Channel 4: We’ll keep Yorkshire talent

CHANNEL 4 has outlined a strategy to pump investment into Yorkshire and retain the skills of youngsters who in the past may have sought opportunities in the capital.

Chief executive officer Alex Mahon announced this week at a celebration for the broadcaster’s official launch in Leeds that it would start an Emerging Indie Fund for creators to “spend without recourse to people in London” and set up a talent academy hoping to foster and retain skilled professionals.

At an event at East 59th in Victoria Gate, Leeds, for staff, partners and producers from the region, she marked the opening of the new base, with a new office in the West Gate development this week that will be the temporary home until the move to the permanent base in the Majestic in City Square in 2020.

“The launch of our National HQ in Leeds is the start a new era for Channel 4,” she said. “An era in which we will be rooted in and more connected to the lives of the communities that make up the UK.

“Channel 4 will not just look and feel different but will think and behave differently. We’ll be more accessible to our partners in the industry and more visible to those that may one day work in it. It’s the biggest change in our 37year history.”

The Emerging Indie Fund will provide support for production companies to develop and grow their business, succeeding the current Alpha Fund. The fund will sit alongside Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund, which will be based in Leeds and has been “refocused to prioritise investment in nations and regions, BAME-led and digital companies”.

Leeds is the first of three new Channel 4 bases to launch, alongside creative hubs in Bristol and Glasgow.