Creative Industry Finance

I previously worked as a local government Arts Development Officer but my partner and decided to go into business together to fit around the needs of our family, and so that my partner can make creative independent animation.

We’ve been running for around 18 months now. We wanted to make animation that’s a little different and have a quirky hand-drawn style. We make thought-provoking animated documentaries and surreal and rib-tickling comedy.

I am the Producer and Zane Whittingham is our Animation Director. We bring in other people on a project by project basis. Zane has animated for 22 years in TV and computer games and I bring my project management skills into animation.

Like many others on the programme, dealing with finance doesn’t come naturally to us. We’ve focused on building up our product and our contacts, but are now finding ways to make this more financially profitable so that we can build up the company further. We’ve now got our figures straight, everything filed beautifully, a swish accounting package and we know how to do a cash flow forecast! We’ve also taken the plunge and registered for VAT, and got systems in place to keep on top of everything as we go along. The programme has helped to prepare for expanding and taking on new people (including a lovely lady who helps us keep everything in order).

One of our proudest moments so far has been winning a BAFTA for our work on the Share a Story Project, a campaign for Children’s ITV. We were one of 8 films which together won the Best Short Form Children’s BAFTA.

We’re also really excited about our latest project; we’ve been commissioned to make our first animated series! A 6 part animated documentary series for BBC Learning. We’ve interviewed World War 2 Holocaust Survivors and we’re animating their powerful stories. This will be a great resource for young people learning about this in schools, but we will distribute to an adult audience as well. We tell the story of a terrible time in history, but also of survival, kindness and great hope. These will be released in the spring.