Ukraine Launches $20M Content Fund To Help The War-Torn Nation’s Shows Make It To Screen; Seeks Investment From Global Behemoths

deadline.com:

Ukrainian media companies have launched a $20M fund to help sustain the embattled nation’s ailing TV industry and are seeking investment from the biggest global networks and streamers.Kateryna Vyshnevska, a leading industry exec who oversees co-productions for FILM.UA, told Deadline she has briefed major content associations with plans including NATPE, Mip TV and the European Broadcasting Union, and she is now heading out on a funding drive.The plan is to have global behemoths such a the BBC, Netflix and Disney put money into the fund, for which Vyshnevska has set a $20M target, which will be used to pre-buy or co-produce Ukrainian content early in the production process so that these shows can be sustained and make it to greenlight and beyond before being sold around the world, showcasing the best of Ukrainian TV.Factual, animation and scripted are the genres being targeted and Ukrainian production companies will have to apply to the as-yet unnamed fund in order to receive investment.Vyshnevska said the fund could hand a “lifeline” to some of the 10M Ukrainian refugees who are struggling for work.“We want to rally the industry around the globe” she added. “We’re not asking for charity but this is a win-win situation as the world can help themselves by helping us.

By asking people to give money upfront we take on the responsibility of delivering quality content.”A similar U.S. aid program has been active in the nation since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.The fund will be registered as a charity outside Ukraine and be independently managed, with board members from a cross-section of the industry overseeing it and deciding on its beneficiaries.“This will create an ecosystem and deeper integration between Ukraine,