TEN CREATIVE businesses from across East Sussex have been selected to join a scheme to help companies become investment ready.

The businesses, from creative sectors including film making, publishing, audio visual design, visual arts, and animation, have secured support from the Create South East Investment Readiness programme.

The scheme is being supported in East Sussex by the county council, who helped secure the programme for the region in 2022.

The Create South East programme is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and run through a partnership of 13 local and unitary authorities and organisations across the counties of Essex, Kent and Sussex.

It is being delivered in the south east by Angels@Essex, Creative UK and Screen South.

Councillor Penny di Cara, lead member for economy at East Sussex County Council, said: “I am delighted ten more creative businesses in East Sussex are going to benefit from this vital support.

“The creative sector is hugely important to our local economy and it’s fantastic that East Sussex companies have benefited from the Investment Readiness programme since its launch in the south east.”

The Investment Readiness programme provides up to nine months of intensive, tailored support to help businesses develop the skills needed to secure investment and facilitate access to additional funding.

The ten East Sussex companies are part of the latest group of over 50 creative businesses from Kent, Essex and Sussex who joined the initiative this summer.

The latest East Sussex business to join the programme are: Chalk Productions; Drop Dead Films; GoPhysics; Kult Media; Recursive AV Ltd; A Beautiful Place To Get Lost; Diamond Minds; ColorQ; Favame Ltd; and Review of Sussex Arts Magazine.

Victoria Holden from Chalk Productions said: “We were really excited to be accepted onto the Create South East programme and believe it’s going to make a huge difference to our business in terms of growth and investment.

“We are developing a new product for independent production companies, called MotionHub.  It can be very daunting and difficult to know which path to take to bring a new venture like this to market. Already our mentor has provided sound advice and helped us to focus on a clear strategy and pitch.

“We are really excited about what the future holds!”

Drop Dead Films specialises in commercial, elevated horror, thriller and sci-fi films for the international market, using cutting-edge technology and an agile team.

Writer and Director John Langridge said: “As an Eastbourne-based company, we became interested in the Create South East programme as, with the imminent release of our latest project, the horror film Charlie Shaw’s Revenge, we are currently seeking to scale up production across our slate of our commercial titles from the £1million to £3 to £5million budget range – something the programme has specific guidelines and advice on.

“Since being paired with a mentor as part of the programme and with the weekly seminars provided, we have found the programme so far to be very useful indeed.”

Matt Cheney is the founder of Kult Media, which provides bespoke podcasting and content creation services. He said: “After 4 turbulent years of running my own business, I discovered the Create South East programme and thought it was a fantastic opportunity to get some direction and advice for my business, Kult Media.

“I have found being a sole founder pretty lonely at times, and when it comes to running your own business and coming from a creative background, the biggest challenge is not knowing what you do not know.

“There is lots of advice and help online, but it lacks specificity and relevance to your business, and the Create South East programme and mentors can support my business directly. Every workshop and coaching session has been invaluable to my business and also to me as the business leader.

“I hope the process continues to support my business growth and also challenges me to develop further as a creative business owner.”

For more information about the programme and to learn about future opportunities visit https://createsoutheast.org.uk/