Channel 4 Indie Growth Fund invests in Five Mile Films

14 May 2019

Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund today announced it has taken a minority stake in Five Mile Films, a Bristol-based, factual indie led by Nick Mirsky.  Five Mile Films is the first Channel 4 Indie Growth Fund investment in Bristol since the broadcaster announced it would be locating a new Creative Hub in the city.  

Five Mile Films was set up in September 2018.  The team includes Anna Llewellyn, who has directed shows such as A Very British Hotel, Inside Birmingham Childrens’ Hospital and 24 Hours in A&E and former Dragonfly Head of Production Yvonne Bainton.  Five Mile Films also recently announced its first series commission, “The Dog House”, for Channel 4 and as it grows will specialise in producing innovative cross-genre projects often mixing drama with documentary, popular factual multi-part series as well as authored and observational factual output.  

Nick Mirsky was previously Head of Documentaries at Channel 4 where he ran the team responsible for key series and brands including 24 Hours in A&E, Educating Yorkshire and First Dates. Prior to that Nick worked at the BBC across Documentaries, Arts and Business output where he was the Executive Producer responsible for Louis Theroux, the BBC 2 Documentary strand “Wonderland” and a range of single documentaries and dramas including “When Michael Portillo became a Single Mum” and “Maxwell”.  

Caroline Murphy, Head of the Channel 4 Indie Growth Fund said: “Nick has an excellent track record as both a commissioner and a programme maker so we’re looking forward to helping him build a creative team who can produce at scale outside of London.” 

Nick Mirsky said: “I am delighted to be teaming up with the Channel 4 Indie Growth Fund and really look forward to growing a business in Bristol.” 

 

The Indie Growth Fund was launched in 2014 to provide additional support to the UK independent creative sector by providing access to funding for indies based in the UK to help them to grow and develop their business. It has made 16 investments to date and there are now 12 companies in the portfolio including Barcroft Studios, Eleven Film, Firecrest Films, Lightbox, Parable, Spelthorne Community Television, The RightsXchange (TRX), True Vision Yorkshire, Two Rivers Media, Voltage TV and Whisper Films. Its future strategy is focused on investing in companies in the Nations and Regions but will also encompass interesting digital and diverse businesses across the UK. 

 

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Notes to editors: 

About Channel 4: 

Channel 4 is a publicly-owned yet commercially-funded public service broadcaster and has a remit to be innovative, experimental and distinctive. Its public ownership and not-for-profit status ensure all profit generated by its commercial activity is directly reinvested back into the delivery of its public service remit. As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 is also required to commission UK content from the independent production sector and currently works with around 300 creative companies across the UK every year. In addition to the main Channel 4 service, its portfolio includes: E4, More4, Film4, 4Music, 4seven, Channel4.com and digital service All 4.