Today we’re delighted to unveil a brand new initiative – the top 50 independent production companies in the North.
The Prolific North Top 50 Indies, sponsored by Social Media Makes Sense Ltd, is the latest in our popular series of benchmark industry rankings.
It follows our established Top 50 Digital Agencies, PR Agencies and Integrated Agencies rankings, as well as the Top 100 eCommerce Companies and others.
We thank all those who have supplied information to enable us to put the research together.
Jo Booth, Director of Social Media Makes Sense Ltd who have sponsored the Top Indies, said: “We were really pleased when Prolific North took up our idea to run the Top Fifty Indies list for the first time. As the sponsors we welcome the chance to promote all the Independent talent across the North.
“We’ve run the Social Media for many of the productions across the region from Victoria; The City and The City; Age Before Beauty; Young, Gifted and Broke, and even Elf – The Musical over Christmas, to name a few. Our involvement in these means we know how important the independent sector is for nurturing local talent.
“Congratulations to everyone on the list.”
The Prolific North Top Independent Production Companies 2018
in association with Social Media Makes Sense Ltd
| Company | Location | Full time staff / freelance | Financials | Broadcast or commercial | Notable productions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lime Pictures | Liverpool | 359 / 500+ | £62m t/o. Owned by all3media | Broadcasting | Celebs Go Dating, Free Rein, Hollyoaks, Evermoor | |
| Headline Pictures | Newcastle | 4 / 50+ | £45m t/o | Broadcasting | The Man in the High Castle | |
| Red Production Company | Manchester | 28 / 50+ | £20m t/o incl SPVs. Owned by StudioCanal SA | Broadcasting | Queer As Folk, Clocking Off, Last Tango In Halifax, Scott & Bailey, Happy Valley | |
| True North | Leeds | 16 / 100+ | £14.8m t/o. Sky TV majority owner | Broadcasting | The Pets Factor, Teen Mom UK, The Yorkshire Dales and The Lakes | |
| LA Productions | Liverpool | 15 / 80 | £7m t/o | Broadcasting | Broken, 50 Episodes of Moving On, Reg, Common | |
| Chief Productions | Manchester | 22 / 30+ | £6.7m | Commercial | Mission Green Santa (ITV), Everglow – Music Video for Coldplay | |
| Endemol Shine North | Manchester | 5 / 27 | £6.5m t/o | Broadcasting | Idris Elba: Fighter, Crash Car TV, King of Speed | |
| The Gate Films | Manchester | 22 | £6m | Commercial | Missguided, Betfred Cruises, Land Rover | |
| Rollem | Leeds | 3 / 50+ | £5,572,000 t/o | Broadcasting | The Syndicate, In The Club, Love Lies & Records, Overshadowed | |
| Mackinnon and Saunders | Altrincham | 20/30 to 60 | £3.3m t/o | Broadcasting | Raa Raa the Noisy Lion, Twirlywoos, Wanda and the Alien and Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service | |
| Daisybeck | Leeds | 1 / 60 | £1.8m | Broadcasting | Body Donors, Virginia McKenna’s Born Free and I Want That Car | |
| Title Role | Manchester | 25 / 40+ | £1m t/o | Broadcasting | Crimes That Shook Britain – 5/11/17 – Manchester bomb | |
| CHF Entertainment | Wilmslow | 50+ | n/a | Broadcasting | Daisy & Ollie, Pip Ahoy! | |
| Nine Lives Media | Manchester | 33 / 54 | n/a | Broadcasting | Pound Shop Wars, BBC One, My Life CBBC, Songs of Praise | |
| Revolution Viewing | Leeds | 31 | n/a | Commercial | Redrow, several universities, Taylor Wimpey | |
| Studio Liddell | Manchester | 30 (this includes Liddell Jones) | n/a | Broadcast but Liddell Jones commercial | Horatio, Cloudbabies, Ranger Rob | |
| The Mob Film Co | Manchester | 15 / 15+ | n/a | Commercial | Audi S Line ‘Coup’, MUFC Alexis Sanchez ‘piano’ viral/launch film, Ao.com Britain’s Got Talent idents/sponsorship | |
| Lion Eyes | Manchester | 13 / 10+ | n/a | Commercial | Hotter Shoes, Peter Kay’s Car Share – Goodnight Vienna, A Christmas Tale – Chester Zoo | |
| Factory Create | Altrincham | 15 | n/a | Broadcasting | Clangers, Newzoids, Club Penguin, Scream Street | |
| Flipbook | Manchester | 14 | n/a | 60% Commercial | Manchester Christmas Advert 2018, RSPB TV Commercial, Hybrid Wars Cinematic film for Wargaming | |
| Perfect World | Manchester | 12 | n/a | Broadcasting | n/a | |
| Warp Films | Sheffield | 11 | n/a | Broadcasting | This Is England, Ghost Stories, Yardie | |
| Equinox TV | Manchester | 10 | n/a | Commercial | Oak Furniture Land, Victoria Plum | |
| PDI Media | Manchester | 10 | n/a | Commercial | Barry Hearn: The People’s Promoter, Super League Show, When Football Changed Forever | |
| VTR North | Leeds | 10 | n/a | Commercial | Bon Prix, Vidal Sassoon, bwin | |
| Air Television | York | 5 / 9 | £750,000 t/o | Broadcast | 999 NHS Rescue Squad, Helicopter ER (UKTV Really), Emergency Rescue Down Under | |
| Beautiful Productions | Manchester | 4 / 50+ | £700,000 | Commercial | London Independent Film Festival: winner 2011 Being Sold | |
| Urban Canyons | Manchester | 3 / 40+ | £420,000 t/o | Broadcasting | Epic Warrior Woman | |
| Digifish TV | York | 9 / 6 | £350,000 t/o | Commercial | Mark Hill, Sony Headphones, Shed 7 music video | |
| Soup Creative | Chester | 9 | £380k t/o | Commercial | Country House Outdoor Fashion, Louise Redknapp Niix Pilates app, Bentley Starley | |
| Inspired Film And Video Ltd | Stoke | 8 | £300k t/o | 50/50 | Lidice A Light Across The Sea, Belonging: The Truth Behind the Headlines | |
| Hurricane Films | Liverpool | 4 / 100+ | £256,842 t/o | Broadcasting | A Prayer Before Dawn, Triple Word Score, A Quiet Passion, Of Time and The City | |
| Brilliant Trees Media | Blackpool | 3 / 10 | £200,000 | Commercial | Kings of the Road, Cumbria’s Atomic Pioneers | |
| The Chase Films | Manchester | 8 | n/a | Commercial | Visit Scotland, Film4, M&S Bank | |
| ABF Pictures | Manchester | 7 | n/a | Commercial | Cousins, Virgin Bingo, Soak.com | |
| Dreamscope | Manchester | 7 | n/a | Commercial | Lanes/Thames Water, Morson International, 360 Filming for Samlesbury Hall and INNSide Manchester | |
| Standby | Manchester | 7 | n/a | Commercial | MAG, BeautyBay, Co-op, New Era, YKK | |
| Blakeway North | Manchester | 6 / 50+ | n/a | Broadcasting | Stacey Dooley Investigates – Second Chance Sex Offenders, Panorama – Plane Drunk, Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun | |
| White Noise Productions | Ribchester | 5 | n/a | Commercial | American Golf, Stokers, Keele Uni | |
| Duck Soup | Leeds | 5 | Fremantle Media – 25% | Broadcasting | n/a | |
| Flow Creative | Manchester | 5 | n/a | Commercial | Ministry of Sound, Now Music, Arts Council England | |
| Jellylegs | Stockport | 4 | n/a | 50/50 | After Hours and Pataks Foods | |
| True Vision Yorkshire | Leeds | 3/6 to 10 | n/a | Broadcasting | Behind Closed Doors, Catching a Killer, The Truth about Muslim Marriage | |
| Fettle Animation | Huddersfield | 3 / 10+ | n/a | 60% Broadcasting | Children of the Holocaust, Shakespeare in Shorts (BBC Learning) , Share a Story (CITV) | |
| Kudos North | Manchester | 3 | Established Oct ’17 – subsidiary of Kudos | Broadcasting | n/a | |
| Channel X North | Manchester | 2 contract in the North / London HQ | n/a | Broadcasting | So Awkward, The Detectorists, Hebburn | |
| Digital Imaging FX | Manchester | 2 / 5+ | n/a | Broadcasting | So Awkward, The Detectorists, Hebburn | |
| Nova Productions | Doncaster | 2 / 5+ | n/a | 2 / 5+ | Walks around Britain, British scenic drives, British Steam Locomotives | |
| Media Guru | Manchester | 2 / 5 | n/a | Commercial | MPS, CanalSur | |
| MegaCity Digital | Manchester | 2 / 4 | Est July ’17 | Broadcasting | Facebook Live Tour de France for the BBC |
