The BFI has unveiled the latest slate from the Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF), with two new commissions, three recommissions and nine development awards.<\/p>\n
The new commissions are the factual series Breaking Bristol<\/em> (working title) for E4 and Cum Soil Urm<\/em>, a Scottish Gaelic film shining a light on refugees, for BBC ALBA.<\/p>\n The recommissions are CITV\u2019s revamped HOW<\/em> series, which launched earlier in 2021; the interactive game show Don\u2019t Unleash the Beast<\/em>, also for CITV; and Teen First Dates<\/em> for E4.<\/p>\n The YACF has awarded development funding to nine projects within this slate. They are Naked<\/em> by Hillbilly Television, Attention Ayshia<\/em> by Three Stones Media, Deepfake<\/em> by RubyRock Pictures, Libby\u2019s Silent World<\/em> by Slick Films,\u00a0I’m Not Gonna Lie to You<\/em> by Natalie Mitchell\u00a0by Bryncoed Productions, Bunty<\/em> by Beano Studios, Staff of Oranyan<\/em> by Ardimages UK, The Bridge<\/em> by Rainbow Trout Films and The Boy in the Tower<\/em> by Last Conker.<\/p>\n Additionally, the YACF\u2019s See Yourself on Screen Challenge\u2014a U.K.-wide competition for 4- to 18-year-old TV stars of the future\u2014was launched for a second year by TV presenter Konnie Huq in June. It will see original TV shorts created by young viewers at home premiere across five national channels this October.<\/p>\n Head of Fund, Jackie Edwards, said: \u201cThe government-backed YACF has been transformative for the industry, breathing life into ideas that would not have come into being without it. We\u2019re thrilled to see Fund-supported projects being recommissioned, which speaks directly to their quality and popularity with audiences but also highlights the appetite for more content that caters to the U.K.\u2019s children and young people, and the need for more resources to support its provision.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the grassroots stage, YACF resource has improved the quality of ideas being pitched to broadcasters via our development funding, we\u2019ve brought security and value to the sector when our young audiences need it most and crucially, we\u2019ve brought fantastic new stories to the small screen from across the U.K. that are reflective, diverse and, as evidenced by the recommissions, hugely popular. Young audiences are 25 percent of the population and 100 percent\u00a0of the future, and the Fund\u2019s role in ensuring they are adequately served by television production in the U.K. is further underlined by this latest slate of projects.\u201d<\/p>\n ITV’s director of digital channels, Paul Mortimer, said: “ITV is thrilled to be continuing its partnership with the YACF to be able to bring more U.K.-made, domestically targeted free-to-air content to our younger audiences. In both scripted and non-scripted and live action and animation, our brands ITV2, CITV and LittleBe continue to be enriched by series only made possible by the Fund.”<\/p>\n The head of youth and digital at Channel 4, Karl Warner, said: \u201cThe fund has provided us with some incredible opportunities to commission more amazing teen-focused shows and has allowed us to partner with indies we\u2019ve never worked with before, like Proper Content who are behind Breaking Bristol<\/em>\u00a0(w\/t), which was one of the first teen-focused factual series we commissioned for E4. Based in Bristol, it has an amazingly diverse cast and production team bringing it to life and will be key to E4’s foray into factual.\u201d<\/p>\n Commissioning editor for BBC ALBA, Bill MacLeod, said: \u201cCum Soil Urm<\/em>,\u00a0a beautiful children\u2019s short about a refugee boy keeping vigil for his father on a remote shore, couldn\u2019t be more timely or resonant. We\u2019re deeply grateful for all the support from the Young Audiences Content Fund without whom it would never have been possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The BFI has unveiled the latest slate from the Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF), with two new commissions, three recommissions and nine development awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":21367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[4218,4102],"class_list":["post-21366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-bfi","tag-young-audiences-content-fund","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n