Economy Minister Gordon Lyons today attended the launch of Northern Ireland Screen's new four-year strategy and announced an increase in its funding allocation by Pound 4.8million to deliver the first year of the strategy in full.

The new strategy, 'Stories, Skills and Sustainability', builds upon the successes of the preceding 'Opening Doors' strategies and aims to continue to grow this exciting and important sector of our economy over the next four years. 

NI Screen invests across a range of genres to support growth across the board, from the largest scale productions such as 'The Northman' and 'The School for Good and Evil', through to TV dramas like 'Line of Duty' and 'Dalgliesh', whilst a range of additional investments have supported the independent film, animation, children's and the gaming and interactive sectors, which is a particularly important area for growth. 

Speaking at the launch, Minister Lyons said: "I have had the opportunity to visit some of the productions supported by Northern Ireland Screen and I have seen at first-hand the impact that these investments have.  The scale of the largest productions is really something that you cannot fully appreciate until you see 'behind the camera' and it is clear to me that our screen industries will be a focus for growth as we deliver my Department's 10X Economic Vision.  These productions provide highly skilled job opportunities, placements to develop our growing screen workforce, and establish significant supply chains that all contribute to stronger economic activity.

"The 10X Economic Vision already recognises the value and potential of our creative industries, and highlighting this sector is absolutely the right thing to do as part of its strategic delivery.  The Vision aims to deliver innovative, inclusive and sustainable growth here and the 'Stories, Skills and Sustainability' strategy will play a big part in delivering those policy objectives for the screen industries.  I am pleased, therefore, to be able to announce Pound 4.8million to enable the first year of the strategy to be delivered in full to ensure it gets off to the best possible start."

The Minister continued: "NI Screen's coordinated approach is one of the main reasons why we have seen such impressive growth in the sector in recent years.  It aims to build up the indigenous sector here, whether through development or production funding for home-grown companies or investment in our talented screen workforce, in parallel with attracting greater and greater overseas investment.  This in turn provides opportunities for skills development, as trainees are placed on big productions and establishes a virtuous circle of growth in the sector."