‘An emerging Welsh powerhouse which proves that a smaller company can punch above its weight’
Winner Yeti was described by judges as “an emerging Welsh powerhouse which proves that a smaller company can punch above its weight”.
In the past year the Cardiff-based indie has doubled its turnover to £4m, has grown its core staff team from two people to 14 and has expanded into new genres, including food, crime, premium documentary and competition formats.
Judges praised the company’s breakout show, The Great Big Tiny Design Challenge with Sandi Toksvig, which was Yeti’s first commission for More4 and has been “a key title in More 4’s evolution”, one judge noted. The show, which was Yeti’s first foray into the competition space, made use of innovative VFX. Its spin-off Christmas Special for Channel 4 pulled a million viewers it its 7pm slot.
The show was More4s second highest rating series of 2022 and has sold in over 10 countries worldwide, with format sales in the wings.
Other highlights include a feature documentary for Sky Arts, Spike Milligan: the Unseen Archive, which scored a slot share that was a fantastic 435% above average, and true crime ratings hit About My Murder for CBS.
Our panel also pointed to the “impressive breadth of customer” the indie is able to serve and appeal to, particularly in its upcoming projects, with a tender to produce a feature doc on an elite female athlete for Red Bull, development funding for a youth-skewing crime series on ITV2 and funded development for a brand-new ob-doc series on BBC3 all in the works.
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The Yorkshire-based indie has found success offering high quality returning series to broadcasters such as UKTV and Warner Bros Discovery, including Yesterday’s highest performing show ever Bangers & Cash and Helicopter ER. Its headline-grabbing Warplane Workshop counts Prince William and Tom Cruise among its fans.
With a strong team ethos, a large permanent staff team and dedicated training opportunities, staff retention is exceptionally high.
Fulwell 73 has expanded its offices in Los Angeles and the north east of England in the past year and plans to open Crown Works Studios in Sunderland, which it hopes will be one of the largest filmmaking complexes in Europe.
Its factual content has included a Netflix true crime docu-series on the mysterious disappearance of plan hijacker D.B.Cooper, while in entertainment its The Kardashians has been Hulu’s most watched series.
Last year Lime Pictures’ Dance Monsters became Netflix’s most-watched talent show, entertaining viewers in more than 190 territories and 30 languages with cutting edge VFX.
The indie’s linear shows have continued to perform well, with The Only Way Is Essex (ITV Be) celebrating 30 series, and have been successfully supported by additional social media content, including partnership between Hollyoaks with the Home Office which saw the creation of a VR immersive experience to highlight women’s safety.
This year has been a busy one for Strawberry Blonde as it opened a new office in Edinburgh – where the team almost immediately won four new commissions with Channel 4 and CBBC. It also became the first indie to win Broadcast’s Best Places to Work for the second time.
Other highlights include producing the launch show for the return of BBC Three to linear television, Huge Homes with Hugh Dennis and comedy panel show The Island, for Dave.
The indie’s factual slate has explored the worlds of Incels, drug lords, modern hustlers and boy racers, and has had a real-world impact – its All4 first documentary investigating clothing company SHEIN resulted in artists such as The Rolling Stones revoking their licensing rights and with the company itself pledging $15 million dollars to rectify its factory working conditions.
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