Bringing private angel investment to Scotland’s screen sector.
Screen Scotland and a consortium of Scottish business angels are working to bring together Scotland’s film and TV producing community with angel investors.
The objective is for producers across scripted and unscripted who have an active development slate to better understand the motivations and ways of working of business angels, benefitting from potential investment and business mentorship, and for the business angels to familiarise themselves with the screen sector, its investment opportunities and talent pool.
What is angel investment?
Angel investment was born in the creative sector. The word “angel” was coined by Broadway insiders in the early 1900s for the wealthy backers who funded risky theatrical productions - partly for the return, partly for the pleasure of being close to the work.
A century on, this programme aims to bring angel investment back to its roots: private backers investing in Scotland’s screen talent to create high-quality original projects.
What an angel investor does
An angel is a private individual who puts early-stage capital into a company in exchange for equity, usually alongside others in a syndicate. The financial investment is only part of what they contribute. Angels bring expertise, mentoring and networks; they offer patient capital through the long development period other finance avoids; and they benefit from significant tax reliefs (SEIS/EIS) that cushion the risk.
They take a portfolio approach, knowing perhaps one in ten investments will be the success that carries the rest. Angel thinks in terms of a range of opportunities, not a single bet.
Contrary to a common myth, angels are emphatically not only for technology companies: Scottish syndicates already back food and drink, health and beauty and more - but little so far in film and TV. The motivation is as much about getting involved in something interesting, meeting new people and giving back as financial return.
About Lights, Camera, Capital
This pilot programme is funded by Screen Scotland and the Scottish Government's Ecosystem Fund and is delivered in partnership with Scotland's business angels.
