I started Ermine Street Project CIC in 2009 with a desire to change perceptions about unpaid work in the creative industries.
It was a subject close to my heart as I'd found my acting career difficult, often working unpaid in fringe shows and low budget films just to keep busy. Actors when they start out, especially when coming straight out of drama school cannot stand the sudden inactivity. From 40 hours a week immersed in your craft to zero when the reality of the industry hits, is quite a shock and most actors will feel this acutely and do anything to keep working.
In my 16 year career, I have seen a marked shift in employment practices, from "doing a bit of unpaid work to keep busy" to "you must work unpaid to get a foothold in the business". These days, the culture of unpaid work has created a barrier for all emerging creatives, preventing those from poorer backgrounds from getting many entry level jobs. Drama schools regularly tell students that they must "expect" to work unpaid for the first three years of their careers. This quiet acceptance of the status quo needed to be challenged.
Early in 2009 I contributed to forums, started Facebook groups, wrote letters. The issue polarized opinion and I was met with equal measures of enthusiasm and hostility from my peers. I looked to my union, Equity, who refused to tackle the subject. I got myself onto a regional committee and started making some noise. Slowly, the industry mindset was changing.
Perhaps when I started Ermine Street Project, it was more of a crusade than a business, but as we developed, we could see that we could do more than simply stick two fingers up at other film production companies that were saying that they couldn't afford to pay people. We could empower and educate the next generation of employees and potential employers and provide work in an under represented area of the country.
Being a community interest company suited us well, as it allowed us to gain funding from our local council, Unltd and Awards for All. We were able to give 7 new graduates from Lincoln University their first paid jobs on short films, corporate contracts and outreach projects. However, we could see that long term survival would require us to look beyond grant reliance.
We have recently embarked upon a venture to create an internet TV channel, broadcasting and producing original work to growing online audiences and markets. Funding this has been a challenge. Although we are a community interest company, we are not a typical one. Our social outcomes are quite difficult to measure. When competing against so many worthy groups out there- who really cares about a bunch of media graduates or actors? Social mobility is a difficult one to measure. Through Ogunte, I have been able to fine tune what it is we want to achieve and I feel now that we are much better equipped to deal with the question of outcomes and outputs than we were a year ago.
So now we are looking to prove our business model before gaining large scale support. We shall do that by not demanding large sums of money to make all the content for the channel in-house straight away. It's too much of a risk for funders and investors would laugh us out of the boardroom. What we can do right now for minimum outlay is be a broadcaster to other filmmakers who share our ideals. There is so much brilliant work being done that does not get proper exposure and certainly not earning the filmmaker money. So short term, we shall be broadcasting mainly external content from emerging filmmakers for a share in advertising revenue. Eventually the ratio will change and we shall be broadcasting the majority of our own work. A simple plan, really. Create an army of willing promoters who have a vested interest in seeing large amount of web traffic to the site. We also have a direct route to market for networks that are increasingly looking to the web for content to buy.
Lessons we have learned:
1. Be clear who you are trying to reach. A crusade might start to look like a vanity project. Ask friends if your business plan sounds like a lecture, or a viable business. I have found my business plan by working my way through many awkward questions like "who is benefiting from this?" or "How can you affect change through what you do?"
2. Get advice. It sounds simple, but never pass on the chance for workshops, incubator schemes, even if you think you know everything already. Bet you don't. I recently attended a local funding workshop and although I already knew the majority of what was covered, we looked at some examples of failed applications. I could see myself falling into those traps with a funding application I was about to send off, such as replacing "we shall embark on a marketing campaign" with eight bullets points on how exactly we were going to do that. That was well worth a couple of hours of my time! (we hope...)
3. When looking for funding, quantify everything. Facts, figures, solid evidence of need and of impact already achieved. I have found that one statistic can replace a whole paragraph; "We employed 7 new graduates in 2009" or "129,168 companies admitted planning to take on interns (this year) and pay them less than the NMW" (IPPR/Internocracy) I don't have problems coming in under word counts anymore!
4. Be honest about your shortcomings, but plan to overcome them. Right now, we don't have a finance director, and our business model needs proving. It's true and there's no shame in that. If you don't tell potential investors and funders how you can improve, they will assume that you haven't noticed.
5. Find ways of piloting projects on a small scale. No-one will back an untested business model. We're going to do just that with ESPTV. Our crowdfunding campaign with Buzzbnk has started and other grant applications are in. We're building a brilliant team for a late spring launch and raring to go!
Sharon Cannings is chief executive of Ermine Street Project CIC and a fellow of the Ogunte Make a Wave Pre-Incubator. Follow here on twitter: @erminestproject
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