Wildseed Studios announces new investment fund to develop emerging creative talent

Multi award-winning Bristol independent production company Wildseed Studios is relaunching its ideas portal, inviting creators to submit a project in live action or animation, for the chance to secure up to £10K per project to develop and even pilot their idea before pitching to global platforms.

Having already successfully identified, developed, and produced scripted projects from first time creators on Netflix, BBC, Disney, and Sky, Wildseed Studios is passionate about finding and developing new and diverse talent and ideas.
Wildseed specialises in ideas that will appeal to audiences below 30, and is therefore looking for projects with a youthful perspective - and, in line with its target audiences, is particularly keen on character-led genre ideas with a sense of humour.

The submissions portal is specifically designed to offer a level playing field for bright new creators wanting to get into the scripted content industry. They do not need to have an agent, or to have been produced before. The studio is looking for great ideas from passionate people with the will to work hard to achieve creative excellence.
Creators don't even need to have written a script in order for ideas to be considered. Character designs, videos, graphic novels, manuscripts are all of interest, as history demonstrates that the initial pitch for the next big global original can be presented in many forms.

Selected creators will receive up to £10K each to develop their idea with the support of the team at Wildseed Studios, who have mentored raw new talent and developed their ideas into mainstream TV commissions on many of the world's leading content platforms. Full details of what the team at Wildseed are looking for, how to apply and the process of selection are available now on the company's website, with the portal opening for submissions for a concentrated month in October.

Wildseed Studios, launched eight years ago with a mission to find and nurture the talent of the future, received thousands of ideas when it first opened its submissions portal. Forty pilot films were created, resulting in a 60% pickup rate including a Netflix live action original series, The Last Bus (in production), Sky Kids animated sitcom Dodo, (streaming now), animated comedy Counterfeit Cat for Disney, adult animated series Tales of the Serengeti for BBC3, live action series Prank Me for Fullscreen US, and animated comedy Wolf Jenkins (also BBC3) as well as two new series in development with VisKids (as yet unannounced).

Jesse Cleverly, co-founder and creative director at Wildseed Studios said: "Success in the content business is, now more than ever, driven by passion projects from unique voices and, as we know from joyful experience, when we find raw talent and mentor their creative vision, we find the next generation of hits.

"We are also very aware that the industry has so far failed to enable the full spectrum of creative talent, which is why we are especially focussed on those voices who have not felt represented in the industry to date. Our submissions portal is a level playing field open to all creators and we will be especially focussed on delivering this opportunity to creative talent who have not felt that the normal routes into the industry are as open to them.

"We are also committed to delivering value to anyone who submits an idea to us from the very first contact, which is why we promise to give constructive feedback on every idea we are sent, even if we can't take it forward. For ideas that we think have potential to progress to the next stage, we will talk to the creator, and then if we feel we see the opportunity in the same way and the idea continues to excite, we will work with the creator and invest up to £10,000 to develop their idea so that it is ready to pitch to the world's leading content platforms."

Wildseed managing director Miles Bullough adds "Wildseed's mission is about finding and mentoring the most exciting new talent in scripted entertainment. We pioneered this approach to talent development because we wanted to find fresh ideas from people who would not necessarily get access through the standard routes. We use our industry experience and know-how to identify and nurture new creative talent towards commissions for mainstream platforms and, judging by the results to date, we know it works."