Screen Yorkshire’s has announced major new investments for its Yorkshire Content Fund.
It’s backing feature films, The Choral, The Nest, Good Boy and ground-breaking television drama, Reunion.
The Choral is being shot in West and North Yorkshire. Written by Alan Bennett, whose original screenplay is directed by Nicholas Hytner, it stars Ralph Fiennes and Simon Russell Beale.
Set in 1916, it’s about a chorus master and a local Choral society who have volunteered for the front. Under the direction of Dr Guthrie (Fiennes), the Choral recruits a number of teenage boys and girls and together they discover the joys of singing and the urgency of desire as the new boys come to terms with their imminent conscription into the army.
Also in production is the previously announced, Reunion, which is being made by Warp Films for BBC One. Written by Sheffield-born deaf writer William Mager, it features Matthew Gurney, Lara Peake, Anne-Marie Duff, Eddie Marsan, and Rose Ayling-Ellis.
Later this summer, Oscar-nominee, Andrea Riseborough will star in The Nest. This tells the story of 2 women that are neighbours who strike up an unusual and questionable reliance between one another. It’s been written by BAFTA winning writer/director Paul Andrew Williams.
The final investment is in Good Boy, produced by Academy Award winner Jeremy Thomas and Academy Award nominees Ewa Piaskowska and Jerzy Skolimowski from Poland. The feature film from acclaimed director Jan Komasa follows a football hooligan as he is kidnapped by a middle-class family seemingly intent on turning him into a ‘Good Boy.’
“Yorkshire is enjoying an incredible summer of filming activity, and we are delighted that the Yorkshire Content Fund has been instrumental in attracting four such high profile projects to the region. It really is an astonishing range of productions featuring an abundance of award-winning talent and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to give them all our warmest Yorkshire welcome,” said Caroline Cooper Charles, Chief Executive of Screen Yorkshire.
“Screen Yorkshire is incredibly proud of the strong legacy it has built supporting world class film and television. With a recent industry survey pointing to high levels of unemployment we need to do everything we can to support our local workforce by attracting production to the region. These latest titles, along with the BBC series Virdee, which is also supported by the Content Fund and recently concluded production in Bradford, emphasise the important positive economic impact we can bring to the Yorkshire economy.”
