Today we are 7 years old and the team have been reflecting on some of the challenges and achievements we’ve experienced since we opened our doors in 2019.

1. Cornwall’s landscapes are just as beautiful today as they were back then – but the urgency to sustain and protect them has grown. This year we have upped our sustainability game with new policies and training, as well as offsetting our carbon footprint by donating to Plant 1 CIC who are working on the ground to restore native woodlands.

2. It’s clear the Cornish creative talent pipeline is immense – working with our colleagues in education as well as directly with emerging talent through programmes including BBC New Creatives, Falmouth University graduate shorts and BFI Film Academy, the pathways we can offer are significantly enhanced by our work with BFI Network South West and other regional & national schemes.

3. Small, targeted interventions work well in a rural and coastal context – especially when we have brilliant partners. We’ve seen the results of the investment in crew development from our recent BFI Production Ready Pathways activity, and are especially grateful to Red Planet and FFP as returning production companies who are committed to hiring locally. 

4. Audience behaviour and technology changes are keeping us on our toes – from immersive experiences, the intersection between arts and tech, vertical social formats for drama and AI, we’re constantly asking ourselves how the role of a screen agency will evolve in the next 10 years.

5. Championing our minority language will always be a challenge in an era of limited budgets but the Media Act and Part III recognition in the European Convention which puts Kernewek at the same status as other UK Celtic languages spurs us on, as do the many filmmakers beyond our FylmK scheme who are choosing to make work in Kernewek. 

6. With the world as it is right now, brilliant and authentic storytelling will always matter – and we’re committed to advancing local talent, to the extent that we’ve just updated the guidelines for our Equity Production Investment initiative to reflect that.

7. We are a tiny team but feel mighty thanks to the brilliant wider screen ecosystem and creative & cultural industries within which we work, both in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and the wider South West. Those connections and partnerships make what we do greater than the sum of its parts.