Filming of the new Ingenious-funded Judy Garland biopic Judy, starring Renee Zellweger, continued in London this week. Set in 1969, the film tells the story of Garland arriving in London to perform a sell-out run of shows at the Talk of the Town nightclub. Judy will recount some of Garland’s final performances ahead of her eventual death in June of that year, and has been scripted by Pride and The Crown writers David Livingstone and Tom Edge.
Read more here:
We are delighted to have been shortlisted for Residential Financier of the Year at the RESI Awards 2018, alongside major household names including LaSalle Investment Management, Investec Bank and NatWest. The nomination comes after an excellent year for the division, in which it completed its two largest deals to date – namely a £21m loan to develop residential property at Villiers Point, Kingston, and a £19m loan to construct residential units and office space in London’s Southwark district. The winner will be announced on 16 May 2018 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
You can read more about the awards and see the full shortlist here.
Ingenious Real Estate has provided a £21m loan to fund the development of residential property at Villiers Point, Kingston and a further £19m to construct office space in London’s Southwark district. Ingenious has now deployed over £250m in UK residential and commercial loan facilities since its inception in 2014.
Villiers Point, Kingston: Ingenious Real Estate has provided a loan of £21m to Ensco Homes Limited to assist with the development of 50 properties, including a ground floor pre-let commercial building, 10 affordable housing properties and 39 private units.
The deal was introduced by broker John Philips of Kingswood Associates.
Southwark: The team has also provided a loan of £19m to construct 39 flats and 24,000 square-foot of office space in London’s Southwark district.
The scheme includes a large amount of initially unlet commercial space which demonstrates Ingenious’ ability to provide bespoke and flexible financing for high quality and diverse schemes in the UK.
Ingenious is proud to have been investing in entrepreneurial businesses since our inception in 1998. Over this time, we have helped many innovative companies grow and develop to fulfil their potential.
We are therefore delighted that Mindful Education, one of our investee companies, has ranked 19th in the EdTech 50, a nationwide survey celebrating the people, products and projects that are impacting education.
Mindful Education specialises in creating media-rich professional courses & apprenticeships. The company helps their partners prepare for change by working together to create new and innovative courses that meet the needs of students, government and industry. Their aim is ‘to set a new standard in the digital delivery of education.’ This is a great reflection of the company’s outstanding work and we look forward to future achievements.
19 February 2018 – Stellata Energy (‘Stellata’), and its joint venture partner, Ingenious Infrastructure, today announces it has successfully reached several milestones in the development of the largest solar project in Western Australia (WA), Merredin Solar Farm (132MWp). Firstly, the Company has entered into a grid connection contract with Western Power. The deal, signed on 19 December, secures the Interconnection Works Contract (IWC) and Electricity Transfer Access Contract (ETAC) for the project. During the same month, an Electricity Generation Licence was also granted by the Economic Regulation Authority, making the project the largest solar farm in WA to have reached this point. Merredin has also now received Certified Reserve Capacity level with AEMO and is expected to sign its EPC contract in March this year. Successfully reaching these milestones ensures that construction remains on track to commence in June 2018, with energisation anticipated for June 2019.
The development of Merredin Solar Farm positions Stellata as one of the leading solar developers in WA, whose partnership with Ingenious commits to funding a pipeline of utility scale solar farms across the state. Together, the partnership brings a wealth of knowledge to the project with collective expertise spanning financing, developing and operating solar projects across the globe.
Commenting on the developments, Guy Beesley, Managing Director, Stellata said: “Securing the generation licence, grid connection and reserve capacity credits for Merredin Solar Farm represents a huge step forward for our partnership and the Merredin project, having only received planning permission in June last year. Now that the contracts are in place, we look forward to commencing construction and furthering our efforts to bring clean, renewable electricity to Western Australians.”
The Ingenious film production partnerships are legitimate businesses trading with a view to profit, an argument that was accepted by the First Tier Tribunal. We believe the Tribunal decision was nonetheless based on incorrect findings of law and fact, and we have successfully been granted the right to appeal the decision.
We are proud to announce that Ingenious investment Mindful Education has won Start-up Learning Provider of the Year at the 2018 Learning Awards. This marks another major milestone for the company, founded in 2015, which aims to improve the student learning experience by delivering a new standard in the digital delivery of education. Mindful Education was also a finalist in the Learning Technologies Award category.
The accolades follow the news that the company ranked 19th in this year’s EdTech50, a nationwide survey celebrating the people, products and projects that are impacting education.
In November 2017, Mindful Education was also awarded Bronze for Excellence in the design of learning content – UK commercial sector: http://www.learningtechnologies.co.uk/learning-technologies-awards-winners-2017
Once again, Ingenious is proud to sponsor the Inside Pictures programme. Inside Pictures is an intensive film business training and leadership development programme presented by the National Film and Television School. Supported by Creative Europe and Creative Skillset, the programme is for film industry executives from all disciplines and is designed to develop the skills needed to lead successful businesses.
Ingenious Media’s Investment Director, Andrea Scarso, took part in the 2017 programme.
Andrea is an Investment Director in the Media division and is the Fund Managing Director for the Greenlight Media EIS Service. Andrea supervises all investment activities in Greenlight while focusing on the commercial side of entertainment deals, which includes sourcing and evaluating projects, running commercial negotiations and managing all aspects of the production and exploitation of film and television projects.
What is the Inside Pictures training programme?
Inside Pictures is the National Film and Television School training programme for international media managers. The aim is to develop and enhance understanding of the global film business. The modules include highlighting the key financial considerations and controls which can determine success or failure, establishing your knowledge surrounding raising finance and understanding revenue flows and strengthening core leadership and management skills, including business planning and corporate strategy. The Inside Pictures programme also provides the opportunity to raise your profile in the industry and introduce you to an extensive range of industry contacts.
How long does the training programme take?
The programme is modular and takes place in London and in Los Angeles for a combined length of three weeks and two days throughout the year. You also have to work in your own time on a project (which takes approximately two/three weeks to be completed). Throughout the programme there are also many networking opportunities with working lunches, dinners and evening receptions. Three modules are here in London and one is in LA.
You currently work at Ingenious Media as an Investment Director. Can you tell us what you look for in a project? What type of project particularly excites you?
In my role at Ingenious, I focus on the commercial side of entertainment deals, which includes sourcing and evaluating projects, running commercial negotiations and managing all aspects of the production and exploitation of film and television projects. We look for projects that have the potential to become commercial successes and attract wide audiences, while keeping an eye on quality and the potential to win awards. We like to get involved at an early stage, that way we can use our expertise and experience to help get the project off the ground and ensure that we work with the best teams to realise the film. Alignment of interest with our partners is also essential for us. We like to see a good creative team behind a project, with a strong track record of delivering quality films but also commercial potential. We spend a good deal of time reviewing the script, budget and finance plan and we take time to find those projects where great stories become great films.
How has this enhanced your role at Ingenious?
The programme has enhanced my skills hugely. A sample of the benefits of the course I have taken back to my role at Ingenious are, a better understanding of the global film business and the key players within it, a privileged look at global sales and distribution opportunities and an insight into marketing strategies and audience analysis and perhaps most importantly an expanded network of key industry contacts across the globe, including greater access to the US marketplace, studios and agents.
Why would you recommend this course?
Inside Pictures is a fantastic programme that gives participants a unique insight into the global film business through its access to a wide range of industry experts. It also provides participants with an in depth analysis of the rapidly growing and changing international film business. It is definitely something that I would recommend to anyone that is interested in expanding their knowledge in the industry, sharpen their skills and enhance their development prospects. Inside Pictures is one of the only executive training programmes in the film business that could really add value to your career. The speakers, ambassadors, participants, alumni and the team running Inside Pictures are all top executives in the industry, therefore providing a network of unrivalled value.
You can read more about Inside Pictures here.
We are delighted to announce that Ingenious Real Estate has completed one of its largest deals to date. The team closed an £18.5 million development facility to construct 39 flats and 24,000sqft of office space in London’s thriving Southwark district.
Partnering with a highly skilled and experienced developer, the mixed use deal has a GDV in excess of £36m and represents one of Ingenious’ most exciting and interesting schemes thus far. The scheme includes a large amount of initially unlet commercial space and further demonstrates our ability to provide bespoke and flexible financing for high quality and diverse schemes in the UK market.
Ingenious Real Estate has provided over £250 million in UK residential and commercial loan facilities, firmly cementing the business as a leading investor in the UK property market.
The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is proud to announce it is the first ever film school to win a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education. The NFTS is among twenty-one universities and colleges of further education who were announced as recipients of Queen’s Anniversary Prizes in the current – twelfth biennial – round of the scheme at an event hosted at St James’s Palace by The Royal Anniversary Trust today.
Judges commented that the NFTS was chosen to receive the prestigious award as they were “impressed by the reach and influence of the School in a hugely important sector.”
The Prizes are part of the honours system and are awarded every two years by The Queen on the Prime Minister’s advice.
Work recognised in this round is wide ranging and includes rail and aviation engineering, costume design, vision problems of children with Down’s syndrome, parent-infant sleep, climate change and environmental protection, women’s health, the English language, agricultural engineering and dairy productivity, cancer drug discovery and drug safety, film and television training, photonics, food and nutrition for health and education for learners with special needs.
The Prizes, unique in the honours system in being analogous to honours to individuals but granted to an institution as a whole (irrespective of the area of work recognised), will be presented in February 2018 by a member of the royal family at a ceremony to be held at Buckingham Palace. As a national honour the prize carries no cash value, consisting of a silver-gilt medallion and a Prize Certificate signed by HM The Queen.
For more information on The Royal Anniversary Trust see www.royalanniversarytrust.org.uk and for the NFTS, please visit www.nfts.co.uk.
