Northern Film + Media has appointed its first Tees Valley Screen team to support talent, ambition and growth across the region’s screen industries.
Jen Corcoran, who has been appointed Project Manager, initially served on the project’s steering group and was previously Head of Film at My Accomplice and worked in international sales and film finance at Film London and Focus Features.
She is also a creative producer and in 2019 established Freya Films in the Tees Valley focusing on contemporary female voices and new narratives from the northeast.
Project Co-ordinator Nina White is currently undertaking a PhD at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art and also works as Events Co-ordinator for Stockton-based arts organisation The Auxiliary and Middlesbrough Art Weekender.
The programme – which is being funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Tees Valley Combined Authority and Arts Council England – aims to develop Screen SMEs across film, TV, animation, VFX, immersive tech and artists with a screen-based practice.
It will also raise the profile of the Tees Valley as a ‘filming friendly’ location, encouraging production companies to the film and employ crew from the region.
Corcoran said: “I’m so delighted to be working with Northern Film + Media on the Tees Valley Screen programme. I am constantly inspired by the creativity and innovation of our region’s diverse talent pool and I’m particularly keen to celebrate and promote the things that make us uniquely Teesside: our storytelling traditions, distinct sense of humour and do-it-yourself spirit.
“I’m incredibly excited by the opportunity we have to build a thriving and dynamic screen industry this time of real change in the Tees Valley.”
The Tees Valley Screen team will be based in the BIS centre, Hartlepool, with events, Screen Socials and Surgeries being planned for across the five local authorities of Middlesbrough, Stockton, Darlington, Hartlepool and Redcar & Cleveland.
