Entrepreneurs encouraged to follow in filmmaker’s footsteps

A filmmaker is encouraging entrepreneurs to sign up for a Fellowship programme that helped him achieve his dream of founding his own production company.

Applications for DigitalCity Fellowships, run at Teesside University, close on 27 January and Blair Stent, founder of 'The Office Above' is encouraging people with an idea for a digital business to take full advantage of the scheme.

The DigitalCity Fellowship scheme has been praised at a national level and recently played a key role in helping the University win the highly prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize.

The Fellowship offers £4,000 to cover living costs for digital entrepreneurs while they develop their business idea or product.

It also offers industry-specific mentoring from leading business figures and access to workshops and networking events and also the use of specialist equipment.

Before joining the Fellowship programme, Blair worked as a professional skydiver, filming individuals making jumps.

He used the Fellowship to help set up 'The Office Above' which makes films for television and corporate clients, as well as providing specialist filming services for extreme sports such as skydiving and scuba diving.

The firm also specialises in subscription packages for companies to provide regular video material for their website and social media platforms.

Through the Fellowship programme, Blair was also recruited to carry out specialist remote-control camera work on Ex Machina, a feature film produced at London’s famous Pinewood Studios.

The film’s director was Alex Garland, the writer of novel The Beach and scriptwriter for films 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Dredd, based on 2000 AD’s Judge Dredd comic character.

Blair is now based at Teesside University’s business incubator at the Victoria Building and is hoping to take on more staff in the near future.

He said: 'The first thing the Fellowship did was take the pressure off me in financial terms by paying my living costs for the first few months of setting up the business, when I might not necessarily be making any money. It really helped take the risk out of starting my own business.

'The mentoring was also invaluable. It was great to get a brutally honest opinion with some expert advice when I asked a question about something I was doing.

'It helped me to change the direction of the company to focus a lot more on the subscription packages for businesses which are quite unique and provide a much more stable income.'

Fellowships are available to individuals and teams with an original project idea, who live in the North East of England and who have graduated from University.

David Jeffries, Head of DigitalCity, said: 'DigitalCity has a fantastic track record of helping to create some of the most exciting start-ups in the region.

'If you’ve got an idea for a business or product then we really want to hear from you to help make it a reality.

'Starting your own business can be one of the most satisfying things you can do and the DigitalCity fellowship programme at Teesside University provides entrepreneurs with all the help the need to get their company off the ground.'

This project is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-2013 is bringing over £300m into the North East to support innovation, enterprise and business support across the region.

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For more information or to apply for a DigitalCity Fellowship, click here.