First recipients of YACF revealed

The UK’s Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF) has announced the first projects that will benefit from its £57m (US$73.5m) injection into the country’s TV industry.

Lachlan: Balach aig a’ Mhullach

The YACF, which is managed by the BFI and was launched by the UK government earlier this year, is kicking off by co-funding a mix of nine series and specials, across six broadcasters: Channel 5, ITV, BBC Alba, S4C, TG4 and Sky.

The slate includes factual live-action shows Meet the Experts (Channel 5’s Milkshake!) and How! (CITV), documentary Lachlan: Balach aig a’ Mhullach/Boy at the Top (BBC Alba), plus live-action dramas Rùn/Secret (BBC Alba), Person/A (S4C) and Y Gyfrinach/The Secret (S4C). The latter two shows mark S4C’s first programmes for teens.

Also being funded are preschool mixed media drama Mimi’s World (Channel 5’s Milkshake!) and Sol (BBC Alba, S4C and TG4), an animation tackling the topic of grief, alongside FYI Specials (First News, Sky News, Sky Kids).

In addition, 15 as-yet-undisclosed projects that are currently in development have been awarded funding. Five percent of the YACF is being directed towards indigenous language content and the funds will be allocated over the course of three years.

The YACF was devised to reinvigorate the UK’s children’s TV sector and by supporting the creation of high-quality new original programming for children and young people on free-to-access services regulated by UK media regulator Ofcom.

UK Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan said: “I am delighted with the positive impact of the Young Audiences Content Fund in its first six months. We need to continue to produce home-grown and original content that inspires our younger generation and is representative of the world they live in.

“It’s fantastic to see the fund is helping really creative and inspiring projects happen and I encourage broadcasters to continue in their positive engagement with it.”

Jackie Edwards, head of the YACF, added: “We have been thrilled by the quality of the applications, but it is the commitment and level of partnership from the broadcasters that is helping ensure the positive impact of the fund.

“By them seizing the opportunities the fund offers, and opening up their schedules and their budgets, we are bringing brilliant new content to children and young people. I am truly excited by what we can achieve together, and having awarded almost £3.8m in the first months of the fund, I am confident we can do so much more.”

Addressing a historic lack of investment in content creation for this age group, the fund is backing projects that “entertain, inform and reflect young audiences’ experiences of growing up across the UK today.”

Since the fund launched in April 2019, there have been over 120 applications from the UK production sector, but concerns have been voiced by the country’s animation community that animated series are being ignored by the fund.

In today’s announcement, the BFI said “the slate is successfully responding to the areas of concern outlined by Ofcom’s Children’s Content Review, with the majority of awards going to programmes specifically made for older children, content to help young people understand the world around them and a chance to see their UK children’s lives, in all its diversity, reflected on screen.”

Louise Bucknole, VP of programming at Viacom International Media Networks, kids, UK and Ireland, said: “Alongside our overall increased investment in content on Milkshake!, the fund allows us to put a greater focus on live-action and show more kids on-screen.”

Almost half of submissions for the YACF have come from outside London and 50% came from producers not best known for creating children’s television, according to the BFI.

CITV is aiming to greenlight three additional projects from the brief in 2020 and will soon announce a new gameshow and a comedy arts and crafts show. A live-action comedy or drama will follow once the commissioning round is completed.

Paul Mortimer, head of digital channels and acquisitions at ITV, said: “The introduction of the YACF and ITV’s increased investment in CITV has given us the opportunity to realise more of our creative ambitions in live-action programming dedicated to our audience of UK kids and we have greenlit several non-scripted commissions. Possibly more significant, however, is our ability to get back into UK-originated scripted programming – something only possible with the assistance of the YACF.”

Iseabail Mactaggart, director of strategy and partnerships at MG Alba, which operates BBC Alba in partnership with the BBC, said: “The specific funding for non-English UK languages like Gaelic and Welsh is hugely supportive.”

Sioned Wyn Roberts, content commissioner at Welsh-language broadcaster S4C, said: “Commissioning original live-action content in Welsh has been a priority for S4C over the years. But the YACF boost means that we can offer our audience ambitious scripted content that will hold its own against big global brands.”

Channel 4 also qualifies for the fund and Karl Warner, controller of youth-skewing brand E4, said: “We’ve been working on a range of new projects, scripted and non-scripted, and feel really excited about their potential, which will be supercharged by this fund.”