Film firm set to win £250,000 deal in US
Mar 13 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal
A FILM production company is on the verge of breaking the lucrative US market by landing a deal worth up to £250,000.
Twenty First Century Media, headquartered in Newcastle, is set to land a contract with an online recruitment firm based in Philadelphia and New York which could be worth hundreds of thousands in its first year alone.
The unnamed recruitment company is looking to widen its net into Europe and will enlist the help of TFCM to produce videos to promote clients on its website.
If, as expected, the company lands the deal, it could spark ongoing contracts between TFCM and US firms and will also top off a year of exponential growth at the producer.
Company founder Sam Morton said: “The recruitment company is well established in America and is looking to enter Europe. They are not talking to anybody else and we hope it (the deal) will kick off this year.
“We’ve been focused on growing in the UK but I don’t see why there couldn’t be further deals for us in America if this deal works out for us as there’s nowhere where we can’t film.” Last financial year the company saw annual revenues climb by 50% and this year the same level of growth is expected to take turnover past the £1m-a-year mark.
Meanwhile the group, which recently moved its headquarters to Sandyford Road in Jesmond, launched a new office in London earlier this year. Mr Morton said: “We feel we can compete with anyone around the world from the North East but there are clients that expect to see us in London. It helps when you are going in for international clients if you have a London address.”
Mr Morton added that, despite the London office, the company remains committed to ongoing growth and recruitment in the North East where it employs 20 people. He said: “We do everything from the North East and we are finding some fantastic people that we are investing in.”
TFCM was set up in 2002 by Mr Morton – a BBC-trained television producer – and Casper Berry, an ex-scriptwriter for Channel 4 teen drama Hollyoaks and a TV advertising director.
PAGE TWO: We take a look at the region's Hollywood history.
