including, the age of 18, in both live-action and animation, and across all genres including entertainment, education, comedy, drama, arts & culture and factual.

We are looking to provide funding to support the development of ideas that will entertain, inform and excite young audiences and have a clear view of the target audiences’ tastes and preferences, including the service that they would access it on. The awards are non-recoupable and will provide 100% of the development budget. Types of cost that can be covered by this funding include the development of treatments, pitch documents, series bibles, formats, scripts, pilots, animation tests and other materials required for pitching to broadcasters and securing their commitment

Development funding is designed to enable a business to get to the stage where they can fund their own ongoing growth. It is not intended to be a repeat fund, rather that the opportunity is utilised to make a step change in revenue for the business that has a long term, lasting effect.

£300,000 has been made available to support projects in this round of funding. A maximum of £50,000 will be made available to individual successful projects.

• Independent production companies based in Wales
• Companies must have a track record i.e. have produced a previous TV project for young audiences which has been commercially distributed within the past three years. The individual track record of the company director / CEO and/or shareholder of the company will also be acceptable
• Applicant companies must have their head office address in Wales
• Applicant companies must be the majority rights holders of the project (in the case of co-productions, they must own at least 50% of the rights)
• The applicant company can be any size but must be an independent production company with a SIC code which demonstrates that production is their main activity
• We cannot support applications from individuals unless they have an established company with a relevant SIC code. Only legal owners of the production company will be eligible to apply for this funding.

We will prioritise projects which can demonstrate the following;

• Meet our key funding principles and have the potential to generate long term growth
• Projects that can demonstrate a route to market are desirable.

Mandatory technical criteria:

• Project must: be bilingual – available in both Welsh and English
• Be intended for TV broadcast and must be intended for young audiences, up to the age of 18
• Inform our understanding of the world – to inform ourselves and others and to increase our understanding of the world through news, information and analysis of current events and ideas
• Stimulate knowledge and learning – to stimulate our interest in and knowledge of arts, science of arts, science, history and other topics, through content that is accessible and can encourage informal learning
• Reflect UK cultural identity – to reflect and strengthen our cultural identity through original programming at UK, national and regional level; on occasion bringing audiences together for share experiences
• Represent diversity and alternative viewpoints – to make us aware of different cultures and alternative viewpoints, through programmes that reflect the lives of other people and other communities, both within the UK and elsewhere
• Project is full length and not short form content.

First please ensure you have carefully read the Funding Guidelines to ensure that you are eligible to apply and would be able to meet the criteria.

The fund is open for applications from Tuesday 20th December 2022 and will close at 12pm on Monday 16th January 2023. No late applications will be considered.

Before you apply you have the option to discuss your proposal with one of the Creative Wales Sector Development Managers. Our team can provide advice on eligibility and, where appropriate,  give further guidance on your proposal. Please note, discussing your project with a team member does not imply approval or assessment of your proposal - this is a competitive scheme where all projects will be assessed and scored to a standard criteria.

To enquire and to request an application form please email: CreativeWalesFundingSupport@gov.wales