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.
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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.
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.
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.
Ingenious is pleased to have been involved in the production of The Frankenstein Chronicles: Series 2, which will air today, Wednesday 1 November 2017 on ITV Encore at 10pm.
Inspired by Mary Shelley’s novel, The Frankenstein Chronicles: Series 2 centres around war veteran Marlott, who in pursuit of a terrifying killer, finds himself in the grimiest, most chilling corners of Georgian London.
The new series stars, Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) once again, in the lead role of John Marlott, Richie Campbell (Waterloo Road) and Laurence Fox (Becoming Jane, Lewis).
The drama is produced by Pen and Raincloud Television, an investee company of Ingenious Broadcasting.
We are delighted to announce that the Ingenious-backed Battle of the Sexes will be screened at the coveted American Express Gala during this year’s BFI London Film Festival.
Battle of the Sexes is the second film to be announced by the organisers of the Festival, which will mark its 61st anniversary this October. The comedy-drama will have its European premiere at the festival on October 7th at London’s Odeon Leicester Square Theatre, following its world premiere in Toronto in September.
Starring Oscar winner Emma Stone (La La Land) and Steve Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin), the biopic recounts the legendary tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs and tells the story of the two tennis Grand Slammers during the 1973 challenge match which generated significant media attention and became the most watched television sports event of all time.
Stone, plus co-stars Andrea Riseborough (Nocturnal Animals) and Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas), are expected to attend the London red-carpet premiere accompanied by Little Miss Sunshine directors, Valeria Faris and Jonathan Dayton and even tennis superstar, King.
Battle of the Sexes was produced by Manigot Productions Limited, an Ingenious Pathé Plus EIS Fund investee company in association with Cloud Eight Films’ Christian Colsons and Decibal Films’ Danny Boyle, the team behind Oscar winning films Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours and Steve Jobs.
Ingenious is delighted to announce that the film Battle of the Sexes is due to hit U.S theatres on 22 September 2017, with an international release following thereafter. The comedy-drama, backed by the Ingenious Pathé Plus EIS Fund, chronicles the legendary tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
Starring Oscar winner Emma Stone (La La Land) and Steve Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin), the biopic tells the story of the two tennis Grand Slammers during the infamous 1973 challenge match in which King, a well-known woman’s rights activist, defeated a publically sexist Riggs. The match generated significant media attention and became the most watched televised sports event of all time.
Battle of the Sexes is directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, both of whom directed the highly acclaimed film Little Miss Sunshine.
Ingenious, the leading independent investor in the creative industries and backer of hit movies including Avatar and Life of Pi, is to appeal against the judgement of the First-tier Tax Tribunal in its long-running dispute with HMRC over the tax status of its historic film production partnerships which date back as far as 2002.
This follows a recent supplementary decision handed down by Judge Charles Hellier in which he clarified a technical point from his original August 2016 judgement. In this clarification, the judge ruled “with misgivings and reluctance” that the film production costs were capital costs and therefore not tax deductible.
This decision was deliberately mischaracterised in press reports as a failed bid by Ingenious to overturn the August 2016 Tribunal decision. In fact, this latest development was triggered after the Tribunal, having found in favour of the Ingenious partnerships on the Tribunal’s basis of assessment, instructed the parties to agree a common approach in applying the judgement.
Ingenious believes this further decision compounds the errors made by the First-tier Tax Tribunal which simply reinforces the need to take this matter to a higher court. The appeal to the Upper Tribunal is likely to be heard during 2018 and Ingenious are confident of victory.
Recent media reports relating to high-profile investors in Ingenious film partnerships have misrepresented the tax status of their investments and Ingenious’ film business.
These are not ‘tax avoidance schemes’. This is not just Ingenious’s view, it is also the judgment of the UK court.
Ingenious is the largest private investor in the UK creative industries. Ingenious’ investors have helped independent films such as Selma and Mr Turner come to screen and backed profitable blockbusters like Life of Pi and Avatar.
Ingenious is proud of its track record in supporting the UK film industry and looks forward to the release of its next feature, Viceroy’s House, on March 3rd.
Notes to editors:
HMRC has tried to claim that certain partnerships that utilised government tax breaks designed to support the UK film industry were set up for the purpose of avoiding tax.
However, a Tax Tribunal brought by Ingenious against HMRC to challenge this notion vindicated Ingenious’s position and ruled that they were bona fide businesses run for a commercial profit and that Ingenious investors were putting their money into legitimate film investment vehicles.
This stands in contrast to other film related tax cases that have been before the courts in recent years.
The exact amount of tax relief that Ingenious investors are able to claim is still in dispute and Ingenious will continue to fight for its investors’ interests.
Founded in 1998, Ingenious has produced and co-financed hundreds of feature films and more than 550 hours of television programming with partners including 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Disney, Lionsgate, Film4, Pathé, the BBC, ITV and Endemol Shine.
Ingenious is a serial investor in the global creative economy, having raised and deployed more than £8 billion across the sector.
We are delighted to announce that the Ingenious backed production Topsy and Tim has been awarded the Children’s BAFTA for Pre-School Live Action. The popular CBeebies programme follows the everyday adventures of two fun-loving twins, based on the classic children’s books by Jean and Gareth Adamson.
Sixteen South, for whom Ingenious investee companies backed both series of Lily’s Driftwood Bay, also won a BAFTA for Independent Production Company. Thanking Ingenious as he collected the BAFTA, Sixteen South creative director Colin Williams said: “When I decided to try this whole TV business, there were three things that I said were really important: passion, heart and quality and over the last eight years, I’m thrilled to have been joined by an amazing group of people who also live and breathe these three things.”1
Having been involved in the production of a further five Children’s BAFTA nominees including Teletubbies, Sarah and Duck and Clangers, the ceremony which took place on 20 November was a resounding success for Ingenious.
[1] http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/cbeebies-heads-childrens-baftas/5111512.article?referrer=RSS
