ITV has announced the launch of the second year of ‘Amplify: The Regions’ as part of its commitment to work closely with Independent Production Companies across the regions and accelerate its relationships with them.
The Media and Entertainment Commissioning team at ITV is again looking for five companies to take part who will each be matched with a genre commissioner at ITV, receive a brief to work on some ideas and then pitch to the commissioner. As part of the initiative, each company will be given £5,000 to develop any potential ideas.
To apply, companies need to be a truly independent production company based wholly in the regions and not part of a larger corporate group, and working in unscripted. Companies can apply here, from today.
ITV’s commissioning team has had positive feedback from the first year of Amplify: The Regions, with productive and continuing commissioner/producer relationships on-going, with active developments in train, and a recently greenlit unscripted commission amongst the cohort.
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ITV is one of the biggest commissioners of new UK programmes from outside London, with staff working from bases all over the UK. Approaching half of ITV’s UK staff are based out of London, with over 40% of commissioning hours and over 50% of commissioning spend out of London.
Launching the first year of Amplify: The Regions at a producer’s briefing event in Manchester in late 2023, ITV’s managing director, media & entertainment, Kevin Lygo said: “For both linear and ITVX, ideas can and absolutely do often come from the nations and regions.
“ITV wants ideas from the regions, about the regions and produced by the regions in the regions. Which is why we’re excited today to be launching a brand new development initiative specifically for regional indies – Amplify: The Regions.”
Among the success stories from last year’s debut event was Glasgow indie Blazing Griffin, which was matched with matched with Callum Dziedzic, assistant commissioner, drama & comedy to develop its ideas.
Lizzie Gray, Blazing Griffin’s head of TV, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with ITV as part of Amplify: The Regions. We are big fans of ITV drama and this generous connection and support comes at a crucial time for the growth of Blazing Griffin. We can’t wait to get started.”
